Living in Grand Rapids, in relative close proximity to both Chicago and Detroit I was horrified to hear that areas of Texas don't have good pizza shops. A Franco or Vitale or Licari could start an empire.
Texan's, I won't mess, this info is from my cousin who lives in Austin. I assume that would be like a Texan moving to Michigan and not being able to find a good steak, this also could be a real thing.
In reply to akylekoz :
To be fair, parts of Texas likely don't have running water or telephones, so a lack of pizza shops wouldn't wholly surprise me...
It's the same when we go to the Outer Banks, possibly the worst pizza on the planet...if you can call cardboard with ketchup on it pizza. One shop, any shop, in Long Island will you open a branch in Duck, PLEASE!
For lunch yesterday I had four of the best pizza slices ever, which was like two too many. I think Vitale's makes ours extra special due to the volume that we consume on an annual basis, and we are two doors down. With a small tear...I...feel just so blessed to live where there is an over abundance of great pie.
I miss Vitales from when I lived in GR. :-(
Coincidentally, if you know someone who likes coffee and wants to open a business in Chicago, I want to find a partner. Totally serious.
I am not sure those places would know what to do with good pizza
When I was being an analyst for SBA loans last year, the one of the most popular things around the country were trampoline parks. Sky Zone was/is the leading franchise for that, if anyone is curious. Chic-Fil-A is obviously the leading franchise to get in to, if you can. Our bank never got one, as far as I know, though.
One of the biggest failures were breweries; especially in Wisconsin where there appeared to be a brewery on every damn corner.
There was an up and coming pizza franchise that seemed to be getting popular in SoCal and Florida that would have the brick oven(s) in the center of the restaurant and the seating would be around it. Can't remember the name and I left banking before I could even see if it was a profitable franchise.
New York doesn't know snot about pizza.
Chicago. Geno's, then Giordano's.
There was a place called Uno's in Dallas years ago, purported to be Chicago pizza. Not that good.
One of my favorite franchises was Round Table, out of SoCal. Good for what it was.
I grew up in Chicagoland. Most folks associate Chicago with deep dish pizza, which is awesome if you want to bust a gut. What 90% of Chicagoans eat on a regular basis is a thin, crispy crust pizza, cut into square pieces, with lots of toppings. The crust stays firm, and it's absolutely delicious. There seems to be a pizza joint like this on every corner---- some better than others, but most are pretty darn good.
I've been in Florida for 16 years now.......and I haven't found a good pizza joint in this entire state. Sure, we have a few "NY- Style" pizza joints, with the huge pieces that you have to flop over onto themselves to eat---- soggy crust, greasy....... It's ok----- but Damn, do I miss a good Chicago (thin crust) pizza.
Maybe it's the water down here that won't allow for a good pizza. I'm not sure, but in the Daytona area we are in a pizza wasteland. Uno's isn't "Chicago style" pizza.....it's Unos. It's kind of it's own animal.......and not that good. Just because you begin your franchise in Chicago---- that doesn't make your pizza "Chicago Style", regardless of how you market it.
places like that are why Dominos and Papa Johns are so popular
In reply to OldGray320i :
I've made special stops to go to a Giordano's. I like their pizzas, but if we can all be honest for a minute, those are really more of a cheese casserole than an actual pizza.
In reply to Joe Gearin :
There's definitely something about either the water(possibly the fact it isn't hard & scaly?) or humidity down here that affects pizza crust. Even all the national chains suck worse than they do in IL.
Interestingly, the best pizza I've found so far is a very thin crust one, but not at a pizza place. It's at a place called Newk's, which is a deli/bistro type place.
I really miss Monical's from IL, I'd love to get one opened down here on the coast!
In reply to OldGray320i :
My wife and I used to drive to Chicago, get a pizza at Geno's F around for a while then go back home 6 hr drive time round trip from GR, our friends would still be on the couch watching football. Good times, and in an E30 M3.
Not going to get into a NY - Chicago pizza debate, but some food show had the discussion. Tie breaker was to bring NY and Chicago pizza to firehouses in California and let them decide. They did.
Hey, go to the southwest and find good Italian! Ha.
Joe Gearin said:Maybe it's the water down here that won't allow for a good pizza. I'm not sure, but in the Daytona area we are in a pizza wasteland.
We can truck in water from the Chicago municipal water supply if that's what it takes. There's a business model in there somewhere. Agreed on all points -- for something as ubiquitous as pizza, I don't understand why it's so hard to find GOOD pizza.
It doesn't get much better than stone-fired / brick oven thin crust pizza. Crust is about as exciting as cinderblocks, but if it's wrong the whole thing comes crashing down.
Tyler H said:Joe Gearin said:Maybe it's the water down here that won't allow for a good pizza. I'm not sure, but in the Daytona area we are in a pizza wasteland.
