Thursday, April 12, 2007

Pizza

We've traveled a lot in the last seven years so naturally we've eaten at all sorts of establishments that have served anywhere from excellent to not-so-good food. The Walrus has sampled numerous 1 lb (pre-cooked weight) burgers from all over the country. We've been to Buffet chains and Buffets that are known only to that particular area.

Being an overweight American, one of my favorite foods is pizza. I'm not too fancy, I like plain cheese with one exception, which I will list below. These are the five pizzas I would take with me on the Island. (P.S. Thanks to ggg over at Ton-Fifty-One for inspiring the idea!)

5. The Margherita Pizza over at California Pizza Kitchen. This is my one "more-than-plain-cheese" exception, as it contains fresh tomato slices and something else I can't remember. Thankfully, this is available at your local grocer, and we now have an actual CPK at the Bayshore Towne Center in Milwaukee.

4. Papa Murphy's in Anytown, USA. They prepare a good pizza and the price is right.

3. Jack's Natural Rising Cheese Pizza (A frozen pizza found in your grocer's freezer aisle). I love a good, thick crust and I get that from this pizza.

2. This pizza joint on the island of Kauai serves a great pizza. It's actually a little deli-type place adjacent to a bigger, more expensive restaurant. The kind of place where you buy a can of soda rather than have a fountain beverage. I thought it would be the best pizza I'd ever had in my life until...

1. ... we discovered Brick Oven Pizza a few days later, also located on Kauai. The link will take you to a review as it seems the place doesn't have a website. It was quite delicious, made fresh, non-greasy, great crust. The kids get a ball of dough to play with and the ambience is casual and interesting... they have license plates from all over the country hanging up on nearly every square inch of available wall space. The history of it is also interesting, speaking of how the owners made their way over to Hawaii and established their now well-known restaurant. I believe a lot of family members work there, and the owners themselves are on-site, but the place doesn't look like a mom and pop shop, but more like the inside of, say, a Charcoal Grill or Chili's.

So there you have mine. What are yours? Also, if you have any "What Would You Bring" ideas, please pass them on to me.

Enjoy!

7 comments:

bfmomma said...

OOOH! I can do this one!

I've been reading your blog, but not had enough brain power going on to actually reply to anything yet. This, I can do...

1. Nick N Willy's (take n bake) Jalapeno Burn pizza

2. California Pizza Kitchen's Mango Tandoori pizza

3. Edwardo's stuffed spinach and cheese pizza

4. The Bell Chalet (in Hurley, WI)'s sausage and mushroom with extra cheese

5. Pizza Hut pan pizza of almost any type

karmadog said...

1. Domino's is the bomb. Extra cheese, extra sauce. Mushrooms optional.

2. Bilotti's Pizza Garden, in De Pere (Shout out to Dino!)

3. Brick oven pizza from Dogwood Cafe in Boston, just off the Forest Hills stop on the Orange Line.

4. Little Caesar's (are they still around?)

5. Last week we made home-made pizza crust in our breadmaker. Cheese, sauce, mushrooms... holy crap! That was a kick-ass pizza!!

Honorable mention to Papa Murphy's and Tombstone.

My least favorites:

1. Pizzeria Uno. Blecchh!
2. Pizza Hut. Actually, it's not always bad, but sometimes it tastes pretty nasty to me.
3. Tony's in Manitowoc. Again, it depends. Sometimes they go overboard with the onion.

I dunno, Nicole. This Island is sounding better all the time... when do we leave?

TWORIVERSWALRUS said...

How ironic is it that the two best pizzas you've ever had are located over 4000 miles away, on the tiny island of Kauai?

By the way, that nameles pizza joint in Kauai was called Pacific Pizza & Deli. It was next door to the Wranglers Restaurant. And yes, it was incredible. In my opinion, it was better than the Brick Oven Pizza.

Here we go.

Now, I have been saying for years that pound for pound, all things considered (including price) the best pizza in the world is a Tombstone Pizza. I will always be partial to it. But when price and other factors matter not, where does it rank?

#5 - I think I'll give a shout out to my old stomping grounds and include Port Sandy Bay Pizza in Two Rivers. I've only been there maybe 10 times in my life. But it never disappoints. Order the big coaster-sized pizza, and you've got enough for the whole family. If I have one complaint though, it's that when they first serve it, it's piping hot! I'm talking surface of the sun hot! As hungry as you may be, it's best to wait a few minutes to let it cool. I never adhere to that rule though. And inevitably, I walk out of there with a slight burn on the roof of my mouth.

#4 - Tombstone pizza - be it four-meat, or the classic sausage and pepperoni, it's my all-time favorite of the frozen pizzas. I could eat an entire one in one sitting. And I have - many times. All factors considered, it's the best there is.

#3 - Papa Murphy's - Not until this past year did I truly discover the wonder that is Papa Murphy's. All I need is sausage and pepperoni. They do the rest. And to get the largest one they have (family size) for only $7.99 (because they give you a $2.00 coupon with every order) is astounding. That giant pizza feeds our entire family, and provides a little (usually) bit of leftovers as well. Mmm, good!

#2 - Pacific Pizza & Deli (Kauai) - I must admit, it was very good. The sausage was so flavorful. And it was finally grained - the way I like it best. And of course it's in Hawaii also. That makes it even better. Can we move there - please?

#1 - I don't know the name of it for sure. And it allegedly no longer exists. I had it in June, 1986, in Orlando, Florida. I was on vacation with my parents. We did the whole Disneyworld/Epcot/Sea World thing. Early on on our week-long stay, we hit some pizza place called Fioni's - or something like that. And oh my fricken' God was it good! It was so good, that we ended up going back there three or four more times that week. Yes, it was that good. We spent as much time in that restaurant as we did in the theme parks. Ok, maybe not quite that much. But you get the picture.

jenny said...

i agree with burt:
5. that port sandy bay pizza in TR is just right. i am a fan of sweet sauce and a thin crust.

4. Lisa's in milwaukee with kalamata olives and sausage. Just a good stand by!


3. The Triple P at Engfer's wood fired pizza's in Santa Cruz Ca, Pepperoni,pesto and pineapple. so perfect after a surf

2. The Greenbush Bar has a great spinach, goatcheese, garlic and tomato pizza. along with a great wine collection

1. Hands down the dreamiest most mouth watering pizza ever:carmelized onion, kalamata
olives and gorgonzola cheese made at the Lombardino's on old university in Madison. i have dreams about this pizza.

karmadog said...

COMPLETELY off topic, but I don't have your email!

We looked up the "Feingold Program," and ordered a book about it. What kind of stuff have you found, and where did you look?

TWORIVERSWALRUS said...

That's because blogger changed everyone's profiles so that the E-mail address was no longer listed. You actually have to back into your template and change the settings to allow others to E-mail you once again.

Mom O Matic said...

Pretty much any brick oven, super thin and crispy pizza does it for me. California Pizza Kitchen does do it well!