Battle Royale! - Slice Pizza Battles to the Death - Round 1

Well, well, well... so it has come to this has it? You and me, and those slices we shall step into the ring, or as my good friend Shai used to say, "the octagon".

This first round shall feature two pizzeria's that feature slices for sale; each of them with their own product, style, and service.

Sicilian Pizza - 221 E 300 South, SLC, UT - 801.961.7077
Big Apple Pizza - 2939 East 3300 South, SLC, UT - 801.485.4534

Sicilian Pizza



They offer up some different pizza, and as we all should know by now; different is good. The pizza is almost completely authentic Sicilian style - lacking are a thick crust, and tons of cheese. However, the seasonings, sauce, and sausage they use are right on. In fact I recommend having something with sausage should you go there, its unique, and very delicious.
The slice special will run you about $6.00 for two slices and a drink, or one slice and a salad - I do believe that they offer a single slice but I cannot remember the pricing right now.
Service
You order at the counter here, and the slices are pre-made and hanging out under a heat lamp, so make sure you scope out which ones are the freshest, nothing more disappointing than buying a stale slice of pizza (I've gotten both fresh and not-so-fresh here). If you are in a hurry, the heat lamp style is the way to go; it is ready when you are (though you may not get what you want.
Pizza
If you like different I suggest going here, the crust is seasoned and slightly sweet, the sauce is slightly sweet- which can cause an overload in my book, so to avoid sweetness overload I suggest buying it by the slice (2-slices should over power you, right?). They typically have pepperoni, cheese, a tomato white sauce, and one rotating specialty pizza to choose from for their slice options.
Overall: a 3.5 rating - the freshness/heat lamp thing brings them down.

Big Apple Pizza



I have to admit that I am slightly biased as I worked here for 5-years. But, I worked there that long, and initially for a reason: HIGH QUALITY PIZZA!
If you ask me, this is the place to go for great pizza. New York Style, and its done right; thin, crispy crust, the right kind of cheese, good toppings, delicious sauce, and don't forget a pretty laid back staff.
Service
So far, this is the best slice option I've come across - honestly. I like that you can order your slices how you want them. They aren't pre-fabbed, and they get cooked in the oven - sure this can cause it to take a couple of minutes, but when in pizza country, stop and enjoy yourself. In fact, they offer table service, but it can be hit and miss, so go with patience and realize that you aren't in a 5-star restaurant, feel free to approach the counter for a refill if they don't get to you fast enough - most of the staff is in, or right outta high school. On weekends, and nights, call ahead for fastest service.
Pizza
Like I said before, the style is as good as it gets while here in the lovely locale of the Salt Lake. If you have special requests for your pizza, feel free to ask, some like it crispy, some like it cooked light, some like it almost burnt, they do it all, cooked to your specifications. They hand toss the dough, it can be fun to heckle them as they do so.

And now ... ladies and gentlemen ... I give you the winner in this head to head match up ...
BIG APPLE PIZZA!
- when you can pick and choose your pizza, and its cooked to order, you will always come out a winner; the availability of 100's of options will always prevail over the choice of 4 options.

You, me, and a Microwave Built For Three

It was late last night when our paths crossed, I looked at you, and you returned the gaze. Was it so bad that we met there? Sure there were other people watching me as I opened the glass doors and picked you up off of your feet, and flipped you around to get a good look at you. And to think you were so ... cheap, and supposedly good for me.



Well, that is how it all started; how I ended up purchasing a "South Beach Diet Pepperoni" microwavable pizza. I gotta tell you, it was pretty damn good. Perhaps it was the red peppers, garlic salt, oregano, and black pepper I adorned it with before I microwaved it - who knows. No one ever will know.

I popped it in the microwave for 3-minutes strong and thought about it for a bit, the price was okay. I mean $3.29 on "Fresh Values" isn't bad for what is termed "diet pizza".

Will I buy it again? Sure I will.
Do I recommend it? Well, it depends on what your mission in pizza is. Do you want to eat a frozen pizza that has pretty sauce? - then do it, quit whining about the fact that the cheese will probably suck and that the crust appears to be made with some sort of wheat additive and just do it. Go on already - Rock the Casbah!

END TRANSMISSION: SOUTH BEACH DIET - PEPPERONI PIZZA - OR - HOW I CAME TO EAT PIZZA AT LUNCH TODAY - OR - YOU ME AND A PIZZA BUILT FOR 3 (MINUTES)

Homemade Pizza - Part I: Frozen doughs

Originally I was going to wait until I had tried a few more dough offerings to talk about, but I just cannot wait anymore! Pizza time is here!

