Pizza Box technology advances again

It's very similar to the "World's Best Pizza Box" I reported on back here. Watch the video for the new innovations in pizza box technology. I love the idea but sadly I don't see myself ever caring enough about this to make my pizza order choice based on it. But convince one of the delivery giants to switch to this design and your golden! (Sadly I'm sure the bottom line would win out over innovation here.)

World's largest deliverable pizza

It requires 24 hour notice before ordering. It costs $200. And I need to throw a party ASAP for an excuse to order this monstrosity. Did I mention, they just opened a new branch right in my neighborhood? Looks like I'm about to lose $200 bucks sometime soon. It serves 50-70 normal people but I'm sure I can find a dozen more gluttons to throw this party with. Click here to order from my new masters.

Obama orders pizza from St. Louis, snubs Chi-town

Obama made pizza news again this week. The President invited 140 people over to the White House for deep dish pizza and had it brought in from a place called Pi in St. Louis. This is of course of note since deep dish is one of his hometown's claims to fame.

The incident was reported via this AP story which is hilarious because it kinda quotes Marc Malnati, owner of Chicago's famous Lou Malnati's pizzerias in Chicago. (You can also order Lou Malnati's to be delivered packed in dry ice to anywhere in the USA.)

The only other thing to be assumed is that that St. Louis pizza place is fucking delicious. A cursory glance at the restaurant's website would seem to confirm that assumption.

Sudoku Pizza

In my ongoing pizza coverage I am happy to provide you with...Sudoku pizza!
Nerdy and delicious. Found via Neatorama.

2009 Silverlake Cheese Pizza Competition

Thanks to everyone who participated in this tremendous event last week. Admittedly this was a non-scientific assessment of the pizza delivery skills of our neighborhood. But I got some great feedback and made a lot of people eat a lot of pizza so the least I could do is to post the results here.

Arrival time:
Nikki D approx 20 minutes
Tomato pie 21 min
Hard times 31 min
Lucifer’s 37 min
Buena Pizza 39
Andiama 59 min
Il Capriccio 1 hr 1 minute
Garage pizza 1 hr 9 min

Bear in mind this was on high volume Oscar Sunday so in consideration of that I feel all the contestants did very well.

Sifting through the pizza stained ballots, I thank all the participants and apologize for this year’s slight sloppy event. I can tell we were a little under prepared since a few people had to use paper plates to record notations

Here is the judges’ feedback:

Nikki D; “good, light” 1 star “A” “Awesome!” “Good, soft crust, oregano finish, very pleasant” “doughy, smoky, so-so tomato and cheese” Oregano finish, cheese start, crust chewy and supple 8” “cheese yummy but fell off”

Tomato Pie: “Ok, pedestrian” 3 star “B” “good” “less taste, very straightforward cheese, not enough taste” “nice crust” “ Oily start, subtle sauce 7” “not enough sauce”

Hard times “ok” 3star “C” ”good” “Tangy cheese, in between Nikki D and Tomato pie,” “very tasty, good cheese, a little crispy but nice crust” “ rubbery and tasteless 3” “too sweet”

Lucifer’s, “good, hot, points for unique” 2 star “D” “too spicy” “too dry, not enough cheese, spiciness needs more cheese” “tastes like jalapenos, cheese is hard, crust dry, not enough sauce” “spicy, inedible” “spicy jalapeno”

Buena “good tough, first few bites great but dry crust at the end” “too salty, very salty” “ok, like pizza hut” “unremarkable, pretty bland, I’d put it in the middle” “good parts but cheese is light and crust too chewy” “cheese thick and fantastic crust, crunchy soft finish 9” “too salty”

Andiama: “Great, but weird crust” 3 star “canned tomato sauce” “terrible! Shite! I throw it up!” “Very tomatoey but in 2nd place” “sauce too sweet, cheese light, doughy crust, crunchy at edge but soggy. Illegible” “sauce tangy and delicious/crust cornmeal yuck 6” “crust bad, undercooked”

Il Capriccio: “Damn good” 2 stars “too salty” “ok, salty and cold” “could care less” “ tough, a little too much salt” “a blue cheese aftertaste but good crust 5” “salty”

Garage:” eh” 3 star “weird tasting sauce” “good but cold” “also unmemorable” “chewy, weird taste” ‘Good sauce, not enough cheese 5”

I disagree with some of these comments, but everyone is entitled to their own opinions I suppose. I for one enjoy a bit of saltiness in my pizza but it seemed to turn off many other participants.

An important factor seemed to be arrival time; a pizza hot out of the oven scored much much better than one sitting in the box. So pizza purveyors take note, be fleet of foot and do not get concerned if you approach a door and there are already 2 other pizza guys there.

If I had to declare a winner, I would say that Nikki D’s came out on top this weekend. I still will be ordering from some of these other places but it definitely gave me a different perspective on that classic across the lake.

Additionally I’ve learned that I clearly have too much free time on my hands and if you place your average group of friends in a critical setting they will become very judgey all the sudden and find something to complain about with everything! Seriously though, this was a lot of fun and I really appreciate everyone who indulged in my silliness.

