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Pizza: The Good, The Bad, and the Deep Dish (Page 2)
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subego
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Jan 29, 2020, 03:28 PM
 
Originally Posted by Laminar View Post
I never considered that Pizza Hut would have beer, my parents only ever got Diet Coke. Now I'm getting all nostalgic thinking of sitting in the non-smoking section, staring at the one or two arcade games sitting there, and leaving stinking of greasy crust and cigarette smoke.
Oooh... I have some in-laws in Burlington, and one of my favorite memories from visiting as a kid was the Crazy Climber in the Pizza Hut.
( Last edited by subego; Jan 29, 2020 at 04:06 PM. )
     
Thorzdad
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Jan 29, 2020, 05:59 PM
 
Being in Indiana, when we wanted to do pizza night with our kids, we went to a local chain, Noble Roman’s. Back then, the pizza was great (especially their sicilian) and the atmosphere was quiet-ish and relaxing (well, as relaxing as a pizza joint full of families can be, I guess.)

Then, at some point, company management decided they needed to hang TVs all over the place, all playing different stuff, and the places went from relaxing and family-friendly to loud-as-f**k and not really a place for families. We stopped going. I heard similar stories from other families. The chain eventually closed almost all of their stores. I still miss them, though.
     
subego
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Jan 29, 2020, 06:30 PM
 
For whatever reason, my dad is appalled by the idea of a tomato based pizza, so we never had the family pizza place. It was almost purely a delivery experience in my youth.

Our family restaurant was a place called The Medici, which was the big U of C hangout when my dad was there, and opened up another right by us when we had moved.

One notable thing about it is they filmed an elevator explosion for the TV show Crime Story in that building. It went pear-shaped on them and blew out an entire wall of the restaurant.

The other notable thing was the giant cafe mochas. I can’t believe my dad let me have these as a pre-teen. Like a 12-year-old isn’t bouncing off the ceiling enough without three hits of espresso and a mountain of chocolate.

I mean... I didn’t mind, but just amazed by his tolerance for me on coffee crack.
     
Waragainstsleep
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Jan 29, 2020, 06:33 PM
 
Theres a Pizza Hut a few miles from me which only opened in the last 5 years or so which is a sit-in place. A lot of our Dominos have tables now too.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
reader50
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Jan 29, 2020, 07:39 PM
 
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
Theres a Pizza Hut a few miles from me which only opened in the last 5 years or so which is a sit-in place. A lot of our Dominos have tables now too.
My Dominos and Pizza Hut both opened in the 5-10 years ago frame. I didn't pay attention to them at the time. I think the Pizza Hut is older, but not certain.

Pizza Hut: no dining. Some chairs to wait for your order, but no tables.
Dominos: has a very small dining area. Might fit a dozen people.
     
Thorzdad
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Jan 29, 2020, 10:26 PM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
For whatever reason, my dad is appalled by the idea of a tomato based pizza, so we never had the family pizza place. It was almost purely a delivery experience in my youth.
What did your dad prefer as the base of pizza? I do pesto pizza occasionally, but no tomato ever is just wrong.
     
subego
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Jan 30, 2020, 09:56 AM
 
He doesn’t really like pesto, either.

It’s 4-cheese white pizza or bust.
( Last edited by subego; Jan 30, 2020 at 10:23 AM. )
     
Laminar
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Jan 30, 2020, 10:26 AM
 
It took longer than it should for me to figure out that my wife doesn't like red sauce. Pre-marriage I was used to making cheap pasta+canned sauce or normal pizza and she was just generally sour on it. When it came out that she mostly didn't like the red sauce, everything changed. Now we do a basil pesto chicken bacon pea pasta that everyone loves, and when we do pizza something like a chicken bacon ranch goes over well.
     
subego
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Jan 30, 2020, 01:31 PM
 
Oddly, my dad is fine with red sauce on pasta, it’s everywhere else it’s a problem, with any kind of red. My dad has never knowingly ate ketchup.

This seemed insane as a kid, but as an adult I lost my taste for it, too. I’ll only have it when it’s an ordeal to remove it, like with a McDonald’s cheeseburger.

