Well; this is a two-part question, and you can give multiple answers if you like.
1. Do you prefer frozen, a national chain (IE: Dominos, PIzza Hut), a local place/local chain, or take and bake?
2. From where?
I prefer local or take and bake to anything else.
There's a chain called Papa Murphys' (http://papamurphys.com/) that makes take and bake pizza that's really great, and it's quite a bit cheaper than Dominos or Pizza Hut. It tastes much better, too. If you have one near you; give it a try.
My second choice is a Midwest chain called Edwardos (http://www.edwardos.com/) that has the best cracker-thin crust pizza I've ever tasted.
I can throw a rock from my place and hit the best pizza place in town. Petrini's is really great... and they have a spicy chicken alfredo that's simply AMAZING. It's a wonder I don't weigh 400lbs.
If I'm bringing pizza home, it's always Papa Murphy's. I get a Cheese De-Lite ($6.99) which I then top myself (in a much lighter fashion than Papa Murphy's does). Papa Murphy's De-Lite sauce is SO much tastier than their regular sauce.
If I'm in the Cincinnati area, I must have La Rosa's.
Other than that, I occasionally do the lunch buffets at Ci Ci's and Old Chicago, and the dinner buffet at the Pizza Ranch (a Midwestern chain that is the very definition of hokey, but is darn tasty).
There's about 8 local pizza places within a 5 mile radius of where I live(Central NJ,) but truthfully the one I like best is right across the street from me called Italian Village.
I have two offices, one in Manhattan and one in Queens. It's funny, I never eat pizza at the Manhattan office because I don't know of any really good local places where I am(Empire State Building.)Any Manhattan W's know of a good place between 30th and 35th and 5th?
However, the Queens office has 3 places right around, but my favorite is called Gino's in Whitestone.
It's a very small town. Jet's Pizzas is our preference because we don't like Domino's (and this was before they kidnapped customers and plopped them in sub-standard shacks in the middle of gardens). We never get food from Pizza Hut. We used to have a Little Caesar's, and I miss that place something awful.
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I once made my own mozzarella cheese. I need to do that again. 99.99% of the rest of my pizzas are with whatever shredded cheeses I pick up at the store.
I love supreme pizzas, and I use a baking stone of course.
If I am back home, it's Lou Malnati's because its the best deep dish I have found. Unfortunately, I live 300 miles from the nearest one (I think there are 30ish Lou's in the Chicago area).
They ship them frozen, but it's pretty expensive.
I get Home Run Inn frozen pizzas (they are also good, but based in the Chicago area) and make them on my Pizza Pizazz that I heard about on the Steve Dahl Show (they have Pizza night in America on Fridays' Dahlcast)
Locally, there's a place called the Charlestown Pizza Factory that is pretty good, but it's no Malnati's or Home Run Inn.
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy - Swift
Obviously if I'm just going for something quick and/or cheap, it's Little Caeser's. It helps that I actually do like the stuff. Otherwise for delivery it's all about Jet's (jetspizza.com) and when I'm back home, nothing and I mean nothing beats Primo's (primospizzaonline.com).
Now if we're going to a sit-down place, there's a place in the Depot Town part of Ypsilanti called Aubree's (aubrees.com). So many ingredients, awesome crust, it's just so friggin' good.
Michigan against the SEC: 20-5-1 (7-3 in bowl games)
Originally posted by David AdamsAny Manhattan W's know of a good place between 30th and 35th and 5th?
I like Libretto's, 3rd and 36th. I know that's not quite what you were asking, but Empire State is closer to that place than my apartment is and they deliver to me.
Actually that whole block is pretty decent - Sarge's is a hidden gem if you want a Jewish deli that delivers and is open 24 hours.
Originally posted by BoromirMark Obviously if I'm just going for something quick and/or cheap, it's Little Caeser's. It helps that I actually do like the stuff.
I tried Little Caeser's for the first time a few months ago and I was very surprised at how good (and not greasy) it was. I prefer it to Dominos. And it's like $5 for a large; so you really can't go wrong with the price.
And it passes my "Does it taste good cold the next day?" test. :)
We don't have anything that isn't a chain, but we have a ton of places.
If I want cheap Pizza, I go for Hungry Howie's. Best cheap pizza out there and they have different flavored crusts. Another good place that is slightly more expensive is Marco's.
If I'm looking at a higher quality pizza, it is either Mellow Mushroom or Brick Oven.
