Category Archives: Pizza

Men’s Health Does Best and Worst Pizzas in America (All Wrong)

pizza_ass.jpgIf you’re having a busy day and could stand to save some time, I’ll sum the entire Men’s Health article up for you right here in one sentence: All of the pizzas listed in the Men’s Health magazine article titled “Best and Worst Pizzas in America” are garbage pies—even the ones they liked.

Now that you know where I’m coming from, I hope you’re still interested in reading. Because I’m going to show you why Men’s Health is clueless about pizza. Sure, they probably know nutrition all day long. I won’t argue that. But they definitely don’t know pizza.

That’s my job. I’m the Pizza Expert. Right? I eat pizza almost every friggin day of the week, man. I love pizza and I really, really, really hate bad pizza.

So here’s what got me fired up about Men’s Health doing pizza: they focus on the healthy aspects like nutrition and stuff, but they totally ignore how the pizza itself tastes or what it’s really made from.

In fact, right off the bat they make the biggest faux pas you can make when looking at pizza. The first thing they do is try to equate Red Lobster with pizza. Anyone who even includes Red Lobster on their pizza list is just begging to be spun in the air and buried in yesterday’s bad dough.

At least they mentioned the Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail. I might have forgiven them since they switched from “Red Lobster: pizza” to “Red Lobster: seafood.”

Then they totally blow the whole Red Lobster/pizza thing out of the water by bringing up Papa John’s. Worse, they bring up the vegetarian PJ’s. Then they offer another PJ as a substitute. Let me tell you something. Papa John’s is to pizza like Wendy’s is to hamburgers. They make a marginally good product and the guy who fronts them is a nice dude. But really, they aren’t GOOD, just not as bad as McDonald’s or Dominoes.

Then comes Sbarro’s stuffed pizza followed by Sbarro’s fresh tomato pizza. The first is like a huge New York hot dog stuffed with everything bad for you, except it’s from the twitchy guy outside the ballpark so all that stuff that’s not good for you isn’t really all that tasty or good for the gastronomy either. The second is like a garden salad with crappy bread underneath it. Do the math.

Then comes Romano’s Macaroni Grill. Here’s a tip: just because the joint and the pie have Italian/Greek-sounding names doesn’t mean they’re “authentic.” It probably means they serve sub-par food to act as a front for the real goings on in the back of the place. You know, guys named Vinnie, poker games, occasional gunfire. That kind of thing. Macaroni Grill has had some of the worst pizza we have reviewed on this site: Stay away.

Then they mention Pizza Hut. Let me tell you the difference between Pizza Hut and Dominoes… Pizza Hut has chairs and a salad bar. Otherwise, I’m pretty sure they use the same ovens and same cut-rate minimum wage labor to produce their cardboard with pepperoni on it.

Next up, Uno Chicago Grill. I can’t comment here, since I am not sure if they are talking about the franchise one, or some original one with no relation. From their description, though, it sounds delightful, which leads me to believe it is the franchise one since it just tastes so processed that it can’t be good. At this point, down to their number one pick, I’m willing to bet that if Men’s Health has it on their list and it’s not “mainstream,” it’s probably good stuff.

Now, they get into the best pizzas in America. Considering how well they did with the worst pizzas, how well do you think they did with the best picks? Exactly, they included Chuck E. Cheese on their list. ‘Nuff said.

Here’s my advice: if Men’s Health says anything about pizza at all, ever again… burn the issue. Don’t keep reading, don’t hope there’s a great piece on how to knock your thirty minute jog down to twenty-eight minutes. Just burn the issue and walk away.

Then go get pizza. Real pizza. If you don’t know where to get real pizza, surf around my site. Go ahead, skip the jog and workout today and look for a good pizza joint instead. It’s worth it.

Best Stuffed Pizza at Stefano’s in Chicago

stefanos.jpgChicago is known for its deep dish pizza—perhaps a lesser known but just as incredible pizza, is stuffed pizza, Chicago’s deep dish variation.

I ate one of Chicago’s best stuffed pizzas yesterday. I had Stefano’s stuffed special. The layer of cheese was as thick and gooey as expected. Each bite consisted of mouthwatering part-mozzarella, part-parmesan cheese and fresh toppings. The green pepper and onions were delectably crisp and the sausage was aromatically tasty. The sauce was a little thicker than expected with chunks of tomato—it didn’t personally bother me, but I can understand if someone wasn’t a fan of that. The price and timing were great too. Unlike certain deep dish places that take at least an hour or later to cook you a pizza (ahem, Gino’s East), this pizza was brought out in 45 minutes. For a medium stuffed pizza, it cost right around $20, and there were plenty of leftovers for the next day.

