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A Good Breadstick is Hard to Find

It is.  I love breadsticks.  I grew up on cheese breadsticks from Pizza Hut so I love those most of all.  In Portland, I've enjoyed the sticks at Vincente's and Sparky's.  I have not enjoyed the sticks from Rovente's, but it's Rovente's and they weren't so much sticks as they were the frozen Texas Toast you get from the grocery store.  That said, Rovente's is still the best deal in Portland (extra large cheese for $8.99? Yes!).  Just don't order the Texas Toast.

Back to my story.  Papa John's, like Pizza Hut, is a national chain.  The pizza is not that good, but it's okay for what it is (cheap).  They currently offer a two one-topping smalls for $10 special so we ordered that last night, along with cheese sticks.  The "cheese sticks" at Papa Johns is basically a sauce-less cheese pizza cut into into long rectangles.  No good.  And the marinara sauce that comes with the sticks?  The worst!  That nasty garlic sauce that magically comes with anything you order from Papa John's is somehow better.

I'm basically writing this post so that next time I feel like breadsticks and cheap pizza you can order online I will remember to not order from Papa John's.

Until the next slice...

My new Facebook Profile Pic

Pizza Trifecta

This past week I ate pizza three times in four days.  I didn't try to do this - it just happened.  I just woke up, went about my day, then felt like pizza at the end of it.  It's not my fault pizza is so crazy delicious (and easy).  For two of the pizzas I used Vicolo corn & spelt crusts and Walnut Acres tomato & basil sauce.  I haven't actually made my own sauce or crust from scratch yet, but I WILL.  Eventually.

Pizza #1: Corn & Spelt crust, sauce, mozzarella, Sicilian style olives, green pepper, white onion, sun-dried tomatoes (in oil), and corn (why not?).  Result: I was afraid my last minute addition of corn would ruin it, but corn doesn't have enough flavor to overpower anything.  

Pizza #2: Frozen.  But I really love frozen pizza, and this is one of my favorites:  Newman's Own Thin Cheese.

Pizza #3:  Again, the corn & spelt crust, sauce, olives, sun-dried tomatoes.  But I ran out of mozzarella so I improvised with a slice of pepper jack cheese.

Pizza #3: End result

Continue following your dreams, loyal readers.

'Til the next slice...

Post-Thanksgiving Hangover Pizza

Thanksgiving yesterday was great, but today is all about the pizza.  I made a pizza with mozzarella, tomato sauce, caramelized onions, green peppers, red potatoes, and dried basil.  I didn't do a very good job caramelizing the onions and I used too much sauce and overcooked the pizza a bit, but it tasted pretty good.  Before and after pictures below.

Until the next slice...

Digital Pizza

Alright!  Just ordered a pizza online from Papa John's.  Not that I haven't ordered pizza online before, but just haven't since it evolved to what it is now:  complete control over your pizza.  You can choose the amount of sauce, how you want the pizza cooked, even how you want it sliced.

Just received a pizza text.

Until the next slice...

Baby Birthday Party

Most of our friends are unmarried childless twenty/thirty-somethings like ourselves.  On the weekends we sleep in as long as we want.  It's a nice life.  The lone exception are our friends Rahul and Dil, who are not only married, but have a one-year-old daughter and their own house, which they bought. 

Yesterday they had a party to celebrate Dil's 30th and Sai's 1st.  At the end of the evening we ordered pizza from Pizza Fino.  We ordered a Queens Blvd which may or may not be an Entourage reference:  mozzarella, onions, red peppers, black olives, mushrooms on red sauce.

It's almost 11 am and I'm still in my pajamas.  The good life.

'Til the next slice

CATNIP PIZZA

You want to know how cool I am?  I'm so cool I am on the Cat Fancy mailing list at work.  That's right - a brand new Cat Fancy delivered to my cubicle each month.  Some months back issues are sent around.  This ad from a November 2001 issue caught my eye.  I bet the Fish Frenzy flavor is delicious.  I just searched for the URL and sadly it no longer exists.

Until the next slice...

Pizza Fast Update

So I've had pizza twice and it's only November 9th, so I guess pizza fast is over.

Better luck next year.

Pizza Fast

My weekly pizza average is about two - as in pizza for a meal twice a week.  That's a lot of cheese.  And grease.  And well, the holidays are almost here so maybe cutting back on the pizza intake would be a good way to counterbalance all the delicious holiday foods I intend to partake in over the next few months.  Also November is NaNoWriMo, so I'm furiously typing to get a 50,000 word novel written by November 30th.