We can truck in water from the Chicago municipal water supply if that's what it takes. There's a business model in there somewhere. Agreed on all points -- for something as ubiquitous as pizza, I don't understand why it's so hard to find GOOD pizza.
It doesn't get much better than stone-fired / brick oven thin crust pizza. Crust is about as exciting as cinderblocks, but if it's wrong the whole thing comes crashing down.
Don't ever tell someone with Celiac disease that crust is boring, my wife would love a chewy or crispy glutenous crust, may even kill for one some day. I doctor up those GF pizzas as best I can but you can't replace a good crust.
Joe Gearin said:I grew up in Chicagoland. Most folks associate Chicago with deep dish pizza, which is awesome if you want to bust a gut. What 90% of Chicagoans eat on a regular basis is a thin, crispy crust pizza, cut into square pieces, with lots of toppings. The crust stays firm, and it's absolutely delicious. There seems to be a pizza joint like this on every corner---- some better than others, but most are pretty darn good.
I've been in Florida for 16 years now.......and I haven't found a good pizza joint in this entire state. Sure, we have a few "NY- Style" pizza joints, with the huge pieces that you have to flop over onto themselves to eat---- soggy crust, greasy....... It's ok----- but Damn, do I miss a good Chicago (thin crust) pizza.
Maybe it's the water down here that won't allow for a good pizza. I'm not sure, but in the Daytona area we are in a pizza wasteland. Uno's isn't "Chicago style" pizza.....it's Unos. It's kind of it's own animal.......and not that good. Just because you begin your franchise in Chicago---- that doesn't make your pizza "Chicago Style", regardless of how you market it.
Xtra pizza in South Daytona (though you probably know of them already.) Sausage, Bacon and pepperoni pizza mmmm. I practically lived off their calzones during school for a while.
Me and a coworker talk about this often, he moved from outside Boston to Raleigh. He always talks about how they had so many good mom and pop sub and pizza places. I think it comes down to growth rate. Raleigh is booming, Texas is booming as well. The growth is so fast that a new shopping strip is built almost monthly in areas. So with fast growth you need people to move in and pay rent quick. Mom and Pop can't get the money up fast enough or afford what they are asking for rent anyway.
Its the sad part about how fast places are growing.
Thankfully I haven't had too much trouble finding good pizza here in Phoenix. There's plenty of Chicago-style joints like Lou Malnati's, Geno's, Giordano's, Rosati's, etc. I'm personally not a huge fan of Chicago-style pizza, being from NYC. That being said, I've found a surprising amount of good NYC-style pizza places. The key is to find one that's owned by a New Yorker, they usually know how to do good pizza. My favorite pizza joint here is a mom-and-pop place called Sal's. The guy who owns it and bakes the pizzas is from NYC and I swear it's the best NYC pizza in the Phoenix area. Plus the garlic knots are amazing. Now I'm hungry, lol.
The real question is, who makes a spicier meat ball, Italian or Sicilian.
T.J. said:In reply to OldGray320i :
I've made special stops to go to a Giordano's. I like their pizzas, but if we can all be honest for a minute, those are really more of a cheese casserole than an actual pizza.
Yes. Yes, I will concede that!
And the thin style Chicago, something about the sauce I love. There's a place in Tucson called Rocco's he does both, but the thin style I like better there.
When we lived in SoCal, there was an NYC guy that retired in SoCal, got bored, opened a place in Montclair - Biagos, or San Biagos, something like that - delicious. Everything. Pizza included, but I still like either Chicago style better. He was so wildly successful, that as of a couple years ago he'd opened one or two others that his kids were running.
Now I want pizza....
True story. A guy I knew in New Orleans had a string of lunch restaurants. Really popular, sold the local food everyone in New Orleans liked for lunch.
So he decided to open a restaurant in Dallas. Used all the popular recipes for his menu. Business was brisk at first because he called it a "New Orleans" restaurant. Then business went down, quickly. He started asking around to figure out the problem.
Turned out the people in Dallas did not think New Orleans style food, with New Orleans' seasoning, Red Beans & Rice, sloppy w/gravy roast beef po-boys, meatballs with sugar, catfish fried in Zatarain's spicy batter, etc, was to their liking.
So he found out what the local Dallas people wanted, stuff like chicken fried steak with white gravy, and ended up being a success.
I've been known to drive 75+ miles each way for a good Pizza and anytime when i worked field service if I was near a Frank Pepe I'd stop and bring home a pie or two.
FYI: The best Pizza I ever had was in Girona, Spain. Some day I hope to go back and bring my wife.
Here in Melbourne, we have a place called Pizza Vola that has really good specialty pizza. My favorite is their Lasagna Pizza.
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