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Pizza: food of the gods!

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10:51 / 20.04.03

We're off out to take some sun (and ignore the chill wind) and musing over where to stop for brunch. The decision was made when we thought of the nearest Pizza Express. Some might say their pizza is too wet /sloppy but I rather like 'em.

Pizza Hut, on the other hand, doesn't do it for me. Best pizza I've had in London yet was from a wee place off Old Compton Street, Bar Italia on Frith Street. A whisper of thin, very crusty crust and a smear of savoury topping, yummmm. None of this deep pan /dish "pizza pie" with mountains of stringy mozzarella American version of pizza.

Pepperoni is the default option, especially if going down the home-delivered Domino's route, but a good Pizza Napoli with the salty tang of anchovies is hard to beat.

You might think I post too much about food and that Xoc must be a tubby glutton. You would be correct with the second assumption.

11:07 / 20.04.03

I've remarked on many an occasion that pizza is the perfect food. Contains everything that's required to stay alive, and tastes great, and is simple to eat/cook.

I find Pizza Express is way too posh (unless somebody else is paying - in which case it tastes really good) and Pizza Hut is too greasy and fast-foody. Random takeaway pizzas are a bit variable but they generally do the trick. Dominoes I have a grudge against because I read somewhere they're the main sponsor behind some anti-abortion groups.

There are these slightly odd looking frozen pizzas in supermarkets at the moment - they're from a country of uncertain origin and are called "dr. somethingorother" and are quite cheap - all of which is faintly suspicious, but they're actually really good - they do a nice chicken & spinach one.

11:20 / 20.04.03

It is indeed Food of the Gods (hindu elephants gods especially).

I've got to say that Pizza Hut is an absolute abomination - the Deep Pan? Ugh. Pizza should be thin, thin, thin - dammit!! If I wanted a muth full of tasteless dough, I'd have stayed at home with a loaf of Mother's Pride. And those "savoury" beef mince abbatoir scrapings they put on the top. Never again, I tell you.

As to the perfect one - god, I don't know. Olives, I think, and some pepporoni. Simple toppings - less is more (I am a big ponce, aren't I?) Possible the best one I've had in London was at Ecco's in Clapham - can't remember all of the topping, but I do remember the fresh rocket with extra garlic and chilli. Ummmmmmmmmm.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

11:25 / 20.04.03

Booths on Church Street do fucking awesome pizza- getting one of their quattro formaggi thingies with extra feta and chilis is brill.

11:40 / 20.04.03

Peppino Pizza on Colney Hatch Lane in Muswell Hill make a kick arse Formaggimisti, with parmezan, mozarella, gorgonzola and ricotta. When I lived there I used to eat it regularly.

I used to prefer deep-pan, but I'm a convert to thin crust. My mum used to make this fantastic wholemeal pizza too - that's my favourite pizza ever.

Rizla's talking about Dr. Oetker (pronounced Errtka, I believe). I think they're German.

12:19 / 20.04.03

I never had pizza in London. Wow. That means I made it almost 4 months without! The best I've ever had was in a little Italian place in Graz where a huge pepperoni pizza was only 6 euros, and it tasted exactly like my grandmother's.

Damn, I'm hungry now.

The Return Of Rothkoid

13:20 / 20.04.03

As any fule kno, the best pizza in the world comes from Cora's in Toronto. Near Bloor/Spadina, I think. Four-cheese pizza with fuckloads of feta - it's fucking fantastic. So much so that I was toying with the idea of getting any Canuck visitors to fill suitcases with it.

Seriously.

Tryphena Absent

13:32 / 20.04.03

I've had a pizza craze for about three weeks now. No matter how much I eat I want more, more, more and this thread has not helped. At all.

13:41 / 20.04.03

I am eating pepperoni pizza right now, and it's lovely, but not as nice as Pizza Express Sloppy Giuseppe's, which ROCK.

17:14 / 20.04.03

Yep, had a fine pizza Siciliana today and feel replete.

