The Return of the Frozen Pizza Chronicles

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

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

Pizza News - Homemade Pizza

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

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

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

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

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

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 Night 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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Pizza magnet! How does it work?