Baltimore Pizza Club

FROZEN PIZZA CHRONICLES: BABU AND YOU

2012-01-26T07:22:00.000-08:00

When in need of a quick pizza fix, you might be attracted to the idea of pizza in a pocket. The gold standard for this form of urgent cheese-delivery is the Hot Pocket™, food of last resort, office lunch of kings; people who didn't know how to feed themselves in college totally made it into three meals a day. The Hot Pocket™ is, by definition, out of place and time. Wrapped in a crispy pastry crust of renunciation, it refuses to acknowledge any and all externalities, particularly the effect that it will have on your body after you eat it. The Hot Pocket™ is a reality unto itself, a thing that doesn't look like food and probably isn't, but that just makes you want to eat it more.

Naturally we at Pizza Club like to explore alternative quick-pizza solutions, the particular, varied, obscure back-alleys of the freezer aisle. Does it come with its own oven-proof tray? Is it enclosed in an impermeable membrane of pastry dough? Can you eat it while driving? And how sick will it make you if you eat a whole box at once?

For Babu's® Pocket Sandwiches Masala Pizza, the answers were as follows: no; you would think so but no; probably; and not sick at all. To be fair, we had two people and the box contained two pizza pockets, so Babu was clearly looking out for us when he packaged this product. The masala pizza, advertised as “crispy bread stuffed with mozzarella cheese, jalapeno peppers, and masala tomato sauce,” was quite easy to prepare. We defrosted it in the microwave and then fried it in a pan for a total wait time of seven minutes between realization of desperate hunger/laziness and satiation of said hunger/laziness.

We were promised “All-Natural ingredients and authentic flavor to instantly satisfy your cravings.” This isn't a huge claim, since eating anything would have satisfied our craving to eat something. Would we have done just as well eating a Hot Pocket™? The masala pizza was a little bit spicy and tangy; its innards were undifferentiated. The picture on the box portrays a vivid filling bursting with fresh peppers and tomatoes, but as you can see the actual contents were more of a brown-taupe mush.

There was an air about these pizza pockets of already having been chewed, which is fine I guess particularly if you're feeling lazy. The pastry crust wasn't light or flaky or bubbly – just a sturdy workmanlike container for the goo. Except that mine had some structural integrity problems and leaked at the seams. Had I been driving while consuming this pizza-pocket product, it would have been bad news for my clean, pressed button-up shirt.

I felt more satisfied with this frozen food item than with the Hot Pocket™ just because the things that are in Hot Pockets™ freak me out. Babu's pizza pockets didn't have anything crazy on the ingredients label, just tomatoes and onions and flour and stuff. It tasted kind of mushy and salty-sweet and was filling but not nauseating, thus doing the work of the Hot Pocket™ with less angst and more spices.

5/8 slices

pizza face

2012-01-16T18:44:00.000-08:00

http://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/articles/want_a_slice_of_tim_tebow_316_pizza/9313442

who are these people? they're on pizza, that's cool!

Toss

2011-12-26T12:38:00.000-08:00

November 28, 2011
Toss
5716 York Road

Toss is a new pizza place near Belvedere square. It is sparsely, but elegantly decorated. It seemed geared towards take-out/delivery. Menu offerings include calzones, make-your-own pies, pastas, salads, sandwiches, appetizers, etc. They boast "fresh dough made daily". The pizza menu was written on a chalkboard on the wall, but we were unsure if this would change with daily specials.

Toss is owned by the former owner of Zella's. Which apparently now is under new management and isn't the Zella's that it used to be.

Satchmo's Spicy Chicken - spicy roasted red peppers, sauce, mozzarella, chicken, mushrooms, red onions, sun dried tomatoes.

Good cheese. Even though spicy is in the name of the pizza, we did not find it that spicy or at least spicy enough to include it in the name. Some people thought this pizza was not that exciting, but we all agreed that the crust was really good. It tasted like Zella's crust used to. There wasn't that much chicken on the pizza. We felt like the heat level of the sauce was just right, though the sundried tomatoes got lost flavor wise in the pizza.

Spinach and Artichoke - garlic herb sauce, mozzarella, tomatoes, mushrooms, caramelized onions, spinach, artichokes, feta cheese.

The artichokes has a hard time staying on the pizza when you lifted a slice up to your mouth. The cheese had a really great consistency. We thought that this pizza was far better than the first pizza. There was a more even distribution of spices and it was less dry. The dough was pillowy with think crust. The feta crumbles were a really good touch.

Toss special - tomato sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, ham, caramelized onions, roasted red pepper (roasted fresh)

This was a good looking pizza, but fell short performance wise. The cheese lacked taste and the peppers were not fully cooked. The peppers were still a little bitter which pointed to the fact that they're fresh, but should've be roasted/roasted more. We weren't crazy about this pizza.

Margarita - light tomato sauce, herbed olive oil, mozzarella, basil, tomatoes.

We found this pizza to be very tomatoey. The crust was better on this one that the others. It seemed very fresh and had both crunchy and chewy properties.

There was a discussion on the "Pizza is a Vegetable" scandal. Bonnie pointed out that half a cup of tomato sauce has been considered a vegetable forever. Nothing has changed, they just continued this policy out of fear that school cafeterias would have to double the tomato sauce to a cup and that would make very strange pizza.

Ratings:
Spicy Chicken - 5/8
Spinach and Artichoke- 8/8
Toss Special - 4/8
Margarita - 6.5/8
Overall - 6.5/8

the beautiful and the sublime

2011-12-01T16:22:00.000-08:00

In case you were worried about the absence of pizza-related themes in contemporary fine art.
http://www.tedmineo.com/works.html

Next Meeting

2011-11-26T12:40:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, November 29 at 7pm
Toss
5716 York Road

http://www.tossthepizza.com/

With time to go see Dune at the Charles at 9pm!

Italian Graffiti

2011-11-09T10:47:00.000-08:00

October 13, 2011

On a temperate evening a few weeks ago, Pizza Club convened at Italian Graffiti in Fell’s Point. We were compelled to try their pizza because they, like us, had been voted “Best of Baltimore” by City Paper (except they won best pizza and we won best food blog, not to brag or anything). Anything that purports to be the best must hold up to pizza club scrutiny.

Even the best pie in Baltimore needs to have a gimmick. Italian Graffiti is decorated floor to ceiling with “graffiti” of an “Italian” nature, mostly about pizza. It wasn’t entirely persuasive as street art, but seemed to have been lovingly applied. The employees were friendly, but the place seemed to be empty on a Thursday night. This might be because they are known for speedy delivery and many people order from home. We, however, wanted the complete experience. We even dipped into the non-pizza offerings, munching on a bunch of delicious “Graffiti rolls,” which were pizza dough stuffed with spinach and cheese.

As we looked at the menu, we realized that there was only a dollar difference between a medium and a large pizza, which was significantly bigger, so we ordered four large pizzas. It should also be noted that they offer specialty pizzas by the slice, some that are not on the menu and change often.

We ordered four pies: the Graffiti Feta, the Genovese, the Buffalo Chicken, and the Margherita.

The Graffiti Feta is field greens, mixed vegetables, artichokes, roasted red peppers, feta cheese, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The Feta pie was one of those pizzas that is basically a salad on a pizza: it had arugula, roasted eggplant, mushrooms, and balsamic vinegar. This can be a good thing or a bad thing; it was hard to handle, and there were unavoidable topping casualties. However, it provided the vegetable course of the meal, which felt very healthy and nutritious. Andrew said “I like eating pizza and salad at the same time.” The crust was a little dry, possibly because of the lack of sauce, but people appreciated the balsamic tang as the vinegar soaked into the crust.

The Margherita pizza was a definite winner. It was a classic pizza with fresh mozzarella and basil with tomato sauce. It was described by one table as “completely awesome and delicious,” “straightforward,” and “really solid.” The crust of this pizza was more persuasive than the Feta, possibly because of a generous slathering of sweet, hearty sauce. Some felt lie there was too much sauce compared to the giant slices of mozzarella. The mozzarella was good and stretchy. Although a simple pie, the Margherita was a crowd-pleasing classic.

The Buffalo Chicken is breaded chicken, mozzarella, blue cheese, celery and wing sauce. It was pretty intense. There was a lot of chicken on this pizza that was described as “fall-off-the-slice chicken”. The Buffalo sauce was pretty spicy and left a hot tingle on your tongue. This was the first Buffalo Chicken pizza that we have come across that actually tastes like chicken wings. The crust held the toppings well and did not collapse under the weight of the copious toppings.

The Genovese had creamy pesto sauce, sun dried tomatoes, sausage, parmesan cheese and mozzarella. This is a sausage pizza and the sausage was certainly a dominant taste, which was not a bad thing for most people. There was also secret sausage under the cheese. People preferred the sliced sausage on the pizza to bit of sausage they have experienced at other pizza places. The pesto was not overly garlicy. There was debate over the pesto to sausage ratio.

We lingered outside for a while pondering if they deserved to have won Best of Baltimore. It was pretty good and the pizzas were sizable. Is it the cute gimmick? The graffiti delivery car? They must do more business that way. We were uncertain of their delivery radius. Do they offer more than other pizza places in town? More uncertainties. We congratulate Italian Graffiti on their win and hope they do well. Do they win our best of? Maybe not.

Buffalo Chicken: 6.5/8
Margherita: 7/8
Graffiti Feta: 7/8
Genovese: 5.5/8

Overall experience rating: 7/8

Imagine There's No Pizza

2011-10-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

Meeting this Thursday

2011-10-12T06:44:00.001-07:00

Our next Pizza Club Meeting will be taking place at Italian Graffiti
Thursday, October 13
7:00pm

Italian Graffiti
1635 Fleet Street
Baltimore, Maryland

Let's check out fellow Best of Baltimore winner Italian Graffiti!

Facebook event page

Frozen pizza chronicles: Tofurkey Italian Sausage and Fire-Roasted Veggie Pizza

2011-09-17T13:04:00.000-07:00

As I was leaving Whole Foods last week, this caught my eye. The fact that it was on sale made me immediately decide to buy it. Non-dairy cheese that melts? Meatless and delicious? We'll see about that . . .

This pizza looks like it came out of a box, which it did. It is building on the brand loyalty of Tofurkey. You are supposed to trust it, but can you?

There is definitely a flavor of fakeness. There are a good amount of vegetables on it. They look like they were roasted, which they said they were, but they taste as if they were frozen, which again, they were. There is not a lot of cheese on it, even though it raves about its melting ability. There is no visible grease pooling on the surface, which could be the result of not that much cheese and non-meat sausage. Some of the toppings did fall off as I tried to lift the pizza from its place of cooking directly on the rack. The crust is really dense. Overall it tastes like a healthy frozen pizza: no cholesterol, low sodium, low fat, but with flavor!

They want us to join them in their goal of "No pizza eater left behind!" I'm not sure if I would again.

Egyptian Pizza of Belvedere Square

2011-09-15T12:13:00.000-07:00

August 25, 2011

Baltimore Pizza Club realized we had been spending too much time in the South so we ventured to the Northern border of Baltimore City, to a foreign land called "Belvedere Square". As we entered the pizza restaurant we were yet again transported, this time to ancient Egypt. We had been tipped off that Egyptian Pizza had a falafel pizza; we needed to investigate.

We were seated in the ruins of a ancient temple where disgruntled high school students and the elderly mixed. The shadows of pyramids towered over us. We looked at . . . the menu and a whole new world opened up to us. Although we were there on pizza business, the menu had many middle eastern delights. The pizza list was also extensive, it was up to us to find the path to pizza enlightenment.

We decided to sample an array of pizza beyond just the falafel pizza. We ordered: New York, New York, Maser, Giza, and the Sunset Boulevard.

New York, New York - Leek with marinated potatoes, mozzarella, goat cheese, basil pesto, sun dried tomatoes, and red peppers.

The tomato sauce traditionally found on pizza was replaced by pesto. This is good. This was not the most flavorful veggie pie, but it was still very good. Uncommon toppings such as potatoes are always a treat. We also ordered a vegan version of this pie which was referred to as "very solid.

Maser - Italian tomatoes, mozzarella, feta, falafel with tahini and salsa on the side.

We we all very excited about falafel pizza. We all had different visions of what this food collision would look like. When it came out of the oven, we felt a little let down. It wasn't that exciting, it was just cheese pizza with sliced falafel on top. They seemed like an afterthought. We were hoping for embedded falafel, each bite recreating a falafel sandwich! but with cheese! General disappointment was expressed. After getting past our initial feelings, we decided we were getting a 2 for 1 deal. The tahini sauce was really delicious.

Giza - Mozzarella and feta cheese, marinated flank of lamb, fresh dill, cilantro and parsley, black olives, roasted red bell pepper, served with spicy cumin sauce on the side.

The sauce was really great as was the feta. After eating a slice of this, one pizza eater exclaimed "I'm so excited to be eating pizza right now!" The lamb was phenomenal and very flavorful. Our only qualm was that there should have been more meat and it could be spread out on the surface more. We also wished they had given us more sauce, though we could have easily asked, intent is important.

Sunset Boulevard - Curried lamb, mozzarella, wild mushrooms, topped with "golden flakes of puff pastries" with mango salsa on the side.

Again this had delicious lamb on it that was piled in the middle. There was an unexpected taste of cinnamon on this pizza. The sweet chutney was a fantastic addition to this sweet and savory pizza.

The crust overall was very good. It was doughy, yet crunchy at the same time. All the ingredients were fresh and Egyptian pizza deserves props for some innovative flavor combinations. That said, all they needed to do was push those a little bit further to fulfill their promises of exotic pizza delight. The fundamentals are solid, but the falafel pizza of our dreams remains just out of reach.

