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It is amazing how when you travel around the state of Connecticut, the taste of the pizza and the looks of it changes. Here in Meriden, the best pizza comes from the local pizza restaurants. My husband and I are torn between one that is owned by a Greek family and the other has been around for years. This past weekend, we were in Fairfield and the pizza there was off the charts. They are closer to New York City so I am certain that there was some influence there. I understand that the pizza in New Haven is also very good. Each privately owned restaurant has its own method which adds a totally different "taste" to the pizza.
If any of you are ever in Meriden, please try Napoli Pizza...its really pretty good!
It is amazing how when you travel around the state of Connecticut, the taste of the pizza and the looks of it changes. Here in Meriden, the best pizza comes from the local pizza restaurants. My husband and I are torn between one that is owned by a Greek family and the other has been around for years. This past weekend, we were in Fairfield and the pizza there was off the charts. They are closer to New York City so I am certain that there was some influence there. I understand that the pizza in New Haven is also very good. Each privately owned restaurant has its own method which adds a totally different "taste" to the pizza.
If any of you are ever in Meriden, please try Napoli Pizza...its really pretty good!
NYC has some excellent pizza places. One in Little Italy that I ate at (I don't recall the name) was amazing.
Pizza chains choose their ingredients by cost and shelf life, local pizzerias usually choose efficient cost quality. If you are going to buy something that tastes like the box it came in, local places know you'll choose the cheaper option from economies of scale...so they have to compete on taste.
It is amazing how when you travel around the state of Connecticut, the taste of the pizza and the looks of it changes. Here in Meriden, the best pizza comes from the local pizza restaurants. My husband and I are torn between one that is owned by a Greek family and the other has been around for years. This past weekend, we were in Fairfield and the pizza there was off the charts. They are closer to New York City so I am certain that there was some influence there. I understand that the pizza in New Haven is also very good. Each privately owned restaurant has its own method which adds a totally different "taste" to the pizza.
If any of you are ever in Meriden, please try Napoli Pizza...its really pretty good!
To answer the question. Sometimes I'm in the mood for Pizza Hut or Papa John's. It's kind of like comparing McDonald's vs. a real hamburger joint, you can't realy compare the two.
This makes sense. Each can sometimes have their own specialty that you end up craving. If I want real pizza with two pounds of cheese on it, I'll go to Mom and Pop's place. If I'm in the mood for lighter fare, I'll go to one of the chains... just how it is unfortunately. Though I dislike shelling out 20 bucks for what I consider glorified bread, some are tastier than others. I don't bother asking for double cheese at such places, I still have trouble finding it even though I've paid for it, lol. Either they cook it down too much, or it didn't get put on.
When I have the money, I will always give local pizza chains my cash. The only problem is they are alot slower since everything is made from scratch. So prepare to spend 30 minutes there. But it's well spent money and time for high quality food. To be honest, I don't find pizza chains that bad a choice unlike everyone else. I've had New York Pizza and I really don't understand the hype. I thought Cesar's Pizza was much better. All local owned pizza restaurants and chains have their own unique taste. I don't think one is necessarily better than the other in that regard. My Italian friend who has family in Sicily Italy and has traveled there, literally told me that when he tried Herman Cain's pizza chain "Godfather's Pizza", it taste almost exactly like the kind he had in Sicily. And he said it was the only pizza chain that tasted authentically Italian. So that just tells you. New York or local pizza chains do not have monopolies on the best tasting pizza. It's really up to the individual.
Of course taste is subjective, but people do seem to tend to agree on quality made food vs. frozen crust, fake cheese, cost-cutting efficiency to mass produce a broadly appealing (read:bland) product.
Also, contrary to what the above poster said vis-a-vis time, a real New York pizza takes about 10-15 minutes start to finish and you can watch the guy make it 3 feet away from rolling out the dough to taking it from the oven. That is the thing about a thin crust and a hot oven.
Also, I'm sure your Sicilian friend would be disowned and shunned for saying Herman Cain makes as good a pizza as the Sicilians :-)
Chains are good at only one thing - putting out a consistently mediocre product. You can get better pizza than you will find at places like Papa John's and Pizza Hut in the frozen food section of your grocery store.
The chains actually just produce a food product made in the style of pizza. There is no way that I consider their food to be real pizza, just like Taco Bell makes mass produced food items that attempt to replicate true tacos and burritos.
Chain pizza is okay. And...some chains are better than others...I hated Dominoes until I moved to Montana....it is better here, for some reason...than Nevada. Not fond of Pizza Hut.
Artisan pizza is good...but pricey....
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