Thursday, October 18, 2007

The Great Pizza Con

I can't find a decent Pizza anywhere in New York or New Jersey. There, I've said it.

Every 3 months or so the Food Network comes out with a different special that pits New York Style Pizza against Chicago Style Pizza. If you ever watch Food Network - you know this is true; it's like their go-to show when they can't think of anything else. Thin crust vs. thick crust. Usually they have an 'expert' panel of overweight firemen as the judges.

So, when I moved to the East Coast, I was looking forward to sampling some of this delicious thin crust pizza I'd heard so much about. In fact, the very first night I was in New York I ordered a 'pie' to sample the goods. Over the past 9 months I've been sampling different pizza joints - trying to find a decent pizza...and for the friggin' love of pepperoni I can't find a good one! It's like living at Blockbuster and not being able to find a decent movie.

These pizza places all seem to use the cheapest possible cheese they can find, cardboard crusts, and pepperoni that's on par with pencil erasers. And then there's the grease factor...

Now, from time to time we're all prone to a little mouth watering over a greasy cheeseburger or a greasy pile of french fries. But out here when you get a pizza delivered and open it up - it's swimming in a good 1/4th of and inch of orange pizza grease...just waiting to drip all over your shirt. The pizza is so thin and floppy, that you pick up a slice and it immediately drapes down your wrist, so now both your shirt and forearm are soaked in grease. After the meal I have to take a bath in Windex just to clean up.

Furthermore, every pizza place has basically the exact same name - so it's getting tough to keep straight which one's I've tried. "Nino's", "Napoli's", "Vinny's", "Big Vinny's", "Pizza by Alfredo", "Alfredo's Pizza"....

I hadn't been eating pizza for the past several months due to marathon training, and quite frankly a body can only take so much salmon and fresh vegetables. So now I'm back on the quest to find a decent pizza; feeling determined. Some people search for meaning in life, some search for their soul mate....I search for bliss in mozzarella and red sauce.

If I don't find something soon - I'm going to start a job search in Italy or something. But then again, every pizza place there is probably named Vinny's as well - so basically I'm screwed.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's the middle of the night and I'm actually looking for the exact ingredient to get that orange grease on my pizza.

I grew up in NJ and frequented NY as well and now living in Colorado all I can say is the pizza sucks here.

I need the floppy pizza that has orange grease to drip all over a nice white shirt I'm wearing just for fun.

The trick is to fold the pizza just right so it doesn't drip.

Pizza in other places are all simply Domino's or PizzaHut and are not real pizza. I think you're from one of those states, not used to the actual pizza from the East.

Personally I think NJ pizza is better than NYC and I've been craving it for years.

The best is Atlantic City on the boardwalk where back in the day it was $1 per slice and 1 slice was big enough to fill you up.

If you actually go the the pizza places and watch them make it, they take a ladle and pour it directly on the dough. The trick is to use just a layer. NYC is simply too fast paced and they rush their pies so NJ is the place to go...and I mean like 20 minutes into NJ through the Lincoln Tunnel or Over the GW bridge, not right in Hoboken.

A bit more laid back but not as much as PA.

I'll tell you what.

I'll send you a pizza from here if you send me one from there.

A nice 18-20 in pie (Large on the east) for a 14-16 inch (Large in Colorado).

Anonymous said...

Sorry posted as anonymous because I didn't want to have to sign up for a gmail acct.

I'm totally serious about this trade though and I'm bookmarking this page.