BBQ sauce > Ketchup
     
andi*pandi
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Jan 30, 2020, 01:57 PM
 
My younger kid doesn't like tomatoes on sandwiches salads etc, but will eat pasta sauce, salsa, ketchup, and other cooked combos. I like ketchup much better now that we switched to the "Simple" types that use sugar instead of corn syrup. Less sweet, more flavor.

White pizza is ok once in a while, but is really just cheese toast. Ranch pizza sounds like something only the midwest could love.
     
Laminar
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Jan 30, 2020, 02:20 PM
 
Originally Posted by andi*pandi View Post
White pizza is ok once in a while, but is really just cheese toast.
Nothing you've said has dissuaded me.

Ranch pizza sounds like something only the midwest could love.
Invent maybe, but all are welcome to love it.
     
subego
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Jan 30, 2020, 03:04 PM
 
Originally Posted by andi*pandi View Post
cheese toast
One of the things which irritates me about pizza places is most of their appetizers are variations of cheese and/or bread. Garlic bread, cheese bread, mozzarella sticks, friggin pizza bread.
     
reader50
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Jan 30, 2020, 03:18 PM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
I’ll only have it [ketchup] when it’s an ordeal to remove it, like with a McDonald’s cheeseburger.
McDonalds will take customization orders for their burgers. You can definitely order them plain and/or without cheese. I've never tried a "no ketchup" order, but they should take it.
     
Laminar
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Jan 30, 2020, 03:45 PM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
One of the things which irritates me about pizza places is most of their appetizers are variations of cheese and/or bread. Garlic bread, cheese bread, mozzarella sticks, friggin pizza bread.
Yeah! And their desserts are just variations on sugar + bread! I'm sensing a pattern here.

What's an appropriate pizza appetizer?
     
subego
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Jan 30, 2020, 03:53 PM
 
Originally Posted by reader50 View Post
McDonalds will take customization orders for their burgers. You can definitely order them plain and/or without cheese. I've never tried a "no ketchup" order, but they should take it.
I know, but I’m too impatient to wait for them to make it.
     
andi*pandi
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Jan 30, 2020, 04:14 PM
 
what makes a good pizza appetizer? Salad.

<ducks>

But most pizza places and restaurants take advantage of the basic ingredients they have and repurpose. bread sticks/garlic bread/garlic knots/etc? Made of pizza dough, oil, garlic, spice. Rolls for the salads? Made of pizza dough. Dessert/churros? pizza dough, butter, and cinnamon sugar.
     
subego
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Jan 30, 2020, 04:16 PM
 
Originally Posted by Laminar View Post
Yeah! And their desserts are just variations on sugar + bread! I'm sensing a pattern here.

What's an appropriate pizza appetizer?
That’s an excellent question. Off the top of my head...

Dates wrapped in bacon
Potato skins, or some poutine riff.
Something with corn. Taquitos or nachos if cross-cultural is okay. I guess polenta if not.

The idea is I’m trying to get some non-pizza ingredients into the mix.
     
subego
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Jan 30, 2020, 04:23 PM
 
Originally Posted by andi*pandi View Post
what makes a good pizza appetizer? Salad.

<ducks>
There’s an extremely popular pizza place here called Chicago Pizza & Oven Grinder. The pizza is novel. It’s like melted mozzarella soup in a bread bowl. I distinctly remember it being good 35 years ago, but somewhere along the line it turned disappointing.

They serve a giant flatbread, which is still fantastic.

They also serve a salad. It’s about as basic as you can get. I only remember iceberg and tomato, but there’s probably another ingredient or two. Along with it they bring a lazy Susan of sweet dressings, which you can ladle on as much as you want.

It’s one of the few places where I just have to get the salad.
     
Thorzdad
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Jan 30, 2020, 06:03 PM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
Dates wrapped in bacon.
Stuff the dates with blue cheese, then bacon wrap and cook.
     
ghporter
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Feb 1, 2020, 10:54 PM
 
Where I grew up, we had a small, local pizza shop called Rosie’s. They made thin crust pizza with a variety of optional toppings, as far as I remember, they were “traditional” toppings. Their location only blocks from the high school didn’t hurt their business. They had a small dining area and did a booming carry out business. That’s where I learned about pizza. I had no idea there were pizza chains until my late teens.