Ratings:
NY - 6/8
Maser - 3/8
Giza - 7/8
Sunset Boulavard - 6.5/8

The threat of a hurricane wasn't enough to keep us from pizza!

Chazz: A Bronx Original

2011-08-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

Chazz: A Bronx Original
August 2, 2011

We were a little confused if they were still in their soft opening phase. It looked as if they were still figuring out their pizza menu; we even observed a taste testing. We decided to leave them to it and not ask too many questions. They gave us carafes of both sparkling and still water.

90s alt-rock was playing the entire time we were there. This seemed to be a strange choice considering they are going for a New-York City (Bronx?) theme. The entrance is decorated like a subway station with line numbers and lots of murals of trains and skyscrapers in monochrome. There were two men in chef jackets manning the pizza making station. You were able to sit at a counter and watch as they shoveled pizzas into the coal fired oven. Yes, this pizza is made in a coal fired oven, take note. The pizza makers toss dough in the air and are surrounded by the ingredients. The question is, is there a difference between New York and Bronx pizza?

We ordered three pizzas: the Funghi - wild mushrooms, smoked gouda, and garlic, the Margherita - tomato, mozzarella, and basil, and the Prosciutto - parmesan, prosciutto, mozzarella, fontina, garlic and arugula. The "h"s were intentional, perhaps Bronx style pizza means you add an "h" to the name.

The Fughi was found to be sweet, smokey, creamy, savory, and had fancy mushrooms. The crust was very good with an almost buttery, flakey quality. We decided that this mushroom pizza was even better than the beloved mushroom pie at Iggie's. It was perhaps a mistake to eat this one first as this pizza made the others seem inadequate. There was debate if we loved this one because it was fresh out of the oven or because it was the best.

The Margherita was very average. It was a little on the boring side. The sauce on this pizza was sugary. This one was a little harder to eat and was chewier. The crust was slightly thinner on this pie.

The Prosciutto was the saltiest of the three. Perhaps the arugula is supposed to counter it, but it wasn't that successful. If you are a big fan of prosciutto, you probably will like this pizza more than we did. The slices of meat were thin and each slice was covered with it.

It seems that they are still trying to figure out what they are doing, though the waitstaff was extremely nice. The atmosphere was a little weird. There were a couple of different themes going on: wine cellar, sidewalk bistro, standard dining area. There were different chairs in each section. We were in the sidewalk bistro area were there was a wrought iron fence, cafe chairs. and was up on a riser. There was also a distracting video display of New York landmarks playing on a loop. We initially thought that this was a second, outside of New York location, but the Baltimore Chazz in actually the flagship restaurant.

Wait, it's not over yet! Dessert pizza time! We had to order this in order to say we did thorough pizza research. The dessert pizza had nutella and powdered sugar on it. The crust was crunchier than the other pizzas we sampled, but thicker and chewier on the outside. The nutella was soft and creamy, but we felt that this pizza needed something else. We would suggest adding strawberries or even ricotta to this pizza.

Finally we just have to ask, WHERE WAS CHAZZ? We would have been more than happy to see Chazz Bono, but don't expect to see Chazz Palminteri. We didn't!

Funghi - 8/8
Parma Prosciutto - 4/8
Margharita - 4.5/8

Pizza Time with Danny McBride

2011-08-11T20:22:00.000-07:00

Get More: Movie Trailers, Movies Blog

Frozen Pizza Chronicles: Pizza Bourekas

2011-08-07T15:47:00.000-07:00

Seven Mile Market in Pikesville has a very extensive selection of frozen pizza products. One of these that we decided to investigate was Ta'amti's Pizza Bourekas. They are pizza filled puff pastries. Sounds like a great idea right? First off they were a little undercooked which was my fault. The instructions were a little misleading. They instructed me to sprinkle sesame seeds on top of the Bourekas before baking them. I could not find sesame seeds inside the box or even listed as an ingredient as th directions seems to be imply. I did not put any on and they were fine without the seeds.

before and after
We decided that they are quite large for hors d'oeuvres and were trying to figure out their place in the world. We then had a debate on if they qualified as pizza or just pizza themed.

They kind of tasted like pizza combos. The olives inside them were totally unexpected. Alicia felt they were similar to pizza bagels, but with philo dough. They are pretty dense and on the doughy side. Inside the puff, the sauce and fillings were not evenly distributed and there wasn't that much tomato sauce. Bonnie wondered if they were even close to pizza.

Overall we decided that these do qualify as pizza. Eating one is definitely different than eating a slice of pizza, but they were fun to eat. They would be a nice addition to a cocktail party.

New York Pizza App

2011-08-07T15:29:00.000-07:00

So this isn't too helpful to us here in Baltimore, but to those in New York there is the Real Pizza of New York App. Use technology to find pizza

Greetings from Asbury Park NJ

2011-07-29T12:19:00.000-07:00

On a short trip up to the beautiful and suntanned Jersey Shore this week, I had the drunken pleasure of visiting Johnny Mac House of Spirits (not haunted) of Asbury Park. They have this crazy deal: you buy any drink and get a free 12 inch pizza! And the pizza is actually good. You can get whatever you want on it, one of my companions ate a jalapeno, bacon and pineapple monstrosity. Next time you are in Asbury Park, check it out!

www.johnnymacbar.com

international

2011-07-20T02:38:00.000-07:00

awwww

Bella Roma

2011-07-08T09:22:00.000-07:00

Bella Roma
3600 Falls Road
Hampden
June 2 2011

Bella Roma is that inconspicuous pizza and sub place on the corner of 36th and Falls road. It is easy to ignore or write it off, but we received a tip about the exceptional quality of their Bella Roma Delight and felt it was our duty to follow this lead. We ordered two pizzas, one plain cheese and the other the Bella Roma Delight, which is chicken, spinach, tomato, onion, and ricotta cheese. We were instructed to ask for a "crispy" crust, by those in the know. We took our pizzas to nearby Roosevelt Park and ate al fresco.

The crust on the cheese pizza was thin, but still sturdy. The pizza was chewy and there was an expansive cheese covering, leaving a narrow band of crust. It was a bit on the greasy side and we noticed perforations on the underside, most likely to aid in the cooking process.

The Bella Roma Delight was pretty intense. The crust had a nicer texture than the basic cheese pizza. We also found it to be less greasy. The ricotta on the pizza really put it over the top. They put nice big dollops of it on the pizza. The Bella Roma Delight includes 4 food groups, so for the heath conscious, perhaps this is for you. The vegetables used were also definitely fresh and the toppings were plentiful.

The cheese pizza was kind of ordinary and I wouldn't go out of my way to get it from them, but the Bella Roma Delight is certainly something I would like to experience again and again.

Ratings:
Cheese - 5.5/8
Bella Roma Delight - 7/8

pizza meditations

2011-07-08T09:04:00.000-07:00

A Haiku: On walking by Pizza Boli's in the rain

Rain, Pizza Boli's
steamy, damp pizza wafts softly
I am satisfied.

This haiku is dedicated to the memory of Eric Imhoff, who also wrote some haikus that were pretty ok.

Pizza Johns: try 2

2011-07-03T21:27:00.000-07:00

We are going back to Pizza Johns for the first time on Tuesday, July 5. Pizza at 7pm pre-pizza thrifting leaving at 6.

Philly's Best Taj Mahal Pizza

2011-06-02T19:42:00.000-07:00

Don't let the name fool you, Philly's Best is located on the Avenue in Hampden. Philly's Best offers the usual pizza and sandwich options of normal carry out pizza joints, with the twist that it also serves Indian take out. We went there with a very specific pizza goal in mind, we were there to eat the Taj Mahal. We had been hearing rumors about an Indian food pizza that was off menu, now it is out in the open for the world to try. We ordered this pizza knowing nothing about it, except that it was exotic and therefore fascinating. There was an air of mystery as we sat in the car wondering what was inside the pizza box. We assumed that this was a vegetarian friendly pizza, but there were no clues either way. As we were staring at the box, we speculated that it contained the exotic, spicy mysteries of the Orient.

The anxiety and expectation were building, would this be a pizza like none we had encountered before? As we lifted the lid we saw the familiar markers of what we recognize as pizza. There was sauce and cheese, but the difference was indeed mysterious. It was like Palak Paneer, yet different and on a pizza. The crust was decent and nicely supported the toppings. It was crunchy, but not overdone. It was spicy, but not overwhelming. The slices are large and sauce and cheese had even coverage. There was still tomato sauce as a base, but on top of that there was spinach and vegetables, which might have been onions and broccoli.

After the initial strangeness faded into warm familiarity, we then voyaged into a discussion about the Taj Mahal and the Flavors of India. Was this a melding of America and India or was one more prominent? We debated if the cheese on the pizza was paneer or mozzarella, with the dominant taste being the latter. We would have liked to have seen actual cubes of paneer on the pizza to give it a more distinct flavor. For example, our friend Matt who arrived late to the game, bit into a slice and asked if it was pesto. While Laura, with her more discerning palate called it as Indian. This demonstrated it was a subtle, as opposed to a more pronounced Indian flavor as the unaware could be taken by surprise.

Matt stated that "I gotta give it props because there were flavors that weren't the things I thought they would be".

Overall, we decided that it was pretty high grade takeout and a nice change in your takeout pizza routine, but we would have preferred more adventurousness on their part.

Rating:5.5/8

Philly's Best
1101 W. 36th St
Baltimore, MD 21211
(410) 243-1301

Donald Trump Talks About Eating Pizza

2011-06-02T14:39:00.000-07:00

Nothing of substance is discussed but his orange creamsicle lips are memorizing.

Time and Date decided!

2011-05-31T22:14:00.001-07:00

We will be meeting this Thursday, June 2. Same time and place. Bella Roma at 7pm.

pizza BRUNCH!

2011-05-02T18:46:00.000-07:00

Recently, one of your lovely ambassadors visited the pizza capital of the world where she learned how to be a skyscraper.

Then we headed over to Paulie Gee's for his first ever pizza brunch! Sara and I shared the Florentine: mozzerella, spinach, mushrooms and hollandaise. There were also a few options with eggs on top. Paulie is really taking things to a new level, it was a whole new pizza experience.

The pizza was delicious. A truly great crust where you could really taste the oven, perfect cheese, not at all greasy and a lovely hollandaise sauce. We then decided to try one of the dessert pizza and when Paulie Gee brought it out, he told us it was the first dessert pizza ever ordered! The dessert pizza was basically just crust, ricotta and honey. It was good, but a bit doughy, especially after finishing a pizza brunch feast.

Pita Pizza Redux

2011-05-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went camping at Merchants Millpond in North Carolina. This easy and delicious meal idea was brought to the Pizza Club's attention last summer by Max Weselcouch. Sadly the photo documentation of that historic meal was lost in the woods. So let me present to you Pita Pizzas Redux:

We actually had some for dinner the night before and these we made for breakfast. Pita Pizzas are really easy, you only really need three ingredients (though there is a lot of room for experimentation). These ingredients are pitas, sauce, and cheese. Also foil. These are an easy fix for vegetarians or fussy children too.

cut a slice in the pita

fill the pocket with sauce and cheese

You then wrap the pita in a foil case

put it on the fire to cook (Jared decided to make an open faced pita pizza)

done!

Baltimore Pizza Club-in-Exile: People's Pizza

2011-04-24T18:47:00.000-07:00

Baltimore Pizza Club-in-Exile
People’s Pizza
Cherry Hill, NJ

In recent months, pizza club has been haunted by the ghosts of pizzas past. Not necessarily our own past, but rather the past of the collective pizza unconscious. Apparently New Jersey is an epicenter of this pizza unconscious; I’ve been hearing mythic accounts of People’s Pizza, in Cherry Hill, for many years without ever verifying that it exists or is any good. In a highly unlikely coincidence, some Pizza Club members were driving through New Jersey this past weekend, right after I received yet another People’s Pizza tip from a friend and former Jersey-ite: “the best pizza in the known universe” was his daring claim.

After a long afternoon in the ivy-clad sepulcher of Princeton University, we were ready for some straight-up no-nonsense pizza. We were immediately impressed by People’s Pizza’s welcoming environment (lots of windows for watching cars go by), friendly employees (like, really friendly), and cool jams.

People’s has an extensive menu, with pizza-by-the-slice, specialty pies, and other exotic things that we sometimes couldn’t identify. We ordered a cheese pizza as a baseline, and then ventured into the eggplant primavera (fried eggplant, tomato, mozzarella, and white sauce).

We decided to order some garlic bites to tides us over as we waited for our pizzas to be cooked in the revolving oven. We thought why knot?

Perhaps it was the novel setting, but we felt like we were definitely getting something that is rare in Baltimore. The cheese pizza was thin-crusted and floppy, with very prominent, sweet-tangy tomato sauce. The crust was good around the edges, but too thin in the middle to balance the otherwise well-proportioned sauce and cheese. Oil was a problem for some, but a solution for others: “the oil makes the pizza just slide down my throat,” Dan reported.

The eggplant primavera was, in retrospect, an injudicious choice; it was just too much stuff on a pizza. The eggplant and mozzarella were fresh, but the fried eggplant slabs were overpowering - our group would have preferred thinner slices or strips as a topping. The white sauce fit well with this ensemble, however, as red sauce would have added a dissonant note.

To the claim that this is the best pizza in the universe, we rejoin that this is at least the best pizza in Cherry Hill. The service was an 8/8.