Over the course of my days, I've made many-a-pizza at home from so many different recipes, and pre-fabbed doughs. I'll share my favorite home made recipe at the end of this brief but informative article.

Recently I made a quick jaunt over to Tony Caputo's Market and purchased some of their pizza dough. It ends up that their dough is a Sysco-esque frozen dough, you can buy it for $1.99 a dough ball (good size to make a 14" - 16" pizza with). This was pretty good dough for being a frozen warrior; just a lil on the bland side. If I am to retry this option, I will be basting the dough with an olive-oil glaze to try to bring some pizzazz out of it. Bottomline: its pretty good and easy to stretch out (when its fully thawed).

Whilst at Albertsons the other day I became enamoured by the Pillsbury dough in the refrigerated section. I promptly purchased and rushed home to try out this product as it had been years since my last experience. Let me bottomline it for you: this is the worst refrigerated dough you could buy.

I'll leave you with a brief recipe to try out for some good dough, and we'll revisit this topic and discuss: Boboli, Emmigration Market's frozen dough (their pizza will need reviewed too!), and finally we'll jump into a small bout with those "just add water" crust mixes out there.

RECIPE:
1 package dry active yeast (Fleishmans)
1 cup warm water
1 TBSP Olive Oil
1 TBSP Sugar
1 TSP Salt
2 1/2 cups flour (high gluten preferred!)

Start off by mixing the yeast with the Warm water in a nice mixing bowl. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes.

Add salt, sugar, and 1 1/2 cups of flour; then add your oil. Begin mixing, adding flour 1/4 cup at a time until you have reached 2 1/2 cups or desired consistency of dough ball. *(hint)* Dough should be slightly "tacky" to the touch.

Knead dough until smooth, again, adding flour if necessary, forming a dough ball.

Place dough ball in a well oiled mixing bowl, cover and let rise for at least 45 minutes (1 hour and 30 minutes preferred).

Stretch dough out to desired thickness; preheat oven to 425 degrees Farenheit. Add desired toppings and cook on either a greased pizza pan, or on your preheated pizza stone.

I have made this dough recipe since I was about 10 years old, it comes from an old Italian cookbook my mother used to own.

Thanks!
Jared Raymond Conger

Want to send in your recipe?
Feedback: jaredsdesk@hotmail.com

Frozen Pizzas: Part one of an infinate part series.

Frozen Pizzas:Part one of an infinate part series.
So we all see them there in our grocer's freezers sections, some of them are noteworthy for their efforts towards taste, others their affordability, and even some for the levels of sorrow, and disappointment that they can incur on our tastebuds. Everyone has a favorite - whether it be for its flavor, versatility or straight up price, we all have reasons why we like some more than others. I think of the situation as a clique, or even a gang.

I am a former member of the Totino's Party Pizza Crew (east side division), I used to spend my days stocking my freezer when they would go on special for 10 for $10 (during sporting events even cheaper). Then a few things happened:1) The world was made aware of Trans-Fats!!! - Totino's is high in their meat pizzas (90% of their inventory)2) There have a been a couple of Ecoli scares. I've seen signs twice this last year stating that there was a recall on all products produced by Totino's except for the "Cheese", and "Canadian Style Bacon" pizza. Bummer. those are the worst two of all their offerings.

Like Little Orphan Annie once said, it's a hard knock life... so I took my punches and delved into some of the new products offered, both cheap and high end, and let me tell you, I came out on top of the situation.

DiGiorno's has a few new products that are ... well amazing! Their "Ultra" selection is now the King of the frozen isle (and the price will dictate that $6.99+). It boasts a "whole milk" mozzarella, and "top cut" pepperoni toppings (all other offerings in this line being "top cut" on toppings too). The sauce is great for a frozen preservative laden product, as is the crust - they finally got that strange taste out of the "oven rising" series. Try it. If you don't like it... then you're not in my gang.

A good "bottom dweller" these days has got to be either the Label brand "Kroger" or the "Essentia" out of Smiths Foods and Albertsons (respectively). One or the other is typically on special for $3.99 or so, and to me, that is affordable.

We'll talk more about "dressing your frozen pizza for success" in the next segment of FROZEN PIZZA!Until then, lets keep the gang warfare down.

The Firehouse Pizzeria

So, cache valley started a flavor unique to Utah did they? Whats that? They use a gas fired stone oven? Interesting... I'll be there.



The Firehouse Pizzeria
We came upon this interesting place after some holiday shopping. The decor and setup of the place seemed to be hip, yet somehow empty- vast expanses of black with red and orange accents, and dim lights greeted us in.