In my early twenties, I lived in Austin, Texas, and was introduced to deep dish pizza at Conan’s, on The Drag (Guadalupe Street), across from the UT campus. Their original restaurant, now just a memory, seemed magical, with Frank Frazetta artwork on the walls and a kind of “we’re making this up as we go” decor. Thick crusts, great sauce, lots and lots of cheese... It was marvelous.

So I’m no purist, but I’m also not any sort of fanboy for any specific chain. I like just about anything that can be reasonably called pizza, and I’m not big on lots of toppings (and NO anchovies, thank you).

My point: similar to pretty much every (non-snooty) book about wine appreciation, I suggest “eat what you like.” And support local shops whenever possible, because you never know when a real gem is going to pop up.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
andi*pandi
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Feb 2, 2020, 12:30 AM
 
Obligatory No Anchovies Please:



(I picked this one for the sims/3d animation, but there's a few bits that give me pause)
     
Laminar
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Feb 4, 2020, 01:13 PM
 
Decided to make up my version of Pokey Stix to eat while my wife watched the Super Bowl.



I used a no-knead pizza dough recipe that goes in the cast iron. Made it first thing in the morning and let it rise all day. But I only have one cast iron, so the other went in the normal skillet. Margarine, garlic powder, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper brushed on the crust, then topped with plenty of mozz.

Per subego's recommendation, made bacon-wrapped dates as an app.



Some notes:
- Since I put everything in the oven together (no patience) the pizza was baking a little cooler than it should have been. Usually the cheese starts browning, then I pull it out and stick it on the burner to finish up the bottom of the crust. This time they browned together, and I think that made the crust more chewy than fluffy/crispy.
- The only correct way to eat Pokeys is with Ken's Ranch. I didn't have any ranch, so I had to eat them plain.
- Looking at Gumby's site again, I realize I didn't sprinkle the top with grated parm, which is unfortunate.
- Strangely enough, the Pokeys were much better microwaved at work the next day for lunch. Chewiness was gone, softness was back. They were tasty.
     
[email protected]
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Feb 8, 2020, 06:04 PM
 
Pizza Lover
     
subego
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Feb 10, 2020, 04:02 PM
 
Originally Posted by Laminar View Post
Per subego's recommendation, made bacon-wrapped dates as an app.

I missed this! Awesome!

Did it work?
     
Ham Sandwich
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Feb 10, 2020, 04:19 PM
 
[...deleted...]
( Last edited by Ham Sandwich; Apr 23, 2020 at 10:36 AM. )
     
subego
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Feb 10, 2020, 04:25 PM
 
It’s done that to me, too. I’ve somehow diverted that away from actual pizza, though.
     
Laminar
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Feb 10, 2020, 04:53 PM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
I missed this! Awesome!

Did it work?
Yes! Tasty. The dates were almost too sweet, but the overall package was a good savory app. We stuffed them with almonds, which added a nice crunch. Kids weren't really into them, but kids suck anyway. Two year old just wanted the bacon because she's cool.
     
subego
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Feb 10, 2020, 04:58 PM
 
There’s a Spanish place I like who does bacon wrapped dates. They somehow involve a lot of apple cider vinegar in the process, which tempers the sweet nicely.

Full disclosure: I really like vinegar.
     
MartyParty
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Feb 18, 2020, 10:20 AM
 
Originally Posted by andi*pandi View Post
My younger kid doesn't like tomatoes on sandwiches salads etc, but will eat pasta sauce, salsa, ketchup, and other cooked combos. I like ketchup much better now that we switched to the "Simple" types that use sugar instead of corn syrup. Less sweet, more flavor.

White pizza is ok once in a while, but is really just cheese toast. Ranch pizza sounds like something only the midwest could love.
Offer him a fruit pizza next time. Despite the claims, it's delicious, and can be made at home in a simple stove or pizza oven. And that's funny how it drives mad people which hate pineapple pizzas. Though personally I think I can eat pizza of any type and shape.
Maybe when your son gets older he would appreciate veggies more, I had the same issues.
( Last edited by Thorzdad; Jul 15, 2020 at 08:11 AM. )
PowerPC FTW
     
 
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