We gave the cheese pizza a 6/8
the eggplant received a 4.5/8

pizza mimesis

2011-04-21T15:32:00.000-07:00

I don't know who these people are, but look! they're on a pizza! that's cool.

Rocco's Pizza in Glen Burnie

2011-04-15T18:01:00.000-07:00

Rocco’s Pizza in Glen Burnie
April 6, 2011

Pizza is an essential part of childhood. Many people have happy memories of pizza experiences that do not necessarily stand the test of time when revisited as an adult; this is not the case with Rocco’s.

Chris Freeland hosted the most recent pizza club meeting, luring us out to Glen Burnie with boasts of “the best pizza ever”. It was not until we were sitting down that we discovered Chris had been going to Rocco’s since he was a child. His father owned a bicycle shop in the same strip mall and young Chris and his father spent many happy afternoons eating Rocco’s pizza together. However, now Chris was ready to subject Rocco’s to scientific assessment by the Baltimore Pizza Club.

We ordered two extra-large pizzas. One had just cheese, the other had one half mushroom and one half green pepper. These pizzas were huge! They also were extremely cheap, the cheese pizza was $9.75 and each topping cost an additional $1.75. For those of you who happen to have an Entertainment Book, there is a coupon for Rocco’s for half-off a pizza. What a deal!

Our initial responses were positive. Katie Goodwin said that “it is like the pizza that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles eat.” Franco stated that “this is the pizza I’ve been looking for in Baltimore.”

Many were won over by the soft and pleasantly chewy consistency of the crust. This is pizza of the large, floppy slice variety. It can be difficult to manage, and the timid may resort to eating with a knife and fork, but the messiness is part of the experience of a thin-crust pie. The sauce was mild, and the viscosity of the cheese “just right.” Together, they achieved a delicious symbiosis.

The toppings are rather secondary in this kind of setting; though Rocco’s does offer specialty pizzas, we felt that the classic style was the most important to evaluate. Our mushrooms and peppers were clearly fresh rather than canned. The pools of grease spotting the pie’s surface were another topping of sorts; for a pizza this vast, with this much cheese, that’s to be expected, but the grease-shy should be warned.

In terms of atmosphere, this is primarily a take-out joint and thus the accommodations are minimal. We enjoyed the colors-of-Italy decor, and there was plenty of seating for our group, but our pizza “for here” arrived in a to-go box, suggesting that we proceed to the skating rink and/or bowling alley for someone’s 9th birthday party. In fact, you can go straight to the bowling alley from Rocco’s: there are a number of bowling options in the area, and lucky owners of an Entertainment book can get some pretty sweet discounts.

In the final assessment, would like to lay out the factors that might justify a trip to Glen Burnie for Rocco’s Pizza. We wouldn’t recommend making the journey just for pizza, but if you’re going to Value Village, traffic court, or to any of Glen Burnie’s numerous bowling alleys, Rocco’s is a perfect place to pick up a slice.

6.5/8 slices

Middletown: Family Business

2011-04-05T18:27:00.000-07:00

"Just cheese on toast"?

2011-03-29T15:05:00.000-07:00

fighting words from the Guardian:

"...I can't help wondering whether such pizza fanaticism is actually a tragic case of diminishing returns: that no matter how good a pizza can be, the edible world is a wide place, with more to offer than a single dish. Treating pizza as a gourmet product defies the dish's own history, it defies logic and reason and a lifespan measured in years rather than millennia. It's only cheese on toast, after all."

ambassadors!

2011-03-16T19:02:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Mike, Sean, Justin and I had the unique pleasure of welcoming three Baltimore Pizza Club ambassadors to Brooklyn. When Aran, Jen and Chuck arrived, we knew there was only one place to take them: the fabulous Paulie Gee's!

After going to see Serious Lunch, it took us a while to have a beer and find Chuck and then a while to take the subway back to Greenpoint. Anyway, we got to Paulie Gee's at 11:02 pm not knowing that they close at 11. (It's cool, don't worry, everyone in New York eats dinner at 11 pm.) Luckily Mrs. Gee (that's Paulie's wife, if you're keeping track) was acting as hostess and found us charming so she sneaked us to a table.

The pizzas are kind of small, just bigger than personal size, so the seven of us shared six pizzas. Sadly, we forgot to take pictures until almost all of the pies were gone. So you'll have to use your imagination with this one piece:

Some notes:
regina, a classic margherita pizza: delish!
greenpointer (salad on a pizza) Justin: "I like this one because it's so original. It's not just a good pizza, I know I'll never have this pizza anywhere else."
mootz (super garlic white pizza with basil) Jen moans
Hell Boy (described as Fior di Latte, Italian Tomatoes, Sopressata Picante and Parmigiano Reggiano, with Mike’s HOT Honey) yes, honey. on a pizza. I also learned that Sopressata Picante is just a fancy word for pepperoni
porkpie white (basically a sausage and pepperoni pizza, but with more garlic and a white sauce, not red) Everyone agreed it was good, but it was too regular, not original enough
anise and a nephew (fennel! on a pizza!) Aran: what is this? then what is this? they're both fennel!?!?!?!

Jen is sad that there's no more pizza

Rating

We were split pretty half and half between giving this pizza 7.5 out of 8 slices and 8 out of 8 slices. The two 7.5 slice dissenters were Aran: "I didn't love how the crust was crispy but there was a floppy part in the middle" and Sean (with the crazy eyes): "almost perfect, I just wish the pizzas were bigger". Jen especially liked the atmosphere, which she described as cozy.

Overall, this is wonderful pizza. The next time any BPCers are in New York, I would highly recommend a visit.

Sweet Sin

2011-03-16T16:40:00.000-07:00

Let us first mention that Sweet Sin is gluten free, therefore providing pizza options to those who would otherwise be deprived. However none of the attending members have gluten allergies, so we have no proper way to gauge the relative tastiness of this gluten free pizza over others. That said, we went with open hearts and minds. Sweet Sin offers a rotating array of pizzas. During out visit, we ordered cheese, Caprese, and Veggie pizzas.

Let's talk crust here, as this appears ti be the main challenge and difference with gluten free baking. The main challenge is concocting a suitable gluten free replacement. The crust was flakey and dense. It did not seem to be able to support heavy toppings. Let us be clear here, this is very different from average pizza crust; it is more like pie crust. We speculated that this may be the result of not being cooked in a traditional pizza oven.

Another problem that might have been caused by the absence of pizza is the lack of synergy between crust and cheese. The cheese kinda slid just off. Were they ever really together or just occupying the same space? Perhaps normal pizza dough creates small holes that allows the cheese to fuse together with it.

The cheese pizza was our gateway pizza into the gluten free pizza realm. The sauce was pretty spicy, most people enjoyed it. It might have been nice if you were able to have the option of how spicy you want it, as some people are more sensitive.

The Caprese had a good tomato to slice ratio. It was basically the cheese pizza with tomatoes, there was also basil.

The veggie pizza was piled high with freshness. It had real mushrooms on it, in fact all the vegetables were fresh. On a side note, vegetable dishes are one of Sweet Sin strong points and they are applying this with the pizza.

I would bring my gluten free friend here if I had one. After there was a different feeling of being full than what regular pizza brings.

5/8

Frozen Pizza Chronicles: The Original Naan Pizza

2011-03-03T15:13:00.001-08:00

I had this in my freezer for a couple of months and decided that it was time to try out The Original Naan Pizza, spinach & paneer cheese. Boy was I glad I did, such a nice post-work snack. The crust, which is made of Naan, is pretty crunchy. At first I had no idea what the sauce is, in fact I'm not totally sure. It is not pizza saucy, but also not like an Indian sauce. The ingredients say that it is made of tomatoes, so it is tomato based with "spices". The box informs us that the artisan crust is hand-stretched and fired in a clay oven approaching 1,000ºF. Impressive?

It tastes like it once was frozen, the magic of the toaster oven could not hide this fact. It is slightly spicy and "foreign" tasting. The more I ate of it, the more I liked it. Eventually I truly believed that I could taste the Naan coming through. After this experience, Alicia and I decided that there should be more pizzas with paneer on them. It is time for the world to listen to our plea! Alicia felt that it tasted like Ellio's pizza, just with paneer. In a jam or snack situation, this is totally good. You can definitely taste the spinach on this pizza, even though it was cut into weird squares.

5.5/8

Isabella's

2011-03-01T16:11:00.000-08:00

On February 17, we went to Isabella's Brick Oven Pizza and Subs. Sadly all the pictures we took while there were tragically lost in a camera accident.

Isabella's is a small place in Little Italy, it is next to the Bocce Ball courts and two blocks from Viccaros. It is a very casual place. There are about four tables there, so it is safe to assume they do a lot of carry out business. Who can wait to take such tasty pizza home? Best to order and eat it there. It takes about 15 minutes for the pizzas to come out of the oven to you. As true and righteous pizza club pilgrims, we only ate pizza, but we did catch of glimpse of their subs and they looked amazing.

We ordered three large pizzas ($13.99 each):
Pizza Bianca - Dolce Ricotta, Fresh Mozzarella, Feta with Garlic and Herbs
Margherita - Homemade Mozzarella with Tomato Slices and Fresh Basil
Garden Pizza - Mozzarella and Tomato Sauce with Grilled Eggplant, Marinated Mushrooms and Fresh Artichokes

The Bianca was the favorite of the night with the Margherita coming in a close second. This was a classic white pizza, which means no red sauce. The Bianca was a little salty in a good way and very delicious. It was chewy, with excellent crust and was well seasoned.

The Garden had thin slices of eggplant on it that came apart when pulled. It had a good combination of toppings, but with a slight bitter taste. This one was a little harder to eat with the topping and cheese coming off when you bit it. The sauce on this pizza so-so. We debated if the artichokes were canned, but then realized that they were not and we also for sale in the deli case. The eggplant on the pizza was not originally identified by "blind eaters".

The Margherita did in fact have thinly sliced tomatoes on it as well as fresh cut basil. Very delicious and well received.

The only negative about the experience is that they gave us styrofoam plates to put our pizza on.

It was brought up that Isabella's pizza might have the best crust in Baltimore. This was overall a great experience. Isabella's is a place that we all felt like we would go back to. Let's face it, there are places you go once and places you go all the time. Isabella's is defiantly the latter.

Ratings:
Bianca - 7.999/8
Garden - 5/8
Margherita - 6.5/8
General Crust rating - 7/8
Overall - 2π/8

Alicia will now forensically recreate our pizza experience in the following slides:

Frozen Pizza Chronicles: Wegmans Bake & Rise Pizza Four Cheese

2011-02-24T16:18:00.000-08:00

Wegmans Bake & Rise Pizza Four Cheese
The four cheeses are: Mozzarella, Parmesan, Romano & Asiago. The box wants us to know that "Our Crust RIses as it Bakes for a Truly Authentic Pizzeria Style Pizza!" We'll be the judge of that Wegmans . . .

The directions are easy, heat oven to 425º, remove pizza from box and overwrap and place it directly on the rack in the oven.

Bake for 20 -24 minutes and done! The pizza smells good while cooking, like fresh bread. My oven was running a little bit hotter than I thought it was and the pizza came out a little more "done" than expected.

The crust did rise immensely. The pizza itself is very doughy. It tastes very mild, not a strong sauce flavor. The sauce is watery and a little spicy, spicy in the same way pepperoni is spicy. It is hard to taste the four cheeses, the bread taste is overpowering. I would have preferred to have a puffy crust and for the inside to be a little less risen.

It looks tasty and that is 30% of the battle. The surface is glistening and cheesy. It looks much nicer than it tastes. It looks like it should taste awesome, but it falls short. This is no way gross frozen pizza, just a different take on it.

This pizza cost $3.99 at Wegmans in Hunt Valley, so overall pretty good for the price.

5/8

Baltimore Pizza Club-In-Exile: Pizza Stop

2011-02-23T20:09:00.000-08:00

Pizza Stop

1020 Portion Rd., Ronkonkoma, Long Island

You wouldn't expect the best pizza in the known universe to be found in Ronkonkoma, in the nether reaches of Long Island, in a strip mall with a funeral home, a tattoo parlor, and a golf supply store. So that's not where you will find the best pizza in the known universe. I'm not going to say I was bitterly disappointed, we don't need to get all touchy-feely here. What I'm saying is that there are moments in life when one looks to pizza to restore one's faith in the benevolence of the cosmos and the essential goodness of humanity. I was searching for redemption and/or transcendence. At the same time, I realized that pinning any kind of broader metaphorical significance to this pizza was probably a bad idea, and in this I was correct.

My friend Colin grew up in Ronkonkoma and he has repeatedly made statements about Pizza Stop preparing “the best pizza in the known universe,” “pizza that far surpasses any human capacity to enjoy pizza,” etc. etc. I never in my wildest dreams hoped to be able to test that claim, but in the interest of making the best of things, I decided to seek out Pizza Stop after a long day of moving my grandma and her extremely numerous worldly possessions from Brooklyn to a retirement complex. If you've ever been to a Walmart on Long Island and purchased multiple jumbo-packs of Depends, you know the psychological territory we're dealing with here.

So let's stick to talking about pizza. I consider myself a person of science. The claim was that Pizza Stop serves the best pizza in the known universe. Through systematic observation and experiment, I believe that I have disproved this claim.