This Chicago stuffed pizza gem is located in charming Lincoln Square on 2124 Lawrence Avenue. Parking is found right around the corner on the north end of Lawrence.

Stefano’s stuffed pizza in Chicago gets 7 out of 8 slices

Pizzatweetup at The Sicilian Oven in Lighthouse Point

pizzatweetup.jpgLast night we had another PizzaTweetup.  This time we all descended upon The Siclian Oven in Lighthouse Point.  Approximately 58 pizza lovers and friends came to try out their amazing pizza, and grab some drinks.  Not even hail and a mini hurricane kept our die- hards from attending.

Last time I made the mistake of including the names of everyone who attended, and then I heard complaints all month long about the placement of their names and the order they appeared, so this time I will not name everyone individually.  Just know I remember each and everyone of my friends who were there and thank you sincerely for attending.  Pizza lovers from as far as Miami, and even Wellington came!

The event started at 7pm and most showed up right on time.  We started serving the pizza at around 7:30pm, with a Pepperoni Pie that came right out of the beautiful wood oven they use to cook with.  For the next 2 hours, pizza arrived hot & fresh and was brought around to everyone, making sure each person had as many slices as they could possibly eat.  There was no shortage of pizza this evening.  Besides the normal plain pie (which is remarkable here), the owners Andrew and Ralph even brought out Sicilian style and Vegetarian Pizza.  If you couldn’t find a slice to eat at this event, then you just do not eat pizza.

I would like to thank the owners of The Sicilian Oven for their hospitality and the free pizza.  Your staff is some of the finest I have encountered in my Pizza journeys. Attentive, funny, and full of life. The owners even gave out 3 gift cards to random attendees who tweeted about them.  @twittgoddess won $10, @thedonz won $25 and @mattmaschler won $50!  Congrats guys, I hope you enjoy your return visit.

Special thanks to @oweno from Ustar Video for making this amazing video below!

We also thank @fsutoby from Tilson PR, for bringing all that free Dunkin Donuts stuff to hand out!  Much appreciated Toby!  Our attendees even received free car wash certificates from @ultimatecarwash!

Thanks everyone once again for making this such a spectacular event.  See you all next month.  I haven’t chosen the place yet, but you can bet it will only be at someplace good!

pizzatweetup.jpgpizzaevent.jpgtamifrommiami.jpgthedonz.jpgpizzapizza.jpgpizzastaff.jpgthepizzagang.jpgamandastewart.jpgultimatecarwash.jpgmymash.jpgdaleandallison.jpgthepizzakids.jpgstudiomodule.jpgsternalpr.jpgpizzagirls.jpgitaliandave.jpgtamipizza.jpgtilsonpr.jpgthedudedean.jpgsicilianoven.jpgpizzaowner.jpgthe_sicilian_oven.jpgpizza_perfect.jpgthedonz.jpg

Big City Pizza Boca Raton Renovates a Bit

bigcitypizza.jpgbig_city_pizza.jpgBig City Pizza in Boca Raton recently renovated the inside, cleaning it up about and adding some Italian Character.  This is a welcomed change, considering the previous space looked a little run down, and aged.  Many of us thought Big City Pizza was going to move across the street into another shopping center, but instead they stayed put and started to renovate.  Big City Pizza is located on 222 Yamato Road, near the Panera Bread.  561.997.5656

There is new paint on the wall, new menus posted, and the place has a great new look and feel to it.  The owners tell me many other changes are planned for the future and some should be noticeable soon.

The pizza I had there today was great.  There was something about the way the cheese tasted today on the regular slice (they had no sicilian today) that was outrageous.  The guy behind the counter told me they hadn’t changed anything, but this visit gave me one of the best slices I have had there, or at many other places for that matter.  The cheese:sauce ratio was perfect, and even though the pie just came out of the oven, the crust held up decently.

Well done guys!  We wish you much success with the redesign and decision to stay put.  After the pizza I had there the other day, you will be seeing me more often. Hope it always tastes this good.

Big City Pizza in Boca Raton, gets 6 out of 8 slices for todays visit!

Spris Pizza Lincoln Road

spris.jpgspris_pizza.jpgWent back to Spris on Lincoln Road in South Beach for another tasting.  Although I did not have the same pretty waitress I had last time, I tried to not let that skew my tastebuds.  Spris Pizzeria and Restaurant is located on 731 Lincoln Rd Miami Beach, FL 33139 (305) 673-2020.

I know it probably would have been wiser for me to try a new place, we haven’t reviewed before here on Worst Pizza, but as we passed by this place, I recalled how great it was last time.  Spris was busy but there were still seats.  Our server wasn’t nearly as attentive as he should have been, in regards to drinks, but the food came out in a decent amount of time.

