2 Questions re: The Best Pizza You Ever Had...
Mates,
Following on the heels of the 'Marijuana and Work-Out' thread, it seems apropos to ask about your favorite pizza. Back in the day deep dish was the 'new' pizza. IIRC, there was an "Uno's" on S. University over by Washtenaw Ave that majored in deep dish. Later on, stuffed-crust pizza is/was all the rage and now its come back around to thin crust in many places. So today's questions are these:
1. Where did/do you get the best pizza you ever ate?
2. What is your favorite frozen/store-bought pizza?
XM
Picture here to get you in the mood to 'dish' on your favorites....
While living in Kentwood MI, I thought Lia's was the best. Little family owned place.
I grew up in Kentwood and loved Florentino’s. It was also a great family-owned pizza place. It was actually part of the extended Vitale family who was mentioned earlier. I went to school with Agostino Vitale, who later ran Vitale’s and started Uccello’s. All of those places have great pizza. My all-time favorite, though, is Lou Malnati’s - love the butter crust.
While living in Kentwood MI, I thought Lia's was the best. Little family owned place.
Best pizza I ever had is free pizza
Best Pizza = Patsy's in NYC on 116th and 1st. Old school coal oven, paper thin crispy crust. My Grandfather grew up across the street from it over 90 years ago.
Frozen Pizza = Eh, pass.
That's what I'm talking about.
Best, Antonio's in Amherst, MA.
Antico's in Atlanta.
Uno's in a couple places. (much better than the malnati's I've had)
Fricanos Too
Holland, Mi
Fricanos is in Grand Rapids too. Excellent thin crust pizza.
I like all pizza but ususally like it best simple. Fricanos in Grand Haven is the original and hard to beat.
But the best single Pizza I ever had was a regualr pepperoni at the Clover Bar in GH. (About 30+ years ago - when it was still on Washington)
Best frozen: Palermo Thin Crust Supreme.
Clover Bar is still pretty good but Fricanos is better imo
Best I’ve ever eaten was Girodano’s in Chicago. Better than Uno’s
Best around here (Kalamazoo area) is probably Erbelli’s. I don’t know what it’s called but they have a white sauce/grilled chicken/mozzarella/jalapeño pizza that is fantastic.
Big chain is Hungry Howies. All about the flavored crusts.
I don’t eat store bought. Does Papa Murphy’s count?
I cosign Erbelli's. The Rhino is amazing.
Del Ray Pizza* in Alexandria, VA or Buddys. My daughter's in-laws insist on a trip to Buddys when they are in town.
I'll make note of everyone's store-bought choices.
*I've been told the pizza didn't survive success, an oft-repeated tale.
Best pizza ever was top tomato in Philly. New York style pizza with loads of olive oil and fresh ingredients and perfectly baked crust. Delicious.
Flatbread Company, Pā’ia, Maui.
Unfortunately, it’s a bit of a trip to get there, so a half tray from the original Cottage Inn will usually get it done.
I will second Erbelli’s in K-zoo as being great, but the best i’ve ever had was at The Saloon in Gladstone (just outside Escanaba for those not familiar). My sister-in-law is from the area and her family introduced us to it. Un. Be. Lievable.
I make homemade pizzas on the grill with no pans or stones and they're awesome. Gotta use 00 flour, not AP. Proof the dough overnight, toss it into 12" pies, brush them with olive oil and slap them on a super hot grill. Flip them after about 2 minutes and top them with red pepper pesto instead of sauce, fresh mozzarella, feta, basil leaves, sliced tomatoes and whatever meat you like.
The secret weapon for any pizza though- Mike's hot honey. Trust me.
I've been lurking on this site for maybe 8 years and this is my first post. Not sure why. I like pizza.
Agree w/ Mr. Kass that choosing one is not fun, but a couple come to mind. One in Bologna, Italy, that doesn't exist anymore (not helpful). I would choose Lou Malnati's as a Chicago resident for 20 years over even Pequod's or Giordano's (I like their thin crust). But best might be Punch Pizza in Minneapolis (very underrated food city, per capita maybe the best I've been to, and I travel for work 180-200 days per year). Joe's Pizza in NYC is good, but NYC pizza in general hasn't been my thing.
Frozen, my wife found Screamin' Sicilian pizzas and they're pretty darned good. Plus my kids like sticking the punchout cardboard mustaches up their noses (find the pizza and it'll make sense).