In order to get a representative sample of Pizza Stop's product, we ordered a fresh pie with broccoli, peppers, and onions. The crust was somewhat doughy in the middle, although it did perform well around the edges. The sauce was probably not great, since I didn't notice it enough to write anything down while taking notes and I don't remember it now. The cheese had a good elasticity factor, and tasted fresh, as did the toppings which seemed to be recently sauteed. All of this made for a satisfactory pizza experience. I've had worse pizza. But you know what, I've also had better pizza is the thing. I've had much better pizza. So this was kind of like climbing to the top of some guru-mountain in Tibet and having a stupid New Yorker-cartoon scenario play out where the guru is actually a cat or the guru tells you to try different lipstick or some shit like that.

4/8 slices: just stay in Baltimore.

Pub Dog

2011-02-07T11:43:00.000-08:00

On January 27 we had a very successful meeting at Pub Dog in Federal Hill.

They offer 10" thin crust pizza so they are more personal size, that allows you to trade slices with your friends and are able to try a larger selection of pizzas than if you only ordered two or three large pizzas. "The personal size pizzas allow you to try a lot of different pizzas if you came with a group." - Bonnie

The pizzas that were ordered were: "the Original" Wing Dog pizza, the Baja Chihuahua (2), Bruscetta, Alaskan Husky, Thai Chicken, Fox and the Hound, Margherita, Chicken Pesto, and the Smash Up with the Baja Chihuahua and "the Original" Wing Dog pizzas sandwiched together.

smashdog!
There is a fireplace in the corner of the first floor with a smaller table in front of it. We decided that it would be a nice date table. It is a bar/restaurant experience. They had very efficient service and although we were a large group, we were all able to sit together.

Fox and the Hound

Thai Chicken

Wing Dog with ranch

Baja Chihuaha

Chuck came into the meeting with a bias against thin crust pizza. Though the pizza is thin crust, the crust was chewy, not crispy, which was surprising. Emily thought the pizza was "really delicious". Multiple times throughout the meal the word "good" was heard being said. The Buffalo sauce on the wing pizza was a bit spicy, but relays back to tomato. There was heavy cheese on it and they presented it with a cup of ranch sauce to dip the pizza in. The Fox and the Hound pizza was reminiscent of post-soccer pizza. We all were initially skeptical of the size of the pizzas, but they actually have a lot of food to them and fill you up. The Alaskan pizza tasted like garlic bread. The Chihuahua was quite spicy, but with a nice kick, not too over powering. The tomatoes used as topping were kind of bad. Jen thought they sucked. It is wintertime in January and I'm pretty sure that the majority of tomatoes being served in restaurants are going to be bad to mediocre.

We had a really good group that formed a symbiotic pizza relationship. Jen did not want to eat the crust of her pizza and Bonnie ate all of it because she needed something plain after the Thai pizza.

Pub Dog brews their own beer and give you two smaller glasses of beer at a time. Usually they are 2 for $4, but during happy hour they are 2 for $3. Their pizza selection was very large and there is something for everyone there.

"Good place to go with friends." - Sara

Pub Dog
20 East Cross Street
Baltimore, MD

6.5/8

Stay tuned for the presentation and compilation of the survey data taken by Chuck Green.

Pizza News: DiGiorno's Pizza And Cookies Combo

2011-01-26T10:56:00.000-08:00

DiGiorno's Pizza And Cookies Combo Is Watershed Moment In American Obesity

By Ben Popken on January 26, 2011 10:00 AM

DiGiorno is rolling out a new combo box that includes both frozen pizza and a batch of Toll House chocolate chip cookie dough. While you heat up your pizza, why not also make a side of cookies? The only thing this is missing is a side of lard dipping sauce. Yes, you would dip both products in it.

The company is also launching a Three Meat Pizza and Boneless Wyngz box, which somehow seems less offensive. Though, it should be noted that those are "Wyngz" with an asterisk as they are technically defined on the box as "white meat chicken fritters."

How did the cookies get in the box in the first place? Nestle owns DiGiorno and bought Toll House from Kraft recently. Your coronary embolism is their corporate synergy.

http://consumerist.com/2011/01/digiornos-pizza-and-cookies-combo.html

Next Meeting this Thursday

2011-01-25T08:24:00.000-08:00

Our next meeting will be this Thursday, January 27th at 6pm. We will be going to Pub Dog Pizza and Drafthouse which is located at 20 East Cross Street in Federal Hill.

This also gives us plenty of time to head up to the Charles Theatre to see Alien at 9pm.

The Circulator can also get you to both these places.

It's not delivery, it's DiGiorno

2011-01-24T11:15:00.000-08:00

And it totally ruled.

Papa John's

2011-01-22T12:33:00.000-08:00

I find that Papa John's pizza prices are usually quite high and unless there is a coupon involved, I don't consider it an option. As much as I am all for Pizza Bolis, Papa John's is having a pre-super bowl deal where all large pizzas are $10 including specialty. I got a large pizza with mushrooms, onions, and tomatoes. Their ingredients are good, fresher than most take out pizza places. The sauce is really sweet.

Papa John's also seems to be pushing the whole ordering online thing. Their website kept promoting it and when I went in to pick up my pizza, they informed me that in the future I can order online. I personally do not mind having to talk on the phone to order a pizza, though they do give you a lot of personal options to customize your pizza via the internet.

Papa John's Day 2:

I brought some of the leftover pizza to work the next day to continue with pizza research. The pizza was holding up fine. The onions were still crunchy. We concluded that either the mushrooms on the pizza were not canned or they were really good canned mushrooms. We were also impressed with the tomatoes, they also tasted real. My co-worker Joe thinks they "changed the game. It got real. They really stepped it up". He also remarked "it's not bad". Because of the sweetness of the sauce I wouldn't eat it everyday, but if your first choice is closed, Papa John's pizza is satisfying.

pre and post microwaving:

5.5 - 6/8

Pizza Snacks: Goldfish Mix-Up Adventures Xtra Cheesy Pizza

2011-01-20T17:50:00.000-08:00

This morning as I was shaking the accumulated layers of junk out from
the bottom of my backpack (is that gross? At least I clean it once in
a while), what should I discover but this lovingly-preserved package
of Goldfish ™ Xtra Cheesy Pizza Mix-Up Adventures crackers. Although
the bag was mercifully empty, its discovery whisked me back many
months to the moment when I first crunched down upon these cheesy,
salty snacks. Yes, I remember it all very clearly. They tasted…kind
of like pizza. Like, on a scale of 1-10 where 10 tastes like pizza
and 1 does not taste like pizza at all, they were probably about a 5.
Or maybe a 4.

Although this "pizza-inspired product" obviously isn’t that great – I
wouldn’t go out and buy more – it does engage with some important
themes in contemporary American culture. Including: the gender
politics of snack food mascots; stereotyped representations of
Italian-American heritage; the commodified discourse of the “Xtreme”;
the limits of brand extension in a market saturated by
barely-distinguishable spin-off products. I’ll let the images speak
for themselves.

In conclusion, I have some constructive criticism that will allow the
makers of Goldfish ™ to improve their pizza-inspired offerings. The
combination of parmesan flavored and pizza flavored fish is a good
starting point, since it replicates a grouping of foods actually found
in real life (cf. Doritos Collisions). Wouldn’t it make sense, then,
to provide the full range of pizza toppings in the same bag with pizza
flavored goldfish? Things like basil, red pepper flakes, garlic
powder to start with. But why not expand beyond the condiments to
offer mushrooms, pepperoni, onions, pineapple, and finally – in a
reflexive turn that could preoccupy snack food theorists for decades
to come – anchovy flavored goldfish? Pepperidge Farms ® Bakery: let’s
see just how Xtreme you really are.

3/8

Pizza Snacks: Pizza Puffs

2011-01-20T17:28:00.000-08:00

In theory Pizza Puffs should be a delicious satisfying snack, unfortunately they are not. Maybe on the same level as cheese doodles? Not even close! They do not satisfy a pizza craving, nor any other. One could potentially eat a lot of them, but the question there would be why? They are too air filled. The picture on the front is deceiving. They do not have that much seasoning. Pizza puffs are not very cheesy either. They should be called Puffs, pizza should not be grouped with these disappointing snacks.

These could become a family favorite if you hate your family and want your children to suffer from a disappointing childhood. These descriptor phrases are wildly deceiving. It really should read "Cheese pizza anyone? Go and get some in another package".

1/8
Don't even waste your time

BALTIMORE PIZZA CLUB-IN-EXILE

2010-12-29T06:47:00.000-08:00

BALTIMORE PIZZA CLUB-IN-EXILE
by Alicia Puglionesi

Thirteen ways of looking at a Blackbird pizza
(Blackbird Pizzeria, 507 S. 6th St., Philadelphia PA)

1)
My brother recently revealed that he is a "vegan," and after all the pain and suffering that this lifestyle choice has caused for our family, I felt it was time to begin the healing process by bringing them a vegan pizza that we could share. The pizza would need to break down entrenched prejudices with sheer charm and tastiness. Upon the shoulders of this humble pizza would rest the happiness of a home torn asunder by dietary and ethical conflicts. Nothing and everything was at stake. Pizza doesn't have shoulders, that makes no sense.

2)
Jason, newly-minted "vegan," recommended Blackbird Pizza in Philadelphia's Society Hill because it's the only place he knows that makes specialty vegan pizzas (and, for the record, vegan cheesesteaks, sandwiches, plus many other foods not addressed here). Decisions made by necessity are often the best decisions. In today's world of superfluous consumer choice, etc. etc. The Baltimore-based reader should also note that this pizza parlor is relevant because it's named after blackbirds, which are either the same as or related to ravens.

3)
Thinking fast, I sent up a Pizza Club beacon (mass text) so that other pizza devotees might enjoy this hopefully-tasty treat and contribute their valuable insights. Joined in short order by a local expert, we departed for the "nice" part of the city where you have to pay for parking.

4)
Founded by a former chef at Horizons, Philly's premier vegan fancy-pants restaurant, Blackbird is more humble in appearance but still a bit hard on the wallet (specialty pies run you $19, while [humungous] individual slices clock in at $2.50-$3.50). It opened this past summer at 507 S. 6th St., the space that formerly housed Gianna's Grille. This was confusing for me since I always refer out-of-town vegetarians to Govina's or Gianna's for a veggie cheesesteak fix. For the record, Blackbird's veggie cheesesteak is more expensive than Gianna's, and neither were/are as good as Govinda's, so if you get anything out of this paragraph it should be that you need to go to Govinda's for a Philly cheesesteak.

5)
After pondering the menu and ruling out weird shit like nacho pizza and barbecue pizza, we decided on a Fungi pie (white pizza with exotic mushrooms, truffle oil, and garlic sauce) and a "South Philly Style Pizza" (red sauce, broccoli rabe, seitan steak pieces, and fennel). The staff was friendly and helpful, and the by-the-slice pies were flatteringly displayed behind glass. We sat by the fake fireplace/space heater and pondered the human condition, trading temporary tattoos for cigarettes and otherwise making the best of things.

6)
When the pies were ready it became clear that, as I had known all along in the deepest recesses of my soul, we would have to eat some of the pizza on the spot, rather than bringing it all home to my hungry family. This is a basic evolutionary hunter-gatherer instinct, it's totally ok and not poor form at all to skim a little off the top. Also, it was crucial to utilize the expertise of my friend Joyce, resident Funguy expert, in evaluating the mushroom pizza.

7)
The first bite of 'shroom 'za yielded what our resident expert termed "that genuine mushroom funk." Truffle oil, a trump card in terms of classy ingredients, gave the mushrooms some subtle nuance; garlic provided a sharp counterpoint to the fungal earthiness. I'd also like to use the word "bouquet" here. My brother took issue with the presence of a long human hair delicately adhering to the crust (pictured). The hair did not belong to any member of our party, but also did not match the hairstyle of anyone else in the restaurant. Our undimmed desire to continue eating is a testament to the fact that it was good pizza. The appearance of another mystery hair went entirely unremarked because who really wants to think about these things.

8)
As a segue between pizzas, we can discuss what they had in common: a consistently good dough, compressed to a crunchy, flaky, unobtrusive vehicle underneath the toppings, and blossoming into an airy crust with those baked-cheese bubbles that are arise in the intermediate crustal zone and are secretly the best part of pizza.

9)
Having said all these nice things about the crust, essentially setting it up for a victory lap, I'm sad to report that it didn't perform as well in pizza #2. Pizza Club members and auxiliary members and honorary member-experts engaged in extensive scientific debate regarding the causes of this disappointment. Two competing hypotheses emerged: the familiar "topping overload" hypothesis posited that the plethora of toppings on the South Philly pizza were simply more than the delicate crust could handle. Joyce advanced the more complex theory that the watery consistency of the vegan cheese plus sauce was causing the crust to soften, providing less structural support for toppings. This hypothesis eventually won out. We silently longed for knives and forks with which to tackle the floppy slices. (Note: there were knives and forks available at the counter, but no one wanted to be the first to show weakness).

10)
The South Philly pizza considered holistically had a notable fruity aftertaste, possibly related to the composition of the sauce. This fruity tang didn't compliment the seitan-and-broccoli-rabe faux-cheesesteak theme; a cheesesteak pizza should be meatier and more savory. Thinly-sliced fennel, a refined stand-in for the traditional onion topping, only added to our confusion. Perhaps Blackbird's sauce is not a strong point, as the white pizza we sampled had none of these weaknesses.

11)
This leads us to the subject of fake cheese. Cheese is the cornerstone of American pizza. Let it be stated, upfront and with no righteous bullshitting, that whole-milk mozzarella cheese and select auxiliary cheeses are the true heirs to the throne of whatever used to go on top of pizzas before cheese was invented. Why, having made this remarkable leap of human ingenuity, would we reject the miracle of cheese and revert to a substance made out of fermented arrowroot flour and oil? The question of authenticity in American life is very interesting to me. Some people really believe in things and want to show you hidden-cellphone-camera footage of cows being horrifically abused in factory farms. Other people are not able to digest dairy.

