The .99 Cent Pizza War →

“New Yorkers can be prickly over their pizza prices. Students picketed in front of Pizza Suprema when owner Salvatore Riggio raised the price to 25 cents from 20 cents in the early 1970s, his son Joseph recalled.”

A Wall Street Journal article on new $1 pizza slice shops opening around Manhattan. Pizza is cheap to make, but if you want quality you should be paying at least $2 a slice. For $1 what could you possibly be eating? Cardboard with a sprinkle of parmesan? Watered down marinara? It doesn’t bode well for the eternally booming pizza industry. 

This isn’t new - there was a New York Times article investigating this phenomenon a year ago where pizza places were selling slices for 75 cents. One of the main players, 2 Brothers Pizza Shop, had 11 shops at the time. A year later they have 12 and are looking to open one more in the Bronx.

This reminds me of the $5 pizza in Oakland. A whole pizza for $5. Great idea when you’ve been drinking. In the light of day, it’s a circle of shame. A stale reminder that you’re cheap, pathetic, and your hunger can be sold to the lowest bidder. 

Happy Pizza Birthday to Mercurio's!

After a year of making pizzas for the hungry citizens of Pittsburgh, how is a  pizza/gelato parlor supposed to celebrate? Humbly keep their head down and their eye on the pizza prize? Or give away a ton of free pizza? Luckily for us, Mercurio’s chose the latter.

I’ll go to great lengths for pizza. In this case I went 3 miles. We took a seat, waited an extra-long time (because their oven is so small and they had to make a pizza for everyone in Pittsburgh), and got to eating.

Here I am with my Pizza Roberto. Instead of marinara sauce they lined the crust with basil. Leaves upon leaves of basil! Smothering the basil pouces of burrata. It was all too creamy - I may have just been eating ricotta by the spoonful.

Here’s Christa enjoying the free margherita pizza. She really wanted to get her money’s worth so she thought she’d eat the plate too. Poor girl. You think she’d know how to eat pizza by now?

I wish more pizza places celebrated their pizza birthday. It’s more important than ever to understand your pizza roots and measure success! Looking back and seeing pizza progress is the only way to redefine pizza and innovate. 

Law & Order: Pizza Victims Unit

We received this call late afternoon. A worried banana went to clean its windowsill like it does every other Friday at 3pm. This time was different. 

On the opposite side of the windowsill, as if the banana was looking through an alternate dimension, there laid a post-mortem slice of pizza. The slice was cut in half. The cut was neither clean nor even. It was sloppy, just like its assailant. 

Forensics think that this pizza was attacked late at night. It was leaving a bar after drinking too many High Lifes and stumbled into the wrong crowd. There’s signs of excess struggle and a wallet was found nearby. All ID was missing, save for a phone number written in lipstick that said “Call me, love." 

In the wake of this attack were drops of cheese and blood mixed with a bit of sauce (that was way too sweet to be on a pizza). If anyone has any information about this attack, please contact the Pizza Victims Unit

Went to Mercurio’s the other day with some pals. Aside from a seating debacle, it seems they’re actually getting better at serving pizzas that are fully-cooked and piping hot. 

Enjoy the photos - I’ll get back to more pizza reviews and less glamour shots of me posing with pizza soon!

I recently had the “pleasure” of visiting Roland’s in the Strip. This is face, the face I’m making at that pizza, is usually the last thing any pizza sees before meeting its maker. It’s the “I’m going to eat this whole pizza in one sitting” face.

The pizza of Roland’s must have sensed that doom was following it out of the oven and deployed a self-defense mechanism: awfulness. Thanks to some miserable sauce, soggy cheese, and a floppy crust this pizza fought me away. Like a wolf biting a porcupine, I had to turn tail and flee from my prey.

The only edible portion of this pizza were certain spots of the crust. I carefully tore off the crust like I was opening up a valuable envelope. A pull in the wrong direction and I’d have spoiled my dinner with some of that candy sweet sauce and flat as paper cheese.

This pizza made me crave texture. It flopped down my throat like I was swallowing a dead fish whole. Which is too bad because it looks nice. The roasted red peppers are spread throughout and the cheese covers the dough like a blanket on a freshly made bed. But looks can be deceiving. 

I’d stick to the fish at Roland’s. 