I avoid: Dominos (Too Greasy), Cici's (more like Feces), and Papa Johns (Blandest sauce of any major chain).
I just about always prefer local places to chains.
There's a place right near me called Enzo's that's wonderful. However, I don't often order from there (unless The Lovely Future Mrs. Hegemon is in town) because I drive around for my job a lot--I usually only eat out when I'm between appointments or something and it makes more sense to eat out then to drive home. Usually in Jersey you can find a good local place wherever you are.
Originally posted by BoromirMarkIt really depends on the mood and the day.
Obviously if I'm just going for something quick and/or cheap, it's Little Caeser's. It helps that I actually do like the stuff. Otherwise for delivery it's all about Jet's (jetspizza.com) and when I'm back home, nothing and I mean nothing beats Primo's (primospizzaonline.com).
Now if we're going to a sit-down place, there's a place in the Depot Town part of Ypsilanti called Aubree's (aubrees.com). So many ingredients, awesome crust, it's just so friggin' good.
I love Aubree's, though it's always so packed when we go. And I also agree with Jet's and Little Caesar's being the everyday alternative. Surprised you hadn't mentioned Buddy's, though, which is easily my favorite pizza available locally.
See and I hear from my friends and family about this all the time, and I know they're a Detroit institution, but Buddy's isn't that awesome to me. To quote Dwight Schrute, good not great. Don't mind eating there and it's still good, but there are places that are much better.
Now that said if I was giving a tour of the Detroit area to someone new here, we'd eat at Buddy's.
Michigan against the SEC: 20-5-1 (7-3 in bowl games)
There's no real decent Pizza places in St Louis. IMO's is the big local chain, and it's the thin, pre-made crusts and I think they suck. PLUS, they use Provel cheese. Simply horrible.
None of the other places, (Smuggala's stephanino's ) are any good either.
Take it from someone who used to work for two different pizza chains (first Pizza Hut, then Little Caesars), a local non-chain pizzeria is where you'll get the best tasting pizza. Of course, it helps to live in the NYC metro area, where I'm told we have much better local pizzerias than most any other place. My personal pick is a place here in Westbury called Alfredo's that has been ranked among to top made pizzas in all of Long Island. I have friends who swear by 'Ray's famous' or 'Famous Ray's' in the city, but there's at least a half-dozen different locations with those names, so who knows if you new to the place which one's the real deal.
As for chain restaurants, I've always maintain Pizza Hut's #1. Pap John's comes in a close second for me. Little Caesar's a great choice price-wise, but I prefer it more for their crazy bread than their pizzas. And then you got Domino's... yeah. Even with their new ad campaign, it's still nowhere near as good as the other three.
I will drive 30-ish miles to get a Godfather's pizza. Locally though, there're a number of italian places that have been doing pizza since the late '50s that are pretty good. If I ever crave something akin to a Giordano's pie (which is the best in Chicago, though I go to the Rosemont store), there's a local place called Papa Del's that kinda-sorta gets there.
I agree with stagger that "St. Louis-syle" pizza *especially* the Provel, is an affront to the term pizza.
As far as the other chains, I can't stand anyone who gets their crust delivered rather than making it, and I just recently turned down 3 free Papa John's pizzas because I've never been a fan.
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Originally posted by StaggerLeeThere's no real decent Pizza places in St Louis. IMO's is the big local chain, and it's the thin, pre-made crusts and I think they suck. PLUS, they use Provel cheese. Simply horrible.
None of the other places, (Smuggala's stephanino's ) are any good either.
So, I get the take home from Wal Mart.
I've always been intrigued by the St Louis style pizza ever since I read about it on wikipedia. Super-thin crust, provel cheese which was created especially for it (a processed cheese made from a combination of cheddar, swiss, and provolone). Even with you (and Mike Zeidler) telling me it's bad, I feel like I still need to try it sometime.
I don't really eat pizza anymore since I've been dieting, but when I did it was local places like Toppers (26 locations, 21 of which are in Wisconsin), or Glass Nickel Pizza (which is up to 8 locations).
I don't really eat pizza anymore since I've been dieting, but when I did it was local places like Toppers (26 locations, 21 of which are in Wisconsin), or Glass Nickel Pizza (which is up to 8 locations).
Toppers has Macaroni And Cheese pizza that is out of this world- and they have great wings, too.
Our local Glass Nickel has corn as a topping option which I thought was interesting but I didn't really care for the pizza all that much.
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