And Little Caesar's is still home/comfort. Not good, but good 'n terrible (for a hangover).
Go Blue.
Pietro's in GR had one of the most amazing deep dish pies I've ever tried; like the one in the picture but double thick. Two crusts, meatball-sized sausage, aged old world pepperoni; it was nuts. Of course this was at least 20 years ago and I haven't had their pizza since.
Now though our favorites are harmony brewing, the Mitten (pizza flights are awesome), and Big Bob's in gaslight village.
Mitten is our go to place for za. Their pulled pork pizza is the bees knees. Having solid beer only helps matters.
We live right by a Jets, so we get our quick take out pizza from there. They have the best ranch.
Nothing comes to mind when I ask myself whats the best pizza I've ever had, but I'm of the mindset where I remember the shitty pizza I have and never go back. When it comes to frozen pizza, anything that's relatively thin crust. No digorno for this guy.
I have to say, my buddy got me into the following brand in the last couple years and I came around to them after never eating the horrid product save a time of two in my life. But once dilo-Dave Brandon left, Dominoes truly did change their approach and now makes a legit fast-food pizza. I grew up eating Pizza Hut mostly for this type of pizza but not anymore. Dominoes is what we do when we want cheap, shitty pizza...it does the trick.
While Buddy's is pretty much my favorite Detroit style, if you get an immaculately made Jet's, cooked just right, it's right there.
I don’t get the Buddy’s hype. I’ve had it a few times and I swear Little Caesar’s “deep dish” is better. If you switched the boxes I’m sure more people would agree with that statement.
The best pizza was in my small, hometown. It was a mom and pop joint run by an old (or so I thought then) guy and his even older mom. It was within walking distance of the high school football stadium but it only had 4 or 5 tables so if you wanted to go there after the game, you either left early or high-tailed it over there. ahh, memories.
Note: The pizza parlor is long gone, replaced by a real estate office.
Gino's East in Chicago is the best deep dish I've ever had. The pizza is still excellent, but was more fun before they remodeled and modernized. Lou Maldonado's is up there also.
Put a gun to my head and make me choose between Chicago and NY style and I would pick Chicago, but love them both.
Have had some great late night slices in Manhattan, but I'll be damned if I could remember where? There is a pretty decent NY style place here in San Francisco called "Escape from New York", but I liked it better when it was just the one location on Haight Street, now they are all over and still good, but not quite as good as before.
I never eat frozen, no input there.
When I moved to the west coast, I missed Detroit style and Chicago deep dish for many years. But lately I've come to really enjoy a nice crispy New York style or fire oven crust. I am a pizza-fficianado despite limited choices out here. All of my favorite joints are of the thinner variety and frankly a thick doughy crust disgusts me.
When I am back in Michigan I do enjoy Hungry Howies as far as chains go. Jets is good too. I miss those places out here.
As far as frozen pizzas, probably Red Baron. Digiornios is always extremely raw/doughy when I follow the dirrctions.
The original Vito's in Lincoln Park was my favorite pizza ever. Nothing else like it.
My favorite frozen was the A&P store brand pepperoni back in the day. My mom used to have twenty in our basement freezer at all times.
Vito's was soooo good, with its sweet, sweet sauce
Pizza is like sex. Some is better than others but it's all good.
I really like Franco's in at Ohio University in Athens
I'm gonna get savaged for this but my all time favorite pizza was in Ann Arbor. There was a shitty little place called Gepetto's on the southwest corner of Hill & State (I think ... it's been a loooong time). Super greasy, super sloppy and the sauce was very spicy. It was amazing.
Any savagery will be undeserved. Gepetto's was my absolute favorite when I lived in Ann Arbor, that spicy sauce was incredible. I've tried for years to duplicate it, the closest I have come is by adding a ton of garlic and red pepper to my sauce. I probably ate more Bell's than anything, then Gepetto's, then Cottage Inn.
Best pie I ever had was a wood fired pizza at a place in Lyon, France, long before wood fired pizza was a thing. After growing up on chain pizza it was a freaking revelation.
What I really want right now is a works from Davannis, a smaller chain in Minneapolis.
My friend, that was not long before wood fired pizza was a thing. Wood fired pizza was the only thing when pizza was invented in Naples, and is still pretty much the only way it's done in the old world (hence your discovery in Lyon).
It is just now catching back on and becoming a thing in America.
One thing I know for sure:
Buddy's is the only pizza I've had that tastes the exact same in the gluten free version.