The Pizza Witching Hour

The pizza witching hour is the hour before the pizza you plan to eat arrives. Here’s what typically happens during such a time:

• Any sound that enters your ear drums turns into a doorbell ringing. 
• You are constantly disappointed that everything in your field of vision is not pizza.
• You calculate your actions and behavior with the delivery person in your head over and over.
• You check the time you called to place your pizza order to see how much time has passed.
• You feel like you’re dying from hunger, but putting anything in your stomach would be a pizza sin.
• You spend 20 minutes organizing the money and tip for the pizza person.

Great News for Pizza and Mayonnaise Lovers

Mayonnaise has become pretty popular lately and has been quite the hit on sandwiches. Jimmy John’s subs come with mayonnaise on default and Subway has a buffet of mayonnaise variants to choose from. You can’t swing a dead cat without it hitting a vat of mayonnaise. Despite this I’ve yet to dive head first into the world of mayonnaise. But now I finally have a reason.

Japan is a pioneer of trends and I look to them to show me the food of tomorrow. This week, that food is pizza with a grid of mayonnaise. According to an on-the-street report from Rocket News 24, mayonnaise is a staple on pizza. I guess Domino’s adopting the creamy gunk for its own pies just makes sense in that region. 

How does mayonnaise complement a buttery crust, soggy vegetables, and canned sauce? We may never know without visiting Japan.

If this story has taught me anything it’s how to properly spell mayonnaise. 

Pizza Review: Fiori's Pizzaria in Brookline

Fiori’s Pizzaria was founded in 1979 out in Brookline, Pennsylvania. It’s a few miles outside the city of Pittsburgh, but some would say it’s the top 99 of the top 100 reasons to drive through the a tunnel. Here’s a portion of the list right here:

1. Fiori’s Pizzaria
2. Fiori’s Pizzaria
3. Leaving to greet the Pirates at the airport as they return from a World Series victory
4. Fiori’s Pizzaria
5. Fiori’s Pizzaria
6. Fiori’s Pizzaria

It’s been hyped up to me since I started this blog. “Have you had Fiori’s? You’re not a pizza journalist if you haven’t.” Okay, maybe, but that’s not what my associates degree in Pizza Journalism says. The other day I recruited my pizza pal Adam to escort me into the greasy, bustling, cheesy den of Fiori’s Pizzaria.

There’s Adam with our prized pizza. Doesn’t it look like an angel? It emits a golden glow. The cheese is perfectly melted and the crust is perfectly browned as if spray painted by a top-tier food artist. Even at a slant the pizza grips to the pan with a sense of purpose. As if to say, “Only the chosen pizza eater can pull a slice from this ancient metal.” We must’ve been the chosen ones because when we were done there wasn’t a slice of pizza left behind to tell the tale of the Fiori’s Pizza Massacre.

So the pizza begins like you’d expect. You lift a slice into the air and gravity pulls down on the slice hungry for a piping hot meal. Not today gravity. Despite some cheese dripping off to the the side, the rest of the package is solid. There’s some give to the crust, but not enough that leads to a complete pizza breakdown. You could build a house on this crust except you’d have to worry about a sinking foundation in about three years. Which, all things considered, isn’t that bad. You know, for pizza. 

The cheese steals the show here. It’s goopy, delicious, and a bit sweet. The sauce is humble. It seems to exists only to keep the crust separated from cheese. Are they mortal enemies? Will the pizza implode if it weren’t for the sauce? Possibly (Sauceibly?). 

I spent a lot of time chewing through the cheese. If you’re familiar with Mineo’s then you have an idea of what Fiori’s taste like. I’d say that Fiori’s is more of a focused pizza; there isn’t a pool of grease and the cheese is easier to handle than a handful of ice cubes covered in olive oil. It’s a delightful experience.

But then you get to the crust and you begin to wonder what is it you’ve just put into your mouth. Your tastebuds feel betrayed. Was the rest of the slice just an illusion? How could 9/10ths of a pizza be near perfection but the handle taste like literally nothing. The crust has no flavor. At all. It’s just chewy matter. A simple handle so you don’t get cheese and grease on your hands. It’s better off being tossed to the side or recycled. It spoils a delicious pizza. Perhaps Fiori should work to build a pizza home out of the crust instead of having customers eat it?

The motto at Fiori’s is “We fix you up” and it’s certainly true. It’s some of the best pizza I’ve had (aside from the crust) and it’s the perfect pizza environment. There’s a pinball machine and a friendly staff. There’s a large window in the pizza-making area so you can watch the dough mature from flour and water into a pizza being. It’s a grand pizza experience and if you’re in the area you’d be a fool to not check it out. 