It's odd the rocket thing. Seems to go very well on pizza and yet looks all wrong. No wronger than the whole basil leaves on top of tomato and white mozzarella to represent the colours of the Italian flag on the original Pizza Margherita (named after the Queen of Italy at the time.)

Less sure about chilis (or jalapeños) on pizza but I guess that's the joy of pizza, it's just a big, hot, open sandwich to be individualised. There was a wee place in Bruntsfield, in Edinburgh, where they did a great fruit & nut pizza: banana, raisins, almonds, walnuts, tomato and cheese. Sounds weird but tasted great and excellent for veggies.

I've heard the rumours about Domino's too, Rizla. I need to investigate other deliverers for those John-and-Yoko-never-leave-the-house-all-weekend times.

17:20 / 20.04.03

Pizza is wonderful. However, some crucial points have been missed here. Namely: eating pizza in Italy.

Where it's just this wonderful, different thing, where even the shitty fast-food joint ones are remarkable, and where the proper-pizza restaurants... oh my. I went to one in Padua, watching the pizza being baked in tiny hole-in-stone-wall ovens, and it was like nothing else. The bread is thinner and crispy than anything over here, the mozarella is just perfect... it's another thing entirely.

Over here, though, I do like Pizza Express but it's overpriced. I think the nicest pizza I've ever had was a Calzone at a local tiny Italian restaurant, which happens to serve the best, most authentic Italian food I've ever had. Calzone's are the ones that are folded over. They are yummy.

Pizza, when done right, is wonderful. It's also very satisfying as a meal-in-itself. Bad pizzas: things with pineapple. Anything "Deep Pan" or "American-Style". Give me the real thing any day.

17:24 / 20.04.03

In New York there's a restaurant called, I think, 'Joe's' where I had The. Best. Pizza. In. The. World. EVER.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

17:48 / 20.04.03

You bastard, you. I was all set to cook myself a (very cheap) meal, but the thought of pizza spurred me on... and I had to go out and buy one. The aforementioned quattro formagge with added chili and feta. And mushroom. Yummm. (And pizza crusts are a sure-fire way of getting my dog to eat her medicine).

18:27 / 20.04.03

Sì, certo, Signore Paleface, but that's cheating. Even the fast food pizza slices from street vendors are scrumptious over there. Have never enjoyed a calzone beyond Italian shores either. Always tastes like a cornish pasty with oregano anywhere else.

I have to agree with those who're saying that "less is more" with pizza, both in terms of the thinness of the crust and the garnish. I like the way the authentic Italian ones are spun so thin they're a foot and a half wide. I am torturing myself here with thoughts of pizza now. (Cheddar) cheese on toast is as near as I'm going to get this evening though. Will shave some parmiggiano over it too and just pretend.

19:51 / 20.04.03

I used to make my own pizza. Got the recipe for dough out of Delia Smith, and experimented with different combinations of ingredients until I got a more Covent Garden-type affair. I recommend it. You can get pretty much everything you need from Tescos and it can be done effectively whilst drinking red wine, as long as you have a timer with a nice loud alarm.

21:14 / 20.04.03

OOOh pizza

Whats the place in Brutsfield called, Xoc, coz i musta passed it a million times on the bus and that sounds yummy.
I gotta say, Its deep pan for me, none of ur crispy toppingless crap. Ok, so maybe pizza hut is a bit greasy, but so are onion rings and they are the food of the Gods who are veggie and on a night out (aternative to a kebab). Thats if i can ever face the guys in there again, after my friend got wasted and started hurling abuse at the turkish d00ds til we had to drag her away. O dear.