SO:  i'm going to attempt to not eat pizza for the rest of November.  I actually haven't had pizza in November yet, so this is off to a good start.  I'll also be taking a hiatus from Pizza Blog for the same time period (unless I am inspired or see some awesome pizza-related thing I must share).  Not to worry, loyal readers.  I will be back.

Until the next slice.

Weekly Pizza Tally

Pizza Tally for week ending October 31st:

4 times!

Pizza Schmizza
Rovente's
Vincente's
Sparky's

Yum.

Until the next slice...

Saturday Morning Pizza Fix

I drank one too many Rainier tallboys last night (when it comes to Rainier one is too many) so today the only thing I want is pizza. Delivered. I ordered from Bandini Pizza & Pasta - a place I will have now eaten at twice in three days thanks to the flyer in my mailbox. The delivery was fast and the cheese was pretty tasty so today I am trying the Florence (spinach, tomatoes, cheeses (incl ricotta)). I don't understand why mozzarella is listed twice on the ingredients (both fresh mozzarella and normal non-fresh mozzarella) but I'm excited.

30 minutes til delivery.

Update:  Should have stuck with the plain cheese.  Too much on the Florence made it a bit soggy... Disappointment. 

One million space bucks

I don't know why - but Pizza the Hut was in head my last night.

More Pictures of Lonesomes Pizza

Adam reminded me that he'd taken pictures of Lonesomes Pizza before and asked that I post them to Pizza Blog. Nevermind that he could post them himself....

FRIDAY NIGHT PIZZA NIGHT

We ordered in from Lonesome's Pizza.

Website and menu here. They used to only deliver to the inner east Portland, but according to their website they are now delivering to west Portland.


We've ordered from there before and in the past have had the following:

1. Lee Majors vs. a barracuda with a bowie knife $18 Marinara, fresh mozzarella, and basil leaves, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.

3. Jacques Cousteau vs. that stingray that killed the crocodile guy $19 A four cheese pie with mozzarella, parmigiana, ricotta, and gorgonzola.

4. Swayze vs. himself (and a bowie knife) $20
A green pie with mozzarella and sliced tomatoes, topped with our
homemade pesto and shaved pecorino.

8. my dad vs. your dad $21
A white pie with mozzarella, pear, walnut and gorgonzola.

Last night we decided to go with my dad vs. your dad again. I think your dad won.

If you live in Portland - check them out. The pizza is interesting and delicious, the website is hilarious, and it is operated by a self-described midget (and a very tall guy - giant?).

Now THIS is a Pizza Party

Mary-Kate and Ashley meet the Lonely Island Boys meet too many drugs. Or drinks. Or something.

It's catchy, funny, but creepy. So creepy. And also feels kind of wrong.

(h/t to The Daily Dish)

DYI Pizza Night

Sometimes the best pizza is the pizza you make yourself. The other night we got together with our friends Rahul and Dil (and their 10-month-old daughter) to make pizzas. Dil made the dough and prepared the toppings (sauteed onions, zucchini, peppers, mushrooms, and an egg), Rahul made the sauce, and Adam and I brought a package of mozzarella cheese that went unopened. But we did bring a bottle of wine (also went unopened) and DYI ice cream sundae supplies (opened and eaten).

The pizzas turned out tasty, although Dil (the former pastry chef) is much more talented in the pizza assemblying process than the rest of us.









My finished product:


Sai already loves pizza...

Pizza + Corn dogs = win? No.

What. is. this.

My Pizza Beginnings

Pizza is awesome. It transcends generations, social class, appropriate meal times. You can put anything on a pizza. You can put more pizzas on a pizza. You can get pizza from the grocery store, restaurant, food cart, and for when you're really craving pizza in a bus terminal or at the office, a vending machine.

I grew up in Scott City, a lovely town in western Kansas. Scott City lacked many things, but one thing it did not lack was a Pizza Hut franchise (see above photo). Pizza Hut's name is synonymous with delicious, quality pizza. Best in the nation? Maybe not. But ridiculously close. What other pizza brands offers innovative products like the Big Foot (two feet of delicious bread, sauce, and cheese) and stuffed crust pizza.

The Pizza Hut was the home of many childhood memories for myself and other Scott Citians: birthday parties, most lunches during high school, family dinner after church, even my first date. Pizza Hut even taught me how to read.

For me, Pizza Hut become the benchmark that which all other pizza would be judged by. So, my standards are really, really low. I now live in Portland where friends who grew up near Chicago or on the East Coast talk about "good pizza" and how Portland "lacks good pizza". Pizza snobs. Thanks to Pizza Hut, I enjoy most all pizza and think Portland has great pizza.

I tried deep dish once in Chicago and I thought it sucked.

Luckily there will still be pizza in five years...