12)
Blackbird's stance on the fake cheese issue is that most fake cheese is bad-tasting and made of soy. They work with Daiya cheese, which is not soy-based. You can pretty much do your own research on the internet, but the claim is that this miracle-cheese-like-substance tastes cheesier and lacks the virtuous-soy aftertaste of the first-wave fromage substitutes. This is true for the most part. Its weakness is a liquidy consistency which, as noted above, contributes to goopiness and crust-collapse.

13)
Now would be a good time to wrap up this review with a sentimental tableau of family reconciliation. By the time my brother and I got home with what remained of the two pizzas (there was PLENTY of pizza left, geeze), the rest of the nuclear unit was quite hungry and irritated. They were prepared to hate on this alien and potentially immoral species of decorated bread. But guess what? They liked it. So there you go. And I actually wrote thirteen paragraphs before I went back and numbered them and added the stupid title.

7/8 slices, plus points for answering the eternal maternal question, "You're a vegan?! How will you live? What did I do wrong???"

Chill out! Pizza is your friend.

2010-12-13T14:07:00.001-08:00

Abramoff Concludes Stint At Kosher Pizzeria

2010-12-13T11:29:00.000-08:00

Abramoff Concludes Stint At Kosher Pizzeria « CBS Baltimore – News, Sports, Weather, Traffic and the Best of Baltimore

new ABC Family College themed cooking show - Dorm room date night

2010-12-10T22:33:00.000-08:00

How To Make Everything Pizza

2010-11-19T12:20:00.000-08:00

Although I'm sure the pizza is pretty good in Baltimore (you know what they say about pizza . . . ), when I left Baltimore a couple of years ago, I was lucky to land in Brooklyn, the epicenter of pizza. I live only about a mile away from the New York Times's declared best pizza in New York and just blocks away from my personal favorite pizza, handcrafted by the phenomenal Paulie Gee. Every pie served at Paulie Gee's is the best I've ever had, but when I visited a few weeks ago I was especially inspired by their Greenpointer pizza: a white pizza topped with arugula, cheese, and LEMON JUICE.

My friend Stephen has been honing his pizza skills lately with sauce and crust recipes from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. When we ran into each other at our last CSA pick up of the season, he invited me over to sample his undertakings. Inspired by the magical Paulie Gee's pizza and our CSA haul that week, I suggested that we top the pizza with kale, leeks, ricotta and lemon zest.

Stephen and his roommate made the dough and sauce ahead of time. We had both already used up our CSA kale by the time pizza making came around so I picked up some arugula on the way over. We also modified from my suggested ricotta to a mix of fresh mozzarella and parmesan. A key to this pizza was that the arugula and lemon were added after the pizza was removed from the oven, ensuring that the arugula was perfectly wilted without drying out or burning.

It was almost too beautiful to eat! But after fiddling around with digital cameras for a while we happily did eat it. The crust was delicious and more like a thin focaccia that a traditional thin crust pizza from a pizza joint. Everyone agreed that the leeks were a really great addition to the pizza and the sparing use of cheese allowed the delicate leeks to shine. I give it a hearty 8 out of 8 slices. After finishing the pizza, we got drunk on red wine and debated the pros and cons of raising the minimum age for collecting social security while listening to the Arcade Fire.

Pizza shop killing: a 20 year old man was shot to death during a pizza store holdup Friday night. - baltimoresun.com

2010-11-13T07:45:00.000-08:00

Pizza shop killing: a 20 year old man was shot to death during a pizza store holdup Friday night. - baltimoresun.com

Tutti Gusti

2010-11-09T07:17:00.000-08:00

On October 7, 2010 we went to Tutti Gusti. We ordered three large pizzas. The Bianca, Pizza Con Spinach, and a square pizza.

The Bianca - broccoli, ricotta, tomato, and mozzarella cheese. The crust on the pizza was crispy and was quoted as being "quite exceptional".

Pizza Con Spinach - tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, spinach, and mozzarella. The spinach on this one was definitely real and there was a lot of it.

We also made our own on one of their square pizzas. We got it with sausage and sundried tomatoes. The square pizza was very doughy.

Although we ordered at a counter, they brought the pizza to the table. The service was very friendly at this casual dining establishment. They did have the tv on, which was distracting. They also serve pizza by the slice pasta, calzones, and subs which we assume are really good. Overall we definitely got our money's worth of fresh and delicious pizza. Tutti Gusti is located in the Canton area, so for some it is a bit of a hike to get to. If you are going to be in the area, you should check it out.

Our overall rating was:
The Bianca - 6/8 slices
Pizza Con Spinach - 5/8 slices
Square - 7.5/8 slices

Tutti Gusti
3102 Fait Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21224
(410) 534-4040

The History of Pizza

2010-11-01T13:35:00.001-07:00

http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Pizza/PizzaHistory.htm

Next Meeting

2010-10-04T12:53:00.001-07:00

The next meeting will be this Thursday, October 7. Please meet at Tutti Gusti at 5:30 pm. They are located at 3102 Fait Ave. Hope to see you there!

Johnny Rad's

2010-09-25T00:20:00.000-07:00

We went to Johnny Rad’s on September 13, 2010. We ordered a couple of small pizzas as opposed to large ones because this was actually more cost effective and allowed us to have more variety. Usually it is cheaper the other way around. The small offered more slices that other small pizzas we have encountered. These were not personal pan pizza smalls. The small is 11” and the large is 15”. The owner came over to us and explained the difference between the small and large pizzas. The larger pizza allows (obviously) a larger canvas for the toppings. 10 oz versus 8.5 oz. Also he explained that the crust dynamics was very different between the sizes. I think an important quote from the evening should be brought to everyone’s attention now:

“The crust is really good. I want to eat it.”

This is fantastic! Some people never seem to get down with the crust of pizza and their plates inevitably become a crust wasteland. We’re not going to talk about those people now, we are going to talk about Johnny Rad’s crust. It is really good. It really is crust you want to eat.

I am going to give a personal tip on how to ensure crust enjoyment. The trick is to save about an inch of actual pizza and fold that over the crust. Say goodbye to eating only bread and say hello to being able to savour the texture and flavor of the dough.

We ordered:

-The El Gato, a white pizza with garlic olive oil, fresh basil, mozzarella, ricotta cheese, and sea salt.

-The Pesto Vitello, fresh pesto sauce with sliced tomato, fresh mozzarella and sea salt.

-The Tilt Mode, tomato sauce, mozzarella and ricotta, sliced red onion, baby spinach and arugula, and olive oil.

-The Templeton (with vegan cheese), a classic Marinara style pizza with tomato sauce, fresh garlic, oregano, olive oil and basil.

The El Gato was not just salad put on pizza, it provides a nice balance of vegetables to pizza.

Some concerns were on the pepperiness of the pizza, more specifically on the size of the peppercorns which some people found to be still whole and were hard to eat. I didn’t really experience this and could chalk it up to a non-functioning pepper grinder. If this is intentional, then this is a warning to future patrons: The pepper corns will be whole, so just be prepared. Ultimately it’s going to be ok.

The atmosphere was alright. We did happen to go during a televised Ravens game, so it was loud, but it emptied out by 9:40. Johnny Rad’s has a semi-punk/skateboarding theme going on, but not to the point that you wouldn’t want to go there if you were over the age of 22. Overall the employees were very nice and the pizza was in fact pretty “rad”. I definitely would go back to Johnny Rad’s and would recommend it.

If you’re looking to eat some good pizza and try some place new, check out Johnny Rad’s. It’s also across the street from the Patterson Bowling Center! (Hint: That would make a really good date).

7 out of 8 slices.

Pizza News: 7 Worst Pizzas in America

2010-09-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

7 Worst Pizzas in America

Worst Pizzas in America

By David Zinczenko
Sep 20, 2010

Eat This, Not That

When pizza was first invented, back in some long forgotten Italian village, it was a nearly perfect slice of nutrition: A thin crust of carbohydrates for energy, slathered with tomato sauce for vitamins and minerals, and topped with calcium-rich, protein-boosting mozzarella. It was like a food pyramid in pie form!

So what happened? How did this healthy Italian invention acquire a reputation for being so terribly unhealthy? Well, to start, American food manufacturers got their greedy little hands on it. As we began researching the Eat This, Not That! book series, we discovered marketers were up to all sorts of mischief that has made it easier for Americans to gain weight—doing creepy things like loading the top up with fatty meats, infusing the crust with hidden cheeses, and otherwise turning the healthy pizza pie into a Big Mac with crust. Mama Mia!

It’s too bad, too, because pizza is a staple of American life. During last year’s Super Bowl, Papa Johns sold more pies than there are people in Delaware. And it’s only the third-biggest pizza chain (Papa Johns, not Delaware). So if you want the best of both worlds—the health benefits of the Italian style and the football-rooting fun of the American way of life, then you need to know which pizzas should be showing up at your door at halftime—and which should get called for a 15-pound penalty.

#7: Worst Supermarket Pizza
DiGiorno For One Traditional Crust Supreme Pizza
790 calories
36 g fat (14 g saturated fat, 3 g trans fats)
1,460 mg sodium

No, it’s not delivery, but it is dangerous. This is how DiGiorno handles the personal pie: with 60 percent of your day’s sodium, 70 percent of your saturated fat, and more trans fat than you should consume in an entire day. If your heart had a voice box, it would be screaming in outrage.

Eat This Instead!
Stouffer’s French Bread Deluxe Pizza (1 pizza)
430 calories
21 g fat (7 g saturated)
820 mg sodium

#6: Worst Multi-National Pizza
California Pizza Kitchen Tostada Pizza with Grilled Steak (1/2 pie)
840 calories
16 g saturated fat
1,649 mg sodium

With a caloric heft like this, you’d expect this Tex-Mex pie to be massively portioned. It’s not. The big fatty price tag draws not from size, but from the combo effect of tortilla chips and ranch dressing. Switch to the equally interesting Four Seasons Pizza, which carries artichoke hearts, salami, mushroom, tomatoes, onions, and two cheeses, and you drop nearly 400 calories per half-pie serving.

Eat This Instead!
Thin Crust Four Seasons Pizza
480 calories
9 g saturated fat
1,567 mg sodium

Bonus Tip: Take a look at the weapons of mass inflation being whipped up in the labs of the mad fast-food scientists: The 20 Scariest New Restaurant Foods! Be afraid—be very afraid!

#5: Worst Single Slice
Sbarro Stuffed Pepperoni Pizza
960 calories
42 g fat
3,200 mg sodium

Sbarro serves up elephantine slices, so you should know better than to order one that essentially consists of two of those slices folded one atop another. In this one wedge of pizza, Sbarro manages to pack in nearly as many calories as you’d find in four pepperoni slices from Pizza Hut! You want to survive the Sbarro super-slice challenge? Stick to a regular pie, nix the pepperoni and sausage, and limit yourself to one slice.

Eat This Instead!
Fresh Tomato Pizza
450 calories
14 g fat
1,040 mg sodium

Bonus Tip: Sure, pizza has the potential to inflate, but it’s certainly not the only food to cause widespread weight gain. Case in point: The 15 Worst Burgers in America. You'll also learn which burgers to eat instead, so you can enjoy your favorite foods and still lose weight—without ever dieting.

#4: Worst Specialty Crust Pizza
Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust Meat Lover’s Pizza (2 slices, 14” pie)
960 calories
52 g fat (24 g saturated, 1 g trans)
2,780 mg sodium

Around the perimeter of this pie is what essentially amounts to a hula-hoop ring of cheese. Gross, right? But it's not just cheese. Also inside that ring: two types of sausage, ham, beef, and bacon. The impact of all those salt-cured meats is more than a day’s worth of sodium in each two-slice serving—oh, and as much saturated fat as a dozen Extra Crispy Drumsticks from KFC! Here’s a simple mnemonic device: Stuffed pizza = stuffed potbelly. Stick to thin crust and lean meats and you’ll live to eat well another day.

Eat This Instead!
2 Slices Thin ‘N Crispy Ham & Pineapple Pizza (2 slices, 12'' pie)
360 calories
12 g fat (6 g saturated)
1,080 mg sodium

Bonus Tip: To see more proof of how wayward beverages can utterly destroy your diet, check out the 20 Worst Drinks in America. Many of these disastrous drinks contain more than a day's worth of calories, sugar, and fat!

#3: Worst Flatbread
Cosi Chicken Gorgonzola with Fig Flatbread with Traditional Crust
1,073 calories
41 g fat (9 g saturated)
1,057 mg sodium

At first blush, flatbread seems like a healthy version of pizza—especially when it comes adorned with fanciful toppings like Gorgonzola and figs. But let this be a lesson: Just because it’s fancy doesn’t mean it’s healthy. Cosi’s traditional crust is essentially the same carpet of bread you might find underneath a circular pie. The rules of pizza selection apply to flatbreads as well: Lean toppings, light cheese, and thin crust.

Eat This Instead!
Margherita Flatbread with Thin Crust
451 calories
26 g fat (13 g saturated)
328 mg sodium

#2: Worst Thin Crust Pizza
Domino’s Brooklyn Style ExtravaganZZa Feast Pizza (2 slices 16” pie)
1,180 calories
60 g fat (27 g saturated)
3,420 mg sodium

To be fair, Domino’s Brooklyn Style isn’t promoted as thin crust, but it was created with fold-ability in mind. That requires slices that are soft, thin, and—in Domino’s case—massive. The typical Domino’s pie comes sliced into eighths, but order the Brooklyn-inspired pie and you’ll get only six slices. What happened to the other two slices? They were absorbed—along with their calories, fat, and sodium—into the other slices. Your better option is to build your own pie on a legitimate thin crust. Top that pie chicken and chorizo and you cut out 730 calories. Do that a couple times a week and you’ll cut close to two pounds of flab per month.