I made a short video with my thoughts of Fiori’s Pizzaria. It’s not incredibly comprehensive, but it gets a few of my trifles out on the table. Also, there’s plenty of pizza shots to salivate over. 

Everyone and their pizza delivery driver has told me to go to Fiori’s to eat their pizza. I haven’t had “pizza” until I’ve eaten Fiori’s pizza. I went. I ate. And I ate. And now I’m a pizza piñata. I’ll have some more later. For now, here’s some photos!

Pizza Interview: Bob, Founder of the Pittsburgh Pizza Parade

Somehow I ended up on meetup.com and the first thing I did was type in “pizza.” I do this on every new site I enter. Gotta test its mettle. In this case there was a legitimate result: The Pittsburgh Pizza Parade. Pittsburgh has a parade for all the major holidays, but if you don’t live in Bloomfield you’re missing out on a majority of them. This Pizza Parade is more accessible. The troup tromps through Pittsburgh to meet at pizza places and eat pizza. Then they roll their bloated pizza bodies back home. I guess the parade aspect takes place post eating; most attendees blow up to the size of floats.

I’m only kidding - you can’t actually turn into a parade float from eating pizza. Bob, the founder of the Pittsburgh Pizza Parade, was kind enough to answer some questions for me. He’s been around the block and knows way more about pizza than I do!

Pizza Walk With Me (PWWM): What is your history with pizza? I always find it interesting how people seem to always have a pizza story.

Bob: I have always enjoyed pizza growing up in the Italian family. On Friday nights my grandmother used to make homemade dough and we would have pizza as the men watched the fights on TV. This is when the Gillette sponsored music came on and that was the signal to serve the pizza. The dough was handmade and we would help kneed it  by punching, which was fun for young kids.  The pizza had a small amount of sauce and cheese, but we would always have anchovies or mushrooms or a lot of toppings. The men would drink Iron city or Rolling Rock beer with the pizza.  We never ate pizza out when I was young.

PWWM: Do you think there’s such a thing as a perfect slice of pizza? Or even the best pizza? There are almost too many variables to consider!

Bob: When I was in 8th grade my friends started going to Mineo’s pizza on Murray Avenue in Squirrel hill. This is still my favorite. Others swore by Vincent’s in Forest Hills. They are totally different styles with Mineo’s being thinner with substantial amount of cheese. Vincent’s is thicker and greasier with a wonderful way of chopping up the pepperoni on it.  It closed after he died recently, but I understand they are remodeling it to reopen.

PWWM: What is it about pizza that brings a group of people together?

Bob: I have had pizza every place in the world where I have gone.  I love it and it is my favorite food.   During my many trips to Italy I found the pizza there is very thin and served to individuals.  I much more prefer the sharing among the group of people.  This is why like the pizza groups.  It is an excellent source of community to share pizza and conversation.  

PWWM: What inspired you to start this pizza parade? Do you think it’s something that you could do with any food? Maybe hoagies? Or falafel? 

Bob: A few years ago I went to a pizza group called From A-Z.  They would schedule an evening at pizza shops starting an A then B and we would go through the alphabet.  I enjoyed the variety and had some excellent pizzas and met new people.  I decided in September to start it again on a weekly basis every Monday or Tuesday night.  These are slow times restaurants and a single people living alone enjoy the opportunity to get out and share some food and conversation.

Yes it would be easy to do that same type of meet up with fish sandwiches or any other type of food.  People are communal it like to gather to eat and talk. People want to meet new people.

PWWM: Do you think there’s such a thing as Pittsburgh Style Pizza?

Bob: I do not think that there is a specific pizza that is Pittsburgh style pizza.

You could argue that the pizza from around the Naples area which is not as thick as Sicilian and thicker than Roma but is in between and is more common in Pittsburgh. 

PWWM: How have you seen pizza evolve through the years? Or do you think it has stagnated?

Bob: I have witnessed the change generations of the Minneo’s

From the passage of Mr. Mineo’s to his sons in the enlargement and remodeling of the location. When we first went there there is no seating there’s a tiny counter at the window you could rest your pizza on.  We would go around the corner and sit on somebody’s steps and enjoy our pizza.

We were always careful to clean up after ourselves and place the empty wrapper some box in the trash.

PWWM: Why do you think pizza has weaved its way into American culture? 

Bob: I think pizza is so popular because it is inexpensive and easy to make it taste wonderful.

You can order by the slice or the pie.

Pizza shops are everywhere. Pizza is on most menus.

Pizza is forever.