The service was good, they were nice peoples, and the menu was interesting. Only one thing was alarming to me: how many sauces they had available. (I'll fill them in when i find my takeout menu).

Cutting to the chase:
I ordered a 12" sausage, and tomato - BUT - I requested the spicy sauce (big mistake!)
She ordered a grilled chicken sandwich - which they cook on a cedar plank (delicious!)

"Only in Utah can they take all the right ingredients, have all the right equipment, and still mess a pizza up." - some old customer of mine from my days at Big Apple Pizza.

Sometimes I can see this, sometimes I am pleasantly surprised. The Firehouse is the prior of the two, a multitude of sauces, toppings, and offerings doesn't make up for the lack of deliciousness. Although I made the holy-error of ordering "outside the box" on my first visit, I was hoping for more.

"Her" sandwich seemed to be pretty good though, it was cooked on a cedar plank, but because I didn't eat the whole thing, I won't comment on it any further.

The Sauce:
I ordered the spicy sauce, it was more like a sauce used for hot wings than one for a pizza. BLEH!

The Cheese:
Not bad, not good, probably comes from Cache Valley, whatever it is, they load it up pretty good, it wasn't bad enough to make me sad, it wasn't good enough to make me cheer.

The Toppings:
The sausage is good!!! I was so surprised by this; it was a sliced link, mild Italian link. Also, the tomatoes were delicious - the other toppings all looked really good "Her" sandwich had great cuts of onions, green peppers, and the chicken was pretty good too.

The Crust:
A little doughy, there... I said it. BUT I LIKE IT A LIL-DOUGHY! I imagine they could crisp it up more if you wanted to, but be careful ALL the cooks were 18 or younger (inexperience).

That being said, I'd go back if I was in the area, but I wouldn't go out of my way for this pizza.
Final rating: 3.5/5 stars.

Pricing:
A little high... but there are many values to be had on this menu. Sandwiches, and build your own pizza is the way to go.

The Breakdown:
Crust: 4/5
Sauce: 2/5 (specialty sauce was sampled)
Cheese: 3/5
Toppings: 4/5
Overall: 3.5/5 stars.

Suggestions: try a sandwich. also, stick to traditional sauces/pizza's here.

The Lazy Dog Pizzeria

The Lazy Dog Pizzeria
317 south Main Street, SLC, UT 84111



All in all it was good. i wasn't floored by the flavors of the final product - maybe i had my expectations too high as i noticed they had a good oven (gas fire/stone hearth).

Fresh mozzarella seemed to be the calling card here. As for the toppings, a minimalist approach was where we were going as I noticed that each slice seemed to have but one jalapeno, or one piece of onion, or a single mushroom cap. To the minimalist in approach I say this: "Use better toppings if you are to rely on their singular flavors to take the pizza to the pearly gates of heaven, God will not dine on good cheese alone." I will try the meat options on my next visit (for the record we had a mushroom / jalapeno / red onion)

Lets talk sauce before I get carried away; the sauce seemed to dry out too much and lacked texture and flavor, my bet is that they are using a canned product with too much paste/puree and not enough water, or oils.

The crust was a good representation, however in the high altitudes of Utah it is hard to create a great product (the secret is more water when you mix the dough).

Pricing.
The pricing is always a tricky one in the world of food; you have to cover for food cost, labor, general utilities, insurance and more. Sometimes people get greedy and hide what is actually mid-range quality behind good looking catch words (fresh mozzrella/stone oven). The pricing here was acceptable, hitting the mid-high range for the overall product.

Basics.
They are open 7-days a week, currently offer 2-sizes of pizza (12", 16"), and have other items such as ravioli, and salads to try out. Expect to spend around $15-$20 a visit. I was informed that they are working out some specials for lunch, but whether they would be slices, or small pizzas wasn't divulged. It is a table service affair with takeout options.

The Rundown.
Crust: 4/5
Sauce: 2/5
Cheese: 3/5
Toppings: 2/5
Overal Experience: 3/5

First post

This is the largest pizza i've ever made:

It measured arout 38"-42" in diameter; I wish we would have measured this bad boy with a tape (in picture Matt Cervenka of Big Apple Pizza).

About this blog:
I may from time to time talk about other foods, but the topic will be food; the way it makes me feel, the tastes, the flavors, and textures. It should also be noted that i do in fact eat pizza nearly 15-20 meals a week (that being based on a 7 days / 3 meals principle excluding snacks). Enjoy!