06:50 / 21.04.03

i used to hate pizza... with a passion... i don't know why... then later in my jr high years i was "down with it" and used to look at my family w/ discust as they ate Hawaiian Pizza (ham and pineapples) until i had that one day at the sugestion of a friend... i swear i get pizza like at least once a month, usually Hawaiian... and there's a great place to get a slice near me, a small chain called Nick and Willy's, the Sun Dryed Tomatos on a Pesto Sause, well, that does me in everytime... sigh... no i want some too... i'm a fan of the thin crust or "hand tossed" crust, but it absolutly MUST be cut into slices! no squares here...

pointless and uncalled for

09:00 / 21.04.03

I would like to raise an objection to the Cora's claim. It is Amato's Pollo Basilico from the one on Queen West by Bathurst. Other than that, you may well be right.

Xoc - I can't believe you have so easily abandoned sausages, you're naught but a fickle gourmand.

Although, the aforementioned Amato's does a wonderful Sausage Pizza which is ideal after a night at the Bovine Sex Club.

10:14 / 21.04.03

I second Amato's. Although Cora's does give you near to half a pizza for $3.

A

10:46 / 21.04.03

I had Pizza for dinner tonight. It was only $5.50, Australian (and our dollar is worth very little indeed). Apparently, pizzas in Australia are the cheapest in the world due to the amount of competition (there are four major pizza chains).

Not eating any animal products makes the range of pizzas I can get rather limited, to say the least, and cheeseless pizza requires exactly the right amount of sauce and topings to be good. Fortunately, this one was just right. Hooray. I have found that Dominos makes the best vegan pizzas of the chain pizza places, largely because they have sundried tomatoes on them.

For the record, I'm pro-pineapple, but I understand what people have against it.

10:48 / 21.04.03

gingerbop, the restaurant's called the Giardino d'Italia, on the left hand side of the street as you're heading into town, block on from the Burghmuirhead Post Office on the corner.

& potus, you morally erect foodie, pizza and sausage are by no means mutually exclusive. The best pizza may feature pepperoni or salami, davvero.

10:57 / 21.04.03

Hang on - Dominoes? Vegan pizzas?

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

11:10 / 21.04.03

Yeah, that's what I thought too, Chol.
Adam- a vegan friend of mine used to always go on about how much he loved pizza. "Cheeseless pizza?" I thought. "How the fuck does that work?" And then he made me one and it did indeed rock very hard.

11:15 / 21.04.03

I have a friend who's lactose intolerant and he finds several cheeseless choices on the Pizza Express menu too, vegan people.

13:28 / 21.04.03

i have it on faaaaaaaaairly good advice that new york pizza is the greatest pizza in the world, and that sometimes it even beats the italian product.

now i dont entirely believe that last bit, but am willing to proven wrong if and when i ever get there. new york, i mean.

i have to weigh in on the less is more side. unless its calzone, which i also love.

Xoc, did you ever go to kavio's in edinburgh? the pizzas were pretty good, but you got to make your own, spinning and all, and if you did, you got a badge letting the world know.
i used to love that place when i was wee.

13:56 / 21.04.03

hey mr rizla I'm a fan of Dr Oetker too!

14:08 / 21.04.03

Yes, toksik, used to go to the Kavio's down on the Shore, in Leith, a lot a while back. Can't remember much of the food but do remember the kebabs coming appended from a sparkler that were suspended from a gadget at the table's end. Think they've gone out of business now though. Odd place, not really Italian, more a mix of many Mediterranean styles. Do remember the Ice Cream Robot that trundled around and kids making up their own giant ice creams.

Have recently been a few times to Tartuf in Clapham (has the feel of a chain, maybe there are more of them dotted around) where they do stuff called tarte flambée. It's like the thinnest dough-base in the world with a variety of inventive pizza-esque toppings, sweet ones too. For a tenner you can keep ordering one after the other until you're absolutely stuffed, which is a pretty good deal. They look slim and not too filling but I usually require a fork lift truck to ease me off the premises, since I am such a glutton.

I like the decor and the attractive French boys in pinnies too.

pointless and uncalled for

14:16 / 21.04.03

Xoc, I was merely commenting on how easily you cast your dice with pizza. While I understand that salami and pepperoni and indeed sausage products, I see no reason to equate these with their pizza-topping namesakes which are much more round slices of pig product.