The pizza was as delicious as I recalled it.  Very thin, with some amazing sauce and cheese.  The crust wasn’t as perfect as it was last time, as you can see in the bubble photo above, but it still managed not to disappoint. One of these days I would love to speak with the owner of Spris (who also seems to own like every restaurant on Lincoln Road) and find out what he uses in his crust, to get the texture it has.

Next time I am down in South Beach, I will try to stay away from Spris and try a new place to review for everyone.  I hear Pizza Piola is well worth the try.

Spris Pizza gets 6 out of 8 slices.

Miami-Dade Prosecutor Goes To the Dark Side of the Pie

pissed_pizza.jpgWelcome to the wonderful, odd, and (sometimes) tasty world of pizza.  The Pie has the power to inspire love, peace, and harmony.  It also has a dark side.  An evil side.  The burnt-crust, slimy cheese, nasty anchovy heads side that causes war, famine, pestilence, and violence.

Today, we’re going to look at that dark side.  The Vader side of pizza.  It involves a prosecuting attorney from Miami-Dade County, an innocent delivery woman, and Domino’s Pizza.

David Ranck, an attorney of controversy, a public servant with misdemeanor tendencies, and a questionable outlook on life was already well on the road towards joining the Dark Side.  Then, he called one of the most evil entities on the planet.  One that has branch offices all over the world to spread its evilness to all (in 30 minutes or less).

Meanwhile, a young woman, fresh to the shores of America and new to the land of Florida,  had accepted work with the Evil Pizza Empire–not knowing their vile plans for world domination through the secret Power of Indigestion.  The woman, Yudisceus Rodriguez de Armas, became a pizza delivery woman.

When Ranck called to order his newest slice of soul-blotching pie, he expected the Force to arrive within 30 minutes to his condo in Miami Beach.  Little did he know that the gate which secured his property from theft and burglarations was closed.

When sweet Yudisceus arrived, the gate was barred and she had no access.  She did what pizza delivery people the world over are trained to do: she called Ranck’s phone to ask for admittance to deliver his order.  Ranck, being near total servitude to the Dark Side, was angered and quickly showed his temper to the girl at the gates.

The details of the great battle are sketchy and witnesses are scarce, but a punch was thrown at innocent Yudisceus Rodriguez de Armas and the police, they did arrive.  Luckily, despite the violence and the pain and the sure legal battle to come, one thing is known for certain.  That one thing could be what saves the day, what redeems the barrister from certain servitude to the Dark Side.

That one saving grace, the light that shines upon the darkness that is Domino’s…  the pizza remained undelivered and uneaten by Ranck.  He was saved from the final clutches of the Power of Indigestion and the slime-coated, hellish zombie oblivion that is the blue and white box of certain damnation.

Mark Cuban NAKEDPizza and Texas

markcuban-mavericks.jpgYou might recognize Mark Cuban as the owner of the Dallas Mavericks. He was the founder of Broadcast.com, which Yahoo! bought for $4.6 billion, and he’s an angel investor with a new investment plan he’s calling the Mark Cuban Stimulus Plan.

His first investment under that plan is into NAKEDPizza, which is currently only in New Orleans, but wants to nationally franchise. To do that, they need money. To get that money, they sold Cuban the rights for their development in Texas.

NAKEDPizza is, itself, an interesting phenomenon. Building on the NAKED line of nutritional foods, which are made organically and without additives. The NAKEDPizza restaurant in New Orleans makes pizza without additives, preservatives, colorants, etc. In other words, it’s naked, real pizza. They were founded in 2006 and are now ready to franchise.

Mark Cuban is obviously impressed with the company and says that he’s convinced to invest.nakedpizza

“Simply the World’s Healthiest Pizza,” he says—quoting one of their taglines. “They work their asses off.”

Another unique aspect of NAKEDPizza is their embracing of social networking online as their major advertising model. Through Twitter and Facebook, primarily, they spread and promote themselves and have built impressive numbers of followers (3,400+ on Twitter so far).

Overall, what we’re seeing here is a strong, grassroots push from NAKEDPizza and it’s about to combine with the entrepreneurial investment power of Mark Cuban. This could make for some very interesting developments. The company believes that Texas alone could support up to 75 restaurants.

I wonder if Cuban will give discounts to Mavericks fans…

Tastebud Pizza Wood Fired Rustic Baking in Portland

This post comes to us courtesy of our friends at The Portland Pizza Blog.

As it’s been a while, I’ll try to keep this review brief. The strength of my memory, however, is strong, on account of one of the best ‘zas in Portland. Yes, it is pricier than some for their specialty pies (though no worse than Hammy’s), but for a tasty, luscious, fresher-than-fresh pizza, one must look no further. Except maybe Apizza Scholls, the review for which is also long overdue.

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