Eat This Instead!
Thin Crust Grilled Chicken and Chorizo (2 slices, 14” pie)
450 calories
20 g fat (7 g saturated)
1,030 mg sodium

Bonus Tip: Eating healthy on the go is far easier than it sounds. Check out these 9 Ways to Lose Weight Eating Fast-Food for body slimming tips that don’t cost a minute of your time.

#1: Worst Pizza in America
Uno Chicago Grill Chicago Classic Deep Dish Pizza (Individual)
2,310 calories
162 g fat (54 g saturated fat)
4,920 mg sodium

Wait, wait, wait. This is a one-person pizza? Yup. All 2,310 calories are destined for one soon-to-be expanding belly. This pie has been a perennial pick for us over the past three years, and the reason is simple: No other personal pizza in the country even begins to approach these numbers. It breaks every single caloric recommendation on the books, and it does it under the guise of a must-have “classic” dish. With the country being plagued by obesity, Uno should have the decency to banish—or significantly improve—this dish.

Eat This Instead!
Cheese and Tomato Thin Crust Pizza (Individual)
840 calories
33 g fat (15 g saturated fat)
1,770 mg sodium

ps this is a picture of David Zinczenko, the author of this piece. I don't really believe that he ate all those pizzas himself, but that's just me.

Gil's Pizza

2010-09-08T16:26:00.000-07:00

I have driven past Gil's on Belair road many times and had been wanting to stop by for a while. After an exhausting trip to IKEA, we decided we needed sustenance; we needed Gil's pizza. No dining in here, this place only does carry out. They only serve pizza and one size of it. They do offer "double dough" as an additional topping. We were told that this is not Sicilian style, but an additional ball of dough added; same diameter, only thicker. We ordered a mushroom pizza. They put the topping under the cheese.

A plain tomato and cheese pie costs $9.25 with each topping costing an additional $1.25.

Gil's has been around since 1958. Sadly Gil is no longer with us. The current owner bought it about 8 years ago. It took him two months of non-stop pizza eating for it to get kinda old, I feel that pizza is one of the few foods that I could eat everyday and not get sick of it. He says he still eats pizza once a week. He has been making pizza for almost his entire life. Perhaps I am making that up, but Gil's pizza is definitely on it.

There was a comfortable balance of crust/sauce/cheese. After ordering the pizza, we stood at the counter and watched him roll out the dough, put on the topping, and put it in the oven. It really connects you to the pizza making process. This is the pizza that you imagine when you say "I just want pizza, no messing around." While the trend of Baltimore pizza tends to be on the thinner crust side, Gil's crust is of a more traditional thickness. This pizza would be perfect with soda and/or beer.

Real cheese. No nonsense.

7.5 out of 8 slices

Gil's Pizza
5132 Belair Road
Baltimore, MD 21206
410-483-4847

Pizza Everyday - Big City Zza

2010-09-08T11:11:00.000-07:00

In New York City this past weekend I had three pizza experiences, each one being significantly better than the last. First stop, Coney Island.

This "school cafeteria" style slice was $3. Pretty terrible, but being very hungry after doing stuff all day and not eating helped a bit. Still, it deserves 1.5/8 slices.

The slice from this place, where a can of Coors Light costs $4.50, is pictured here.

After going on the $5 "Spook-A-Rama" ride (soooo worth it), my friend Jac picked up this gem for $3. Same price as the previous slice, but like 10 times better. 4/8 slices. (Note the actual cheese on this one).

Finally, the next night we went to a real Pizza place, John's Pizzeria on Bleecker Street (where, as Vanilla Ice suggests on their website, they should "Keep Making the 'Dope' Pizza.") Yes, Vanilla, the pizza was "Dope". We got a large cheese and it totally hit the spot, aka the emptiness in my stomach, and was priced well. $14. It was a 7/8.

Next meeting

2010-09-07T12:46:00.000-07:00

Our next meeting will be on Monday, September 13th at 8:30pm. Will will be dining at Johnny Rad's. It is located at 2108 Eastern Ave right by the Patterson Bowling Center.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=155006271192585&ref=mf

Pizza Everyday - Next Level Homemade Pizza

2010-08-31T08:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I realized that I wanted some pizza for dinner and decided to use the items in my kitchen and garden, instead of money, to make it. I googled "pizza dough recipe" and just used one at random. I forgot how easy it was to make pizza dough at home, it takes like no time to prepare then you just walk away for an hour while it rises. When it was ready we added olive oil, salt/pepper, garlic, tomatoes and basil (from garden) as well as fresh mozzarella (which, admittedly was purchased from the store for this very purpose).

It looked real good:

But once baked, it looked even better:

And then eating it was a f'ing dream:

As you can probably tell, it was quite doughy and messy. I suppose if one wanted thinner crust, they could just use half the amount of dough or a larger pan. Either way, if you like kneading and pizza and eating delicious things, homemade dough is the way to go.

Two Boots Pizza

2010-08-22T15:00:00.000-07:00

We went to Two Boots Pizza located at Power Plant Live on August 18. The name refers to the fact that Louisiana and Italy both resemble shoes. It was a damp night. The ambiance of the place was feathers and beads, New Orleans, and part Hillary Duff as Elizabeth Cady Stanton. We ordered two pizzas. The ORCHIDIA, which was our choice of five toppings. We created a white pizza with eggplant, garlic, artichokes, sundried tomatoes, and spinach.

The spinach appeared to have been the frozen kind as opposed to fresh. The eggplant on the pizza was breaded and was a much welcomed surprise. A knife and fork were required to eat this pizza as we did not trust the crust to withstand the topping weight. We had an overall positive experience with this pizza.

We also ordered the "Tony Clifton", which was red pepper pesto, wild mushrooms, vidalia onions, and mozzarella. The pesto was dabbed on top of the cheese, while the regular sauce was underneath. Some thoughts about this pizza: "There is a lot going on in my mouth".

The appearance of this pizza was questionable, but the majority of our group throughly enjoyed it. Our waiter said this was one of his favorite pizzas.

The crust is thin in a different way than other Baltimore thin crust pizzas (perhaps because it originated in New York?). It was crispy on the edges with a doughy consistency under the cheese. The dough is dusted with cornmeal. Though we only ordered vegetarian pizzas, Two Boots offers ones with crab, crawfish, sausage, and other cajun delights.

The service was prompt and our waiter was very friendly and accommodating. Even though we were there at 6 pm, there really weren't any other eat-in customers. The Power Plant Live area seems like a strange place, with activity around lunchtime and later in the evening. They do have a pizza by the slice option from an outdoor stand for patrons of the nearby bars. Two Boots pizza does have a liquor license. They also have other non-pizza options; we did not try these things. I feel that when the location opens up by MICA, it will be more accessible/successful than Power Plant.

We give them a 6 out of 8 slices mainly due to the fact that they use frozen spinach.

Zella's Pizza

2010-08-17T16:08:00.000-07:00

oops this took a long time to post! I still can taste their delicious pizza though

We went on June 7 2010, a Monday evening, which is buy one, get one pizza night. We ordered Olive's Roasted Eggplant, a Margarita, Chicken Pesto, and Portobello Pizzas. The seasonings available on the table were parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes, and oregano. The Eggplant pizza had two reports of pits in the olives, but we decided that it was still delicious. This does point to them using fresh olives as opposed to canned.

The Chicken Pesto pizza had very light pesto and we thought they should either up the pesto content or take it out of the name.

In general the pizzas had a lot of crust to them, but the crust was very good. It was fluffy rather than dense or gummy. The pizza was structurally sound, the dough was able to support large quantities of toppings. The Margarita and Portobello pizzas were also excellent.

Zella's offers a full bodied pizza and on Mondays they offer a lot of bang for your buck. Go before 7 to get a dollar off on your drinks. We were very happy with our experience and I can't wait to go back. The service was very fast and the ingredients were fresh (better pizza???)

Some quotes from the night:
"Good texture, kind of scratching the roof of my mouth."
"Oh my God, I love pizza!"

9.5 out of 10 only due to the disappointment with the pesto pizza.

see more picture's at Jaime's Flickr
Baltimore Pizza Club @Zella

Meeting change

2010-08-17T10:37:00.000-07:00

Last minute change:

the Pizza Club meeting will be happening on Wednesday, August 18. Same time, same place.

Pizza News: The life-saving qualities of pizza

2010-08-17T10:18:00.000-07:00

The life-saving qualities of pizza
Research – from Italy, would you believe – suggests that pizza can be good for your health

Marc Abrahams Monday 16 August 2010 16.30 BST

Tasty: the benefits of Italian pizza. Photograph: Massimo Borchi/Corbis

A series of Italian research studies suggest that eating pizza might do good things for a person's health.

These benefits show up, statistically speaking and seasoned with caveats, among people who eat pizza as pizza. The delightful statistico-medico-pizza effects do not happen so much, the researchers emphasise, for individuals who eat the pizza ingredients individually.

Back in 2001, Dario Giugliano, Francesco Nappo and Ludovico Coppola, at Second University Naples, published a study in the journal Circulation called Pizza and Vegetables Don't Stick to the Endothelium. The thrust of their finding was that, unlike many other typical Italian meals, pizza does not necessarily cause clogged blood vessels (atherosclerosis) and death.

Silvano Gallus of the Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche, in Milan, has cooked up several studies about the health effects of ingesting pizza.

In 2003, together with colleagues from Naples, Rome and elsewhere, Gallus published a report called Does Pizza Protect Against Cancer?, in the International Journal of Cancer. It compares several thousand people who were treated for cancer of the oral cavity, pharynx, oesophagus, larynx, colon, or rectum with patients who were treated for other, non-cancer ailments. Several hospitals gathered data about what the patients said they habitually ate. The study ends up speaking, in a vague, general way of an "apparently favourable effect of pizza on cancer risk in Italy".

A year later, in a monograph in the European Journal of Cancer Prevention, Gallus and two colleagues wrote that: "Regular consumption of pizza, one of the most typical Italian foods, showed a reduced risk of digestive tract cancers."

Also in 2004, another team anchored by Gallus published a monograph called Pizza and Risk of Acute Myocardial Infarction, in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. As you would expect from the title, its purpose was "to evaluate the potential role of pizza consumption on the risk of acute myocardial infarction". Gallus and his team "suggest that pizza consumption is a favourable indicator" for preventing, or at least not causing, heart attacks.

Gallus is in no way claiming that pizza prevents all ills. A Gallus-led study called Pizza Consumption and the Risk of Breast, Ovarian and Prostate Cancer appeared in 2006 in the European Journal of Cancer Prevention. These types of cancer are thought to arise differently than the kinds believed to be warded off by pizza. The study puts its message bluntly: "Our results do not show a relevant role of pizza on the risk of sex hormone-related cancers."

The Gallus studies all hedge their bets a bit. Each says, in one way or another (and here I'm paraphrasing them): "Pizza may in fact merely represent a general indicator of the so-called Mediterranean diet, which has been shown to have potential health benefits."

All of this pertains to Italian-made pizza, metabolised in Italy. No matter how accurate the scientists' interpretations turn out to be, there's no guarantee that they hold true for foreign pizza, or for any pizza eaten anywhere by foreigners.

• Marc Abrahams is editor of the bimonthly Annals of Improbable Research and organiser of the Ig Nobel prize

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/aug/16/pizza-save-life-improbable-research#send-share-box

Next Meeting

2010-08-14T06:36:00.000-07:00

Our next meeting will be at Two Boots Pizza. This New York transplant is located at Power Plant Live. We will be meeting on Tuesday August 17th at 6pm.

Did you know that Two Boots is planning on opening up a location at the new commercial/residential complex near MICA on Mt Royal?

Half-Price Pizza Wednesdays at Turp's Still Rulezzzz

2010-08-02T06:47:00.001-07:00

Next Meeting

2010-07-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

Our next meeting will be tonight! Tuesday July 13 at 6:00pm at BOP.

Brick Oven Pizza - BOP
Fells Point
800 South Broadway

http://www.boppizza.com/

Pulling the Cheese

2010-07-06T10:39:00.001-07:00

PizzaCycle

2010-07-05T08:50:00.000-07:00

This Victory motorcycle was parked outside of Baltimore Fells Point pizza institution: BOP (Brick Oven Pizza) right down by the water on Broadway.

Baltimore Pizza Club will be going to BOP in the next week or so to give a full review. Hope to see you there!

What Will They Think Of Next: Pizzacone

2010-07-05T07:18:00.001-07:00

Pizzacone is a new Manhattan restaurant where you can buy the contents of a pizza stuffed into a cone:

The dough cones are shipped to Pinto daily from a Connecticut bakery, and each Pizzacone is made to order at the counter; you tell them what ingredients to add, and then it’s cooked in the oven for five minutes. The result, according to one early guinea pig, is as convenient as it is delicious. “Tastes like a pizza,” Victor Nelli, a TV producer, tells the Daily News. “You can totally walk with it, and you don’t have the oil dripping all over you.”

http://kpizzacone.com/

Pizza Slice Tattoo

2010-07-02T11:55:00.000-07:00

My friend Caitlin got a tattoo of a pizza slice:

SIKE! She just totally burnt herself on the iron. You can give yourself a pizza slice tattoo too!

