Pizza!

yup.

Pizza.

trumps all other food threads!

I think I could subside on Pizza and Ice Cream for the rest of my life...

I mean, there are SOO many varieties.

(mmm....macaroni pizza w/ white sauce)

we just made homemade pizza a few hours ago. My grandma's secret bread (crust) recipe and all of our creative ideas for pizzas. Ohhhhh.....soooooooo goooooddddd. to die for. now i type this and i stuffed to the point where typing is a real chore

The problem with homemade pizza is that residential ovens don't get anywhere near hot enough to do it right. Get a stone and try making one in your gas grill on max burner settings. No, really. Thank me later :).

Josh wrote: The problem with homemade pizza is that residential ovens don't get anywhere near hot enough to do it right. Get a stone and try making one in your gas grill on max burner settings. No, really. Thank me later :).

Hmmm... that sounds like a really cool idea!

dude, i live in chicago. we have all kinds of pizza.

funny thing is I just had a long conversation with my dad about pizza and how your homeowners oven is nothing like those industrial pizza ovens. he told me a whole story about the temperatures and how sausage is cooked on the pizza's at the parlor.

the best pizza was bought from a connie's pizza truck the first cold week in April when i was a teenager smelt fishing on lake michigan one evening. the driver drove up and down the lakefront selling leftover deep dish hot pizza's. it was about 9:00pm and we were cold and wet. hmmmmmm

maroon92 wrote: I think I could subside on Pizza and Ice Cream for the rest of my life... I mean, there are SOO many varieties. (mmm....macaroni pizza w/ white sauce)

hit the nail on the head there

Josh wrote: The problem with homemade pizza is that residential ovens don't get anywhere near hot enough to do it right. Get a stone and try making one in your gas grill on max burner settings. No, really. Thank me later :).

The problem here is that noone should have a gas grill.

Pizzas are best left to professionals in either New York or Chicago. I'm a bit biased in thinking New York is best but have seen some compelling arguments in Chigago's favor. if you are not in either of those cities, what you are eating is not a pizza. And if the place your getting it from is a national chain, it may not be food. You don't come to New York looking for ribs, why would you expect to find pizza in St Louis.

Wally, you are not often wrong, but the epicenter of pizza is New Haven, not NY.

That thick stuff they make in Chicago is admittedly tasty, but it just isn't pizza. I'm not trying to start a war here - it's good, just needs a different name.

And you can do it at home (assuming your oven can get north of 500*) but you do need a stone.

White clam and fresh garlic FTW.

PS - agree that nobody should have a gas grill. The good news is that they are easily converted. Rip the burner out and buy a bag of charcoal - you'll thank me later.

What's an "apizza"?

I will have to claim ignorance having never heard of New Haven Pizza. I guess a field trip may be in order.

dad was in Italy a few years back... he commented how Italian pizza is NOTHING like what we get...

that being said... never been to NYC... and never had a pie in E36 M3ty-cago... have worked way to long at the big chains though... and as the saying goes... "pizza is kinda like sex... even when it's not very good it's still good"

then again i don't have a problem eating the crappy stuff you cook at home... howies is still my fav :)

as for pizza stone... an alton brown tip... quarry tile = pizza stone http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cookware/msg050859004992.html

bludroptop wrote: That thick stuff they make in Chicago is admittedly tasty, but it just isn't pizza. I'm not trying to start a war here - it's good, just needs a different name.

I am from the Chicago Suburbs; while I agree that the thick stuff is good and needs a different name, have you ever had Chicago style Thin Crust? Really Really good. I go to other parts of the midwest (never really been out of the midwest), and the pizza is just bad. This is a bad picture, but the best I could find.

The best pizza ever. Of course, I've never had New York pizza (other than Pizza Hut/Dominos--which obviously doesn't count)

In the early '70s, while in the Navy stationed in Sicily, I often had the chance to eat REAL Sicilian pizza...in this case, baked in a brick oven. As a previous poster said, it's NOTHING like the pizzas you get in the U.S.

New York pizza FTW. I don't like Chicago style (deep dish), which, IMO, isn't even pizza.

BTW, I've got to disagree with Wally about it being impossible to get pizza outside NY. It's difficult, but not impossible. There's a family-owned pizza place here owned and staffed by immigrants from New York. I've had authentic NY pizza in New York, and I can't tell any difference.

That said, I agree that the chains suck. I'd rather eat the box than the pizza from several national chains.

You guys mention distaste for the chains. I assume you are limiting yourself to PH/Dominos/Papa Johns? Have you ever had Rosati's, or Aurelio's? both very good pizza, IMO.

That being said, on a drunken night, Domino's is very good.

EastCoastMojo wrote: What's an "apizza"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally's_Apizza

http://sallysapizza.net/default.aspx

Wally wrote: Pizzas are best left to professionals in either New York or Chicago. I'm a bit biased in thinking New York is best but have seen some compelling arguments in Chigago's favor. if you are not in either of those cities, what you are eating is not a pizza. And if the place your getting it from is a national chain, it may not be food. You don't come to New York looking for ribs, why would you expect to find pizza in St Louis.

Unless you are coming to my house in Seattle. Born and raised on Long Island, I got fed up with lousy pizza. Now I make real NY Style and Sicilian pies in my house. Ribs and Brisket too, but that's another thread.

Seafood and asian cusine is awesome in Seattle, but forget about pizza.

Jack

I've been around the world three times. There is no true pizza outside the U.S. Oh, they call it "pizza" and some even call it "American style pizza" and it can be quite good, but you cross that border, that's it, no pizza.

Just like all the places that have Buffalo wings....Sorry, I'm from Buffalo and the worst wings in Buffalo are better than the best anywhere else has to offer. Chicago pizza sucks-for crying out loud, they give it to you in a BAG! You want pizza, you get it in N.Y. (or someone from N.Y.) Sorry, it's just a fact of life.

connecticut pizza? please

The bouncing souls said: You can say we're weather martyr's, But snow and ice makes us rock harder Punkers should be pale and pasty The pizza here is fierce and tasty East coast! Berkeley you! East coast! Berkeley you! East coast! Berkeley you! NYC! Boston! (DC!) Philly! Jersey!

sorry no mention of CT by the souls.. u lose.

ignorant wrote: connecticut pizza? please

The bouncing souls said: You can say we're weather martyr's, But snow and ice makes us rock harder Punkers should be pale and pasty The pizza here is fierce and tasty East coast! Berkeley you! East coast! Berkeley you! East coast! Berkeley you! NYC! Boston! (DC!) Philly! Jersey!

sorry no mention of CT by the souls.. u lose.

Man, I must have really pissed them off.

I never realized Pizza could be another one of those things for one group to elevate themselves over another group with. Beer snobs, car snobs, now pizza snobs?

Guess I haven't been in the industry long enough!

Joey

minimac wrote: Chicago pizza sucks-for crying out loud, they give it to you in a BAG!

Ummm.... What?

I've lived 20-40 minutes from chicago (depending on traffic) my whole life, and I've never seen pizza in a bag.

The best pizza in the world is in downtown Gainesville...

Oh, it's not especially good pizza, though.

You are, however, stumbling out of a bar, still drunk, at 2 am, the guy's waiting right on the street-corner, and it's $6.

Something about 5 Star Pizza...