And that's saying something.
Ever think that could be because it really isn't gluten free? They just put it on the menu so they don't lose a percentage of their clientele?
I was stationed at an Air Force base in Alaska. Had a couple days off so we made sure to have cases of beer in barracks. Snow storm hit late at night and we were starved. Called a pizza to be delivered. They called about an hour later... 'Can't make it. Storm too bad'
All we had was beer to consume. Starved. Hours later...We heard someone knocking on door down the hallway. Finally went out to see what was up. It was a pizza delivery guy(not ours) but no answer at door. He said "Do you want it?" YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES
He didn't even want to get paid but we did with tip. He said I have to warn you its our Hawaiian, Canadian bacon and pineapple. First time for most of us.
Needless to say WE DEVOURED IT!
Best pizza ever!
Cool story huh bros! 100% true tho.
Nice perspective!
Not sure if it was a good pizza or not, but nothing compares to that 2 hour old cold pizza on that stormy night.
I’m a deep dish lover. So the best I’ve ever had is the original Giordano’s in Chicago!
Frozen pizza isn’t really my thing but if if I had to choose, Costco has probably the best I’ve tried.
1. Via Napoli at Epcot. Their margherita pizza is amazing.
2. I eat one like once a year so I’ll go with the French bread Red Barron?
Loui's in Hazel Park, also love their anti-pasta salad (It's more ham and cheese covering some lettuce, but that's my kind of salad)
Arni's in Lafayette, IN, they have a decent salad also.
Though I usually dog on Little Caesars, the two best spots to get one was the original store in Garden City and at Joe Louis. They had some high quality pies come out of there from time to time.
So I sit and open my computer to MGoBlog just as soon as I pulled my crappy Kroger 'rising crust' 'pizza' out of the oven to let it cool, and this here thread pops up. Thanks, guys.
Most of my favorite pizza memories are about the memories more than the pizza. My brothers and best man took me to the original Cottage Inn after my wedding rehearsal dinner for a pizza and a 'few' brews. My 16-year-old just-got-my-license brother had to drive me home. Don't remember much about the pizza, but the rest of that weekend was great.
Small town Main Street Pizza right across the street from the local community theater where we used to live ranks high on my 'best pizza' list, mostly due to all the late nights building sets and hanging lights for shows my wife was in or directing.
A few years ago while visiting my son in NYC my wife and I were wandering uptown from the High Line and we stopped for a late lunch at some place a block or so south of Madison Square Garden and ate probably the best pizza-by-the-slice I've ever had.
Overall my favorite pizzas are, not-so-humbly, my own. Gotta admit that the quality happens to be a little inconsistent, but when my kids were teens they convinced us to ditch the whole turkey-and-dressing Thanksgiving meal for homemade pizza, a tradition that continues to this day.
Can't say I've ever had a really horrible pizza, other than this frozen stuff (Meijer's is worse than Kroger, though), but I had some pretty poor Pizza Hut ones while in college, courtesy of my roommate's evil stepmother who was trying to buy his affection by taking us out to eat. Didn't work. Again, it was the company and the memories rather than the pie. But free food is free food.
A current fave, although I haven't been there in a few years (but maybe this summer?), is Antonia's in Freeport, Maine. Went there a couple times a year while my son was attending college nearby, and each time we were treated like old friends or family, and their pizza is wicked good.
Also, I worked at Domino's store #2 for five months after my daughter was born so my wife could be a stay-at-home for those first few critical months, so I have a small soft spot for that chain. Especially since my manager sent me home with a free pizza nearly every night to help us make ends meet. (My day job was as a substitute teacher, so every bit helped.)
Native New Yorker here, and this will sound crazy, but my favorite pizza is from a place in, of all places, El Paso, TX. It's a place called Hello Pizza, and the owner is from Brooklyn, NY and has all his ingredients shipped from NYC. People give me the weirdest looks when I tell them that El Paso has an amazing pizza place, but I swear it's true.
Cottage Inn a long time ago, and free at that. A friend used to work in the back. Any pizza that had defects - for example, with a burnt spot, or too bubbly - was a reject. He would come by and say when he was going to come back off shift, and what kind of pizza did we want him to screw up. We were never sure how he kept his job.
1. Green Lantern Madison Hts, not the satellite carry out locations.
2. Alibi in Rochester
3. International - Pizza Rustika, Lake Bled, Slovenia