Gimme Pizza

2010-06-21T14:35:00.001-07:00

Bagby Pizza Company

2010-06-17T11:45:00.001-07:00

I have driven past Bagby Pizza Company often, yet had not gone inside. So lunch seemed like a good time to try our their pizza. They are located across from Whole Foods. We got there around noon and it was not too busy. We ordered the Tennessee Honey Chicken pizza. As listed on the menu this pizza is: Grilled honey chicken, fire roasted peppers, roasted artichokes, mozzarella, and ricotta.

The pizza has a very thin crust with a crisp edge. The dough below the topping was a bit floppy. The sauce was very mild and we debated if it might have been just straight up tomato. The pizza comes with the cheese over the toppings, which is a good way of securing the topping on top. The toppings were chunky and seemed very fresh. The sweet honey of the chicken complemented the cheese nicely. The pizza overall seemed rich and was delicious.

We did not have to wait very long for our pizza. Bagby is self-serve, but they bring the pizza to your table. While we were eating, the place filled up with a lunch work crowd. The make your own pizza did not seem like a good deal. $/topping. They didn't have any crazy combos. Their pizza is a little pricey, but very filling.

7/8
Bagby Pizza Company
Harbor East
1006 Fleet Street
Baltimore, MD 21202

Pizza Everyday - Trinacria

2010-06-17T11:43:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Sara and I had quite a time with some flat bread pizza "dough" from Trinacria . When I purchased the fresh dough balls mentioned earlier, I noticed these flat bread options but did not partake so was happily surprised when she showed up at my house with them in tow. There are two of them in a pack and we had hell of ingredients, so we made two pizzas. Sara doesn't remember how much the "dough" ended up costing, but we can only assume it was minimal.

The first had:
olive oil
garlic
onions
baby portabellas
asparagus
herb goat cheese or "chevre"

The second:
olive oil
garlic
onions
yellow and orange bell peppers
zucchini
feta cheese
horseradish cheddar cheese (locally made!)

While making and subsequently baking the pizzas we 1.) Danced to Rusted Root 2.) Watched the season finale of America's Next Top Model.

Both pizzas were pretty good and eating them was just as fun as making them, if not more. Well, maybe making them was the fun part because the eating was so/so. The "dough" is kind of pre-baked or something, so they cooked rather quickly. However, we decided that putting the flat bread in the oven for a bit before adding the toppings would have been a good idea, they could have been a little crispier. Also, the I enjoyed the horseradish cheddar, but Sara thought it was a little much. To each his own. That's what Pizza is all about: Options. Endless Options.

Emily: 6/8 and Trinacria's flat bread a 4.5/8
Sara: 6/8 and Trinacria's flat bread a 4/8

Sad Times

2010-06-17T05:47:00.001-07:00

Had too much fun and forgot about the pizza! The result, a pepperoni pizza that looks like a brownie but tastes like a burning pig pen.

Cool?

2010-06-11T07:49:00.001-07:00

Pizza to the MAXXX - A Tale of Two Pizzas (part 2)

2010-06-10T13:02:00.000-07:00

I was in DC on business this week. (Fun to say, right? “In DC on business.”) And even though work would pay for my dinner, I opted instead to head over to Jen and Jonah’s house for pizza making. And what a treat it was! For a couple of hours I basked in pizza and pizza vibes and forgot that I had been hunched over a computer all day. (And—for the record—I take partial responsibility for Jen and Jonah’s roommate-dom, and hence friendship and cooking partnership, even if they don’t want to admit it.)

Unlike me, this was not the first time Jen and Jonah had made pizza (it was the third). But boy, were they fast learners. They had picked up some beautiful dough balls from an Italian store and we all worked on our pizza dough stretching techniques. The definitive best way to do it is a mix of pawing it like a cat, wrestling with it like a baby kitten and hanging it by the scruff of its dough-neck like a naughty cat. Jonah was in charge of sauce, and although the liberties he took with the traditional flavors worried me (rice vinegar? seaweed?) it turned out delicious. Jen was on topping patrol. The first pizza was pretty traditional: marinated mushrooms, four different cheese, basil and red peppers.

But here’s the best part: they put the pizza stone right on the bottom of the 550 degree oven. No rack!

When we threw the first pizza onto the stone in cooked in like three minutes. I waited just a second too long to take it out of the oven, so the crust was burnt, but otherwise, almost perfect. First zza: 6/8 slices.

To be honest, I was full enough after the first pie, but also REALLY wanted to make the next one. We all agreed on apple toppings and Jen suggested mixing some honey in with the ricotta. OH BOY! I have been dreaming about that honey-ricotta ever since. In spite of the fact that Jonah tried to douse the pie in vinegar, this was one of my top five pizza experiences ever. It was truly other worldly. 8/8 slices.

More pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenmiz/4643418691/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenmiz/4643418721/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenmiz/4643380347/

Pizza to the MAXXX - A Tale of Two Pizzas (part 1)

2010-06-09T13:25:00.000-07:00

Let’s be honest, I live in the pizza capitol of the world. Really excellent pizza is never more than a few blocks away. And it’s one of the least expensive New York luxuries. So, it hasn’t much occurred to me to make pizza, and well, my own homemade pizza has never stood up to the pizza parlors.

But, the Baltimore Pizza Blog has been totally inspiring me lately with stories of so many delicious homemade pies. That recent New York Times article just pushed me over the edge. I HAD to make pizza. However, I clearly didn’t take the article to heart, because I convinced myself that I HAD to make pizza that night. I already had ricotta cheese in the fridge and some garlic and spinach, so I picked up some crushed tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. But here’s where I lost my way. I forgot about the tip about just popping into your neighborhood pizza shop and buying a ball of dough and instead picked up one of those weird prepackaged pizza crusts at the fancy-schmancy natural food store. All they had was a whole wheat crust (obviously) but, I figured if it couldn’t be too bad. I was on a mission after all.

In its favor, the crust was totally easy to make. However the flavor and texture was terrible. (I’ve empirically proven that crust is the most important pizza component. Remind me to tell you about my pizza data project the next time you see me.) The sauce I kept simple with just some garlic, salt and pepper. A layer of spinach and basil (from by window herb garden!) Then dollops of ricotta and mozzarella cheese. When it came out of the oven, I drizzled on a bit of olive oil, inspired by Mr. DiFara.

The zza was fine, but nothing to text home about. In fact, Mike and I didn’t finish the pie, or even the leftovers in the fridge. Alas, the crust was just too dense. Pizza lesson: it doesn’t matter how good your sauce and cheese are if the crust is bad. 2/8 slices.

-From Max, of the Baltimore Pizza Club New York Affiliate

Sad Times!

2010-06-08T12:24:00.001-07:00

Spotted at the American Legion, on Mayo Rd, Edgewater, MD

Somebody get them some pizza!

The Return of the Frozen Pizza Chronicles

2010-05-27T07:52:00.000-07:00

Last night some bomb ass frozen pizza was eaten during a t-shirt swap. The two pizzas were Freschetta brand pepperoni and four cheese. The dough rises when you cook it, the ingredients are "fresh" and awesome AND it was only $6 a pizza (on sale). If you like a bit of spice in your sauce and a bit of satisfaction in your stomach, I say go with Freschetta.

7/8 slices (may be skewed by extreme hunger)

Pizza Everyday - Psychodelic Pizza

2010-05-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

We ate pizza at Viccino's. It wasn't exactly a religious experience, so this picture is a bit misleading. It was, however, only $2.12 a slice. Aran got a pepperoni and two white slices with vegetables. I got one white with vegetables. As previously noted on our Turp's post, Viccino's white pizza is hellsa greasy but has a good flavor... I could have dealt without the canned spinach though. Apparently the grease on the pepperoni slice was more tolerable, because that is what one expects. The slices were "not remarkable". I think we said 5/8.

Public Pizza - Corner of Guilford and 25th Street

2010-05-21T05:21:00.001-07:00

Pizza News - Homemade Pizza

2010-05-20T06:16:00.000-07:00

New York Times - Tips for Making Pizza at Home

New York Times - The Slow Route to Homemade Pizza

Thanks for the links friends, keep them coming!

Maxie's Pizza Bar Grille

2010-05-18T11:35:00.000-07:00

This pizza place opened up not too long ago in the old xando location in Charles Village. I was interested to try it out and excited by all their pizza by the slice options. This could have been a great experience if the pizza was even relatively fresh. Even though they put the slices back into the oven, heat does not trump freshness.

It wasn't the worst pizza i've had, but it was very generic mall pizza like. It is pretty much a Sbarro's. Perhaps this would have been different if we had ordered a pie, but buying it by the slice has more appeal when you want to try more than one pizza. A friend of mine went another time and had a really great experience.

2 out of 7 slices.

Maxie's Pizza Bar Grille
3003 N. Charles St.
Baltimore, MD 21218

Papa John's - Sausage Fest

2010-05-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

We had had an action filled evening of art opening hopping and seeing Iron Man 2 and Joe and Rufus decided to order a large Papa John's pizza with sausage. When I called in the order the Papa John's employee on the other line informed me that our street was "really blowing up" with pizza orders that night, apparently we live on Late Night Pizza Alley. Cool.

After an overly enthusiastic pizza delivery man dropped off the zza, exclaiming "It's nice and HOT!!!", Joe, Rufus and Stephanie dug in.

It was rated a 6 out of 8 and considered "not gourmet shit but good". There was no garlic sauce, which is Papa's signature... a mistake that cost them at least half a point. Also, the pizza had a "good layer of cheese."

In conclusion, when it's after midnight and you want something hot, call Papa (ewww.)

Pizza News - Corpse Pizza

2010-05-18T06:06:00.000-07:00

Burnt coffins 'fuel Naples pizza ovens'

By Michael Day

Tuesday, 18 May 2010

Investigators believe some pizza restaurants in Naples are using wood from stolen coffins to bake their famous pizzas.

The southern city's favourite dish is said to rely on smoke from wood-fired stoves for its celebrated flavour.

But police think many restaurant owners across the notoriously lawless port are purchasing cut-price wood from a gang of coffin thieves operating in the city.

"A real suspicion hangs over pizza, one of the few remaining important symbols of the city, that it could be cooked with wood coffins," said Il Giornale, the daily paper which belongs to the family of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. "Not only the pizza, the bread, too, may have been cooked with the wood."

Naples prosecutor Giovandomenico Lepore is leading an investigation into the suspected racket.

Andrea Santoro, president of the city's cemetery commission, said: "It's no wonder these things are happening given the state of the cemeteries. There are graves uncovered, thefts and vandalism."

Il Giornale even claimed, without citing evidence, that there was now "a daily spectacle of uncovered coffins and human remains abandoned in the streets as if they were garbage".

Two years ago the city made headlines worldwide, again for the wrong reasons, when a refuse collection crisis saw tens of thousands of tonnes of stinking rubbish pile up on its streets.

Breakfast Pizza 2.5

2010-05-13T11:42:00.000-07:00

Jen Miz of the BPC, DC Affiliate has the following to say about Smitten Kitchen's Breakfast Pizza:

A note:
That smitten kitchen breakfast pizza is totally where it's at.
We've been having monthly brunches at our house and our friend Ann brought 2 of them - on homemade dough - and they were off the chain.

This is how I felt about it before, and this is how I feel about it still:

Jonah: !
http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/03/breakfast-pizza/
you will love this write up of breakfast pizza
for reasons that will be immediately obvious
me: LOL
Jonah: yep
breakfast babies
me: yesssssssss
WHOLE EGGS ON PIZZA
this is fucked up
Jonah: fuck yeah it is!
Here is a pict of our breakfast pizza, alongside a little bit of St Paul street.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenmiz/4482731209/

Stay tuned for more DC "zza" antics!

Technically Pizza - Doritos Collisions

2010-05-05T10:39:00.000-07:00

During my lunch break I took a little springtime stroll down to 7-11 and ended up picking up bag of Doritos Collisions - Pizza Cravers/Ranch. They were something else. The pizza chips looked like regular nacho cheese Doritos and kind of tasted like them, with a bit of spice and "pizza flavor". The ranch chips were INSANE, I think they went a little overboard with the mystery ranch powder... it was like eating a mouthful of Ms. Dash or something.

Doritos has rarely disappointed me with their wild flavor concoctions (their Late Nigh t series is off the hook) and I think this pizza/ranch deal is well worth the $.99, but you may want to have some potables handy.

Oh, and check out the Doritos website. What the hell?!?!

Pizza Everyday - Trinacria

2010-05-05T10:25:00.000-07:00

The other day I made some pretty amazing pizza using Trinacria's pizza dough. At only $1.99 for TWO balls of dough, it is the best deal I've seen around. I actually thought it was pasta dough when I purchased it, but soon realized it was pizza dough... which is also cool and BPC worthy.

Ingredients:

Trinacria pizza dough
olive oil
garlic
Richfood brand "pizza blend" cheese
baby portabella mushrooms
salt/pepper

This pizza was amazing. I don't know if it was the dough or the toppings, but it was boss. If you are into dough that is fluffy and rises to the occasion, you may not want to get it from Trinacria. But, if you like hella cheap shit that tastes good, go for it. I give my pizza a 7.5/8. Believe it.