Stay tuned for the next installment in Island Zero pizza challenges, The Great Pepperoni Adventure!

Obama pizza fueled inauguration?!?!

Well, I thought I could not love him anymore but here it comes. According to this report, Barack Obama will be flying into Washington the makers and the ingredients from his favorite local pizza place. In all the excitement abut Obama, I neglected to realize that a president from Chicago meant, a pizza man in power. I know some of you might be too caught up in the whole NYC style vs Chicago Style pizza war to really embrace this but I say let's put our differences aside a celebrate a new era for this glorious land.

My previous post regarding Chicago pie can be found here. For more pizza related news, click the pizza tag below. (pictured here is a pizza heart I made for my gf--didn't turn out perfect.)

Pizza shortage!

According to Boing Boing, the global food crisis has lead to Italians choosing to eat pasta over pizza. I blame the Global Warming and pretty much view this as a major sign of the apocalypse.

btw--I have ended my self imposed pizza ban. I lasted about 3 weeks but had to order one this weekend to celebrate my new kittens!

Pizza Box technology

In pizza news the company "Best Pizza Box" have created a new type of pizza box. As you can see in the video below, it has a cord which divides it in half for easier storage and disposal. It's about time someone focused on much needed pizza tech! Check out the gentleman struggling with the "old" style of pizza box, he is having a rough time!

North African pizza

Having a "pizza" google alert is much more depressing than you'd think it would be. Apparently there are lots of pizza delivery people being shot and robbed out there. That's why I was delighted to see this story pop into my mailbox today. At the big Pillsbury Bake Off there is an entrant who has a recipe for a North African-style chicken pizza." It sounds delicious! Listen to this quote:

"The recipe calls for chicken, spinach, slivered almonds, sweet orange marmalade, chopped dates, fennel, ground cardamom and grumbled goat cheese. North African-style chicken is similar to jerk chicken, but not as spicy. The use of citrus — the orange marmalade — adds a tang."

The chef got the idea from Mataam Fez, the fantastic Moroccan restaurant in Boulder, Colorado that I used to frequent when I lived there. I also think his pizza is a shoe-in when I read about the other competitor's pies.

"The competing recipes include a German-style sausage pizza, a chili-cheese dog pizza, an Italian chopped salad pizza, a 'Southwest Sloppy Joe pizza,' a Mediterranean pizza with a stuffed crust and a huevos rancheros pizza — with a big egg on top."

Gross!

Lou Malnati's

I spoke about pizza here before but that was strictly local, now I'm going national. When I visited Chicago I had the lucky pleasure of having a local take me out for deep dish. He took me here. There is a little bit of controversy between me and Susan about the value and validity of deep dish in serious pizza conversation, but before any final judgments are made, Lou Malnati's must be sampled. The beauty part is we don't even have to go to Chicago, they will deliver anywhere in the US a frozen pizza in dry ice! I'm not sure how good that's going to be in comparison to the restaurant experience but it's worth a try.

Ricky Gervais, Atheist

I love this essay by Ricky Gervais describing his arrival to atheism as a young boy. This is a short piece but it's clear and quite an elegant little essay from an incredibly intelligent man.

"I no longer needed a reason for my existence, just a reason to live. And imagination, free will, love, humor, fun, music, sports, beer and pizza are all good enough reasons for living. But living an honest life - for that you need the truth."

The only pizza magazine I subscribe to

One thing you might already know about me is that I love pizza. Susan and I spent a lot of time researching before we went to New York last year to try and sample some truly stellar East Coast pizzarias. And in our research we discovered the magazine Pizza Today. I highly recomend you ge a subscription to this, it's the only pizza magazine I can recommend. The bad news is its not available to the general public, so you have to own a pizzaria to get a subscription. But the good news is it's free!

Why you never need to order Pizza Hut in Los Angeles

The first reason is here, Casa Bianca. It's a little farther away from me than these other places, and there is always a wait to get a table but it's absolutely fucking worth it. My friend Micheal Bodie referes to this as the crack cocaine of pizza. He is right.

If I could marry a pizzeria I'd probably pop the question to Il Capricio on Vermont. In the months leading up to this place's opening it was a source of constant excitement. The day it first opened was like a beautiful dream. In an alternate universe, this place and Secret Headquarters are right next to each other and I'm in fucking heaven.

Next up is Village Pizzeria on Larchmont which I don't get to very often because I rarely venture outside of Silverlake. But I gotta mention it because I love how their Meatball pizzas come out, they slice the meatballs into delicious discs with crispy edges, yum!

Also I should mention Nicky D's which is a decent pie but I like it better for a dine out that a delivery, doesn't travel as great as some of these others. Maybe that's just the one time I ordered a large clam pizza by myself. A mistake.

Remember, don't get tempted by super bowl ads, there's never a reason to call pizza hut. And if you ever are considering Domino's remember it was founded by an evangelical Christian so every dollar you are giving them goes to supporting Pro Life and the banning of contraception. Enjoy!