Have you been arguing with sausage again. I'm feeling a little tension here.

14:16 / 21.04.03

i *have* to get in on this. the best pizza in the world is in chicago, yo, hands down. my ultimate favorite is edwardo's stuffed pesto pizza. cheese, cheese, and more cheese, with a pesto tomato sauce. ummm. i love pizza. i'll eat it like twice a week sometimes.

the dominos/operation rescue thing used to bother me, but the guy who owns the chain (who's name escapes me at the moment, which is silly cos i'm from detroitish, which is where he is) doesn't really own it anymore or something. so yes he donates money to them but it doesn't come from the pizzas you buy (which i think are good, esp. for the price, but you have to get extra sauce on them, and how about those cinni-sticks? yum!)
every time my roomies and i call dominos, we always ask what their current special is, which is embarrassing so we always fight over whose turn it is to call. i have a friend w/absolutely nooo shame; he asks what the special is, then says, "no, what's yr REAL special" and often they tell him something better.

my this was lengthy.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

15:11 / 21.04.03

La Porcetta on Stroud Green Road does awesome pizzas. Crispy base, plenty of topping, very zingy and non-bland and above all, humungous. Seriously. Great big assymetrical things the size of a small wildlife preserve.

Yummmm.

15:22 / 21.04.03

MEMO:
to potus
self-appointed guardian of foodstuff fidelity and morality
potus Towers
Sarf Landan

Xoc and I have a Special Relationship [sic]. I understand that he has needs which conventional sausage cannot entirely meet and the two of us have therefore come to an accommodation on the subject of pizza consumption:
He has my permission to enjoy the odd slice of chopped pork product (with its s/m overtones) as long as he always come back to me for some sizzling succulence.
And, anyway, I've been cheating on him with Loomis for months now...

Love Sausage (that's such a good phrase, btw)

Less searchable M0rd4nt

16:23 / 21.04.03

Yes. And now I've got the phrase "let me BEEEEE your LOVE SAUSAGE!" running through my head to the tune of Mr. P. Gabriel's Sledgehammer. And I could well do without that sort of thing. And it's yr fault.

18:44 / 21.04.03

Personally I thought most of the pizza in London was absolutely terrible. Booth's on Church street makes a good pizza, but some of their toppings are questionable. C'mon!! Eggs on pizza??!!! That's just wrong. I woke up with a really nasty hangover and accidently grabbed a slice of that shit......big mistake. Beware of Stoatie's choice of pizza toppings....

The best pizza I have ever had is in Graz, Austria (yes I was with Baz at the time). It's absolutely perfect :-)

Apparantlyt the pizza chefs in Austria are all actual descendants of the viking raiders who stole the recipe from Napoleon when they were attacking Moscow.......it's true.

18:45 / 21.04.03

Personally I thought most of the pizza in London was absolutely terrible. Booth's on Church street makes a good pizza, but some of their toppings are questionable. C'mon!! Eggs on pizza??!!! That's just wrong. I woke up with a really nasty hangover and accidently grabbed a slice of that shit......big mistake. Beware of Stoatie's choice of pizza toppings....

The best pizza I have ever had is in Graz, Austria (yes I was with Baz at the time). It's absolutely perfect :-)

Apparantlyt the pizza chefs in Austria are all actual descendants of the viking raiders who stole the recipe from Napoleon when they were attacking Moscow.......it's true.

23:38 / 21.04.03

Definite 2nd to La Porchetta on Stroud Green Rd - also, try the garlic pizza bread - it's basically a very garlicky cheeseless pizza and *so* good ... mmm ..

.. miss it now in Chicago, still not sure about all this Chicago style deep dish stuff, too much cheese can be kind of icky ... but Bacino's spinach Chicago pizza here was pretty good (in a small quantity) and Lou Malnati's thin-crust ROCKS.

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