Breakfast Pizza 2

2010-04-27T17:14:00.000-07:00

Breakfast pizza. Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Breakfast Pizza Ingredients:
Whole Foods Pizza Dough
Mozzarella
Parmigiano
Shallots
Fakin Bacon Tempeh
Eggs
Parsley
Garlic Chives
Scallions
Salt and Pepper

We rolled out the pre-made dough and then sprinkled on the two cheeses. We then placed the tempeh down and cracked a couple of eggs on top of the pizza. This went into the oven until the yolks were cooked. When the pizza came out of the oven, it was topped with the parsley, chives, and scallions. The saltiness of the bacon really complemented the eggs. Though this pizza did not have any sauce, it wasn't missed. This was a really easy breakfast to make. This is something that you could whip up for a brunch. Next time that we make this we are going to add mushrooms and caramelized onions. The parsley really added a fresh flavor. There was a really good variety of onions on it, but they weren't "sharp".

A couple of posts back, Trader Joe's pizza dough was talked about. For this pizza we used Whole Foods pizza dough, which we all decided was much better than the TJs dough. The Whole Foods dough was really proper pizza dough. It is much fluffier and less sticky. It also has far superior rise factor. It runs about a dollar more, but it really is worth it.

Michelangelo's Pizza

2010-04-27T16:18:00.008-07:00

Michelangelo's Pizza is a great place to pick up a quick pizza that is also satisfying and cheap. The pizza has a sweet tangy sauce and they include garlic sauce +++. There are also a bunch of nIce multi ethnic people working there.

While I was waiting for my pizza to be cooked I witnessed a robbery and a chase. It's like dinner and a movie! It was about 7pm and some guy smashed a brick through a car window to steal a bag with a GPS in it. The owners of the car were in the pizza place and they took off after the guy. Everyone working at Michelangelo's went outside to see what was going on. The guy dropped the bag and the victims got their stuff back and I left with a delicious hot pizza and a 85¢ Dr Pepper.

Michelangelo's Pizza
235 W. Read St., Baltimore MD 21201

6 out of 8 slices.

Pizza Everyday - Mall Madness

2010-04-26T05:54:00.000-07:00

This past Friday Joe and Sarah and I took a trip to Towson Town Center. Unfortunately, we didn't get there until like 7:45pm and the mall closes at 9pm, so we had to split up and haul ass. We each had specific consumer goals in mind but in the end, none were attained in the amount of time allotted. We simply brushed our shoulders off and glided across the street to Pasta Mista (shitty website), a local college staple. The place is ALWAYS packed and super small, which makes being there kind of a nightmare. If you can deal with the jock infestation and girls wearing makeup, the food is well worth the effort. I got two slices, one Gorgonzola with tomatoes and one plain cheese. Sarah got a slice of pepperoni and broccoli. Individual slices range from $2 - $3, depending on toppings. Joe got a chicken parm sub (his "favorite food"), but that is not pizza... doy. We took our bounty to the car and ate in the parking lot, which is kind of the only option, and watched a girl simulate fellatio while telling her friend a "hilarious" story in the next car.

My slices were bomb. I would give them both a 7/8. I was pretty much starving by the time I ate them, so that might have skewed the results. Sarah also really enjoyed her pizza.

After we quickly ate, we raced to the Senator Theater to watch House (Hausu) the unbelievably amazing mind shifting psychedelic Japanese horror film from 1977. All and all, a wonderful night out in the suburbs. Grazie, Mr. Mista! Dōmo arigatō, Mr. Obayashi!

Pizza Everyday - Trader Joe's Pizza Dough

2010-04-19T06:49:00.001-07:00

I've been buying TJ's pizza dough and making delicious pizza with it for quite some time and I think it's time to "post" about it. Last night, I made myself a pizza with the meager ingredients I had left in the kitchen... which were actually surprisingly gourmet, but that's just how I roll.

Ingredients:

plain Trader Joe's pizza dough (which comes in wheat and herb varieties as well)
half a shallot
5 slightly wrinkled asparagus stalks
half a can of artichoke hearts
some canned whole tomatoes
herb goat cheese (also from TJ's)
some old ass garlic salt (ran out of actual garlic)
pepper
olive oil

I baked the pizza at 425 for about 12 minutes and I came out golden delicious brown:

I ate about a third of it while watching Rocky on channel 54. It pretty much ruled all around. I would rate my pizza at a 6/8, real garlic and the herb pizza dough would have made it at least a 7. I highly recommend TJ's pizza dough, it's hell of cheap ($1.99 a ball) and you can freeze it, so it lasts like forever.

Helpful tips:

Steam the asparagus a bit before adding it to the pizza. Same goes for broccoli.

If you do freeze the dough, it will thaw much faster in lukewarm water. Just make sure there aren't any holes in the bag because gushy wet dough is Gross.

Also, when buying the dough avoid balls that are all bubbly and full of air... they're probably not long for this world and tend to taste weird. I guess it's fermentation or something.

Pizza Everyday - Russell and Scott's Brithday Party

2010-04-19T06:27:00.000-07:00

Last week, Aran and I attended our friends' joint birthday party in Hampden. It was a potluck affair and good food was bountiful (we brought supermarket cookies that no one touched, I regret not reclaiming them for myself). Guests were provided with six large pizzas from three different pizzerias: Iggie's, Oriole's and King's. Unfortunately for us, the two boxes from Iggie's were empty by the time we got there, which means we missed out on the "classy pizza" option. I ate a slice of what I think was King's cheese pizza and it was pretty good (see our 2008 review of King's). Someone had made some crazy mushroom/cabbage salad and I used it as a topping, making things much more exciting. I'll have give my mysterious pizza slice a rating of 5/8.

Bob Keal eating King's or possibly Oriole's pepperoni pizza

Pizza magnet! How does it work?

Joe Squared

2010-04-18T00:10:00.000-07:00

Joe Squared has thin crust, square pizzas. Their pizza seems to have gotten more expensive. We were wondering if the prices had gone up. Toppings are priced not only by tier, but also by pizza size. Topping selection is very extensive. We ordered the flag pizza. The flag pizza consists of red sauce with mozzarella, provolone, romano, parmigianio, and asagio; garlic sauce with mozzarella, cheddar, and ricotta; pesto with fresh mozzarella. Green, white, red.

Price breakdown of flag pizza sizes:
10" - $15
12" - $17
14" - $20
16" - $23

We ordered at 7:30 pm and received the pizza at our table at 7:55 pm. The red section was by far the largest, though most traditional. The sauce on the red was very nice. The white section was the favorite part of the "flag". The pesto part could have had more pesto, it also made up the smallest section. Emily thought it tasted like BBQ. That might have had something to do with the (minor) burnt edges. Last time I checked, the Italian flag was made up of three EQUAL colored parts.

6 out of 8 slices

Joe Squared
133 W. North Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21201

http://www.joesquared.com/

Little Caesars

2010-04-16T23:17:00.000-07:00

Flash from the past. Little Caesars it seems still exists!

Pizza brought by my boss to a work meeting.

The pizza was very doughy. It tasted like it was made out of Little Caesars bread sticks, which would make sense. Light sauce use. I don't think I would go out of my way to purchase Little Caesars pizza, but when it is given to you for free it is an enjoyable experience.

5 out of 8 slices

Breakfast Pizza

2010-04-16T11:36:00.000-07:00

So, I've been catching wind of this BREAKFAST PIZZA phenomena for about 1 year or so now. Seen it on a few menus and heard about some gourmet Williamsburg brunch spots that were catching onto this alarming and potentially exciting trend. My GF and I decided that we needed to create our own Breakfast Pizza system or become slave to another man's, and therefore created our own Breakfast pizza recipe outlined below. A successful breakfast pizza to me would be both a little bit of breakfast and a little bit of pizza without either of the flavors dominating: balance between these two worlds is key. This recipe owes a bit to BPC contributor John DeCampos who helped brainstorm when we had the idea a year ago. All other credit to myself and Sarah Capua. Please modify and improve to your liking.

(suggestions to improve at the bottom)

Ingredients - 1 Trader Joe's Pizza Crust (uncooked)

1 jar Ragu pizza sauce

Fresh mozzarella

Canadian Bacon

2 yukon gold potatoes

1 small onion

4 eggs (w/milk and water)

(seasonings of your choice)

To prepare - Preheat oven and prepare the hash browns first - cook and season to your liking but it is recommended to cook well done and get a bit of that burned skillet flavor (adds to the overall breaksfast feel), chop onions and potato in small bits to spread well over the pizza.

Cook canadian bacon a bit on a separate skillet to warm and lightly brown

Spread your pizza dough, add modest amount of pizza sauce, evenly coat with the Canadian Bacon and hash brown. *Sparsely* coat the whole surface with shredded mozzarella.

Cook for ten minutes to lightly melt cheese and begin cooking the crust.

While pizza is in oven, scramble 4 eggs with tiny bit of milk and water. Cook them up but STOP ALL heat on the eggs when they are about 2/3 of the way done. VERY IMPORTANT to undercook the eggs because they will finish cooking in the oven.

Take out pizza, coat with the scrambled eggs and another modest layer of mozzarella. Cook until perfection. Enjoy.

**If I were to cook this recipe again, I would probably change TWO things.

1st- I think that adding a bit of ketchup and hotsauce to the PIZZA SAUCE would be AWESOME, Sarah squashed that idea but I am definitely doing it next time.

2nd - Cook the crust a good bit before adding ANY ingredients. This would make it possible to do just one round in the oven instead of having to do a second baking with the eggs. If the crust is about half or 2/3rds of the way cooked before adding the ingredients, you could lay down the fully cooked ham and hashbrowns with the undercooked eggs and a full layer of cheese all of once and just do 8-10 minutes in the stove to fully melt the cheese.

Holla.

Pizza Club Meeting this Wednesday

2010-04-11T22:16:00.000-07:00

We are having a meeting this Wednesday, April 14 at 7 pm at Joe Squared. See you there.

American Pizza and Wings

2010-04-10T10:38:00.000-07:00

Located on the corner of 29th St. and Huntingdon Ave., American Pizza and Wings is the newest addition to cheap counter food in the neighborhood. The shop boasts a flashy new sign and countless American flags used to frame pictures of pizza, subs, wings, and other crappy food.

One will probably be able to guess the quality of their $5.99 extra-large pizza pick-up special, so let's not take too much time to debate the issue. The pizza was medium warm even though we waited in the shop as the pizza was made and we ate it around the corner. It definitely wasn't hot. Whatever, we were really hungry so we were still pretty happy.

The shop itself is very clean, though no seats and a busy counter area make for a tight, uncomfortable squeeze at times. We even got to see some jerk argue with the clerk about whether or not he would divulge the brand of soda he was buying. "You don't need to know what soda I'm drinking, I'm going to get it from the fridge myself!" He got a 2-litre of Dr. Pepper.

This pizza was such a blur that I don't really feel like telling you much more about it. If you happen to be in Remington and you just finished skateboarding all day and you have six dollars, then by all means, buy a pizza. Otherwise, you might be better off with the "Sun of Italy" from your local Giant.

3 slices out of 8.

The Sun Of Italy Pizza Kit

2010-03-28T14:15:00.000-07:00

I found the aforementioned pizza kit at my local Giant. These pizza has eluded me for years. I pass by it every visit and think to myself "That pizza looks bad." The premise is as follow: Two disks of pizza, two packets of tomato sauce, and two packets of shredded mozzarella for $8.99. Upgrade to pepperoni for $1.00 and bring your grand total to $9.99. I chose the former.

The directions are simple enough...open bag with pre-rolled, pre-baked dough, open bag of sauce and apply, open bag of cheese and apply. Now, I wasn't going to eat this whole pizza myself and my eating partner was hesitant on the additions (broccoli and onion), which is why the pizza is only half covered in toppings. Oil a pan and place in the oven at 475 for 8 minutes and you're done!

Everything about this pizza was OK, but you knew that before reading this review. Of course this pizza sucks, it comes from a bag at your local Giant. Though, for crappy pizza and two pies for $9, it could have been a lot worse.

A few things to take note of....
Don't over bake this one. At 8 minutes it smelled like burning (but it wasn't????).
Don't be scared to dress it up!
It's not unfathomable to eat this whole thing by yourself (I almost did).
Be glad you live in a democracy that allows you to assemble your own pre-packaged pizza.

Price: 4/8 slices. Should be cheaper cause these are ingredients used to make garbage.
Taste: 2/8 slices. Remember what I said about dressing it up?
Fun: 7/8 slices. Greglan was hanging out.
Overall: 4 and a half slices.

Turps

2010-03-26T10:32:00.000-07:00

Turps Sports Bar and Restaurant
1317 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD

Tuesday at Turps is Half-Price Pizza Night, so we decided this was a good place to restart the Baltimore Pizza Club. We ordered the Bianco, which is "five imported cheeses: romano, parmesan, mozzarella, ricotta and provolone, brushed with garlic, herbs and olive oil". The waitress warned us about the fact that the "specialty pizza" Bianco is "just bread and cheese"... which we thought was fine because that's what pizza is made of. Sara added red pepper to her slices because she felt the individual flavors of the 5 cheeses on the Bianco all blended together and it needed a little kick. We rated it a 7.5, but it would have been an 8 if it wasn't for the grease and lack of napkins. (We are going to be switching to a new pizza rating system. On this new system we give them 6 slices out of 8.)

We are unsure if the half price deal is only for their specialty pizzas or if they apply to all the pizzas on the menu. If you order a regular pizza, toppings are free. The half-price special is for dine-in pizzas only. You can order a bucket of PBR tall boys for $5.50, which go very nicely with the pizza and for dining on a budget.

Turps

it begins again

2010-03-14T22:20:00.000-07:00

If you know, it's this tuesday at 7. If you don't, you will in the future. . . we are coming back.

2009-01-05T18:50:00.000-08:00

don't give up hope.