The place I order from was started by Italian immigrants back in the 50's. They have their cheese made for them. I don't know what it is, but it's not the same tasteless mozzarella you get at the store. This cheese makes the difference.
I never eat chain pizza. There are already too many non-brilliant things in life to add cardboard food to the mix!
My favorite local place makes a nice thick crust pizza with tomatoes and basil that I like. It's ace! ;)
I used to like pepperoni only on a good NY style thin crust slice. It's still good, but now I prefer roasted red peppers or fresh diced tomato on top. If you find a really good NY style pizza place and they have thinly sliced meatball as a topping, it's usually delicious. Even a simple cheese slice is perfect if it's from a good pizza joint.
+1 shadowcat, if there's no pepperoni, it ain't pizza. My favorite pizza is extra cheese, double pepperoni, Italian sausage. Roasted peppers if I'm feeling adventurous. :)
However, the Papa Johns places in Louisville aren't that great. Not horrible, just "OK." Dominos just plain sucks. I can't even call it pizza anymore. Of the major chains that cook pizza, Pizza Hut ranks at the top for me, followed closely by Little Caesar's. Papa Murphy's, a place where they make the pizza for you to take home and bake, is my current favorite.
Locally, there are three that outstrip all of the chains, Bearno's, Wick's and Impellizzeri's. All three are awesome.
Any city has local pizza joints that blow the big chains away. Myself I cant stand the taste of Dominoes' or Pizza Hut they taste like cardboard with shredded paper and their toppings are never fresh. BTW pineapple on pizza sucks, its like putting Ragu on Chinese food.
Dominos? My god John, no offense but I hope your actual taste in women surpasses your taste in pizza!
Pizza Hut is fair, better than nothing but Dominos is horrendous!
Where I live their are dozens of pizza places and every independent one is better than the chains. I like a thin pizza with Rapini and Italian sausage but I still like greasy pepperoni/onions and green peppers and anchovies.
My favorite? Start with a scratch made gluten free crust, baked just short of completely done. Pull it from the oven, top with a mixture of olive oil, spicy Italian sausage, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes and artichoke hearts sauteed in a pan, and a mix of Gruyère and Parmesan cheese literally sprinkled over the top. 'Atsa good pizza!
Thin crust sausage, thick crust buffalo chicken. And never, never, never from a chain. Why would you put yourself through that? Even in the south and other parts of the country that aren't anywhere near as good for pizza as the new york area there are always places you can find that beat the living crap out of any chain.
I stay far away from chain pizza. There are some incredible family owned pizza places in my town. I love a nice - fresh out of the oven - Sicilian pizza -
Thin crust (or regular), light sauce, with jalapeños, mushrooms, tomatoes and spinach if they have it. With crushed red pepper on top, dipped in ranch.
I like a thick crust so I go with pan. A pizza HAS to have Pepperoni on it. I like the Meat Lovers. Pizza Hut is by far my favorite chain pizza. I have always wanted to make it to Chicago and have a REAL pan pizza/pie. I have seen that show on TV where the guy goes to places and eats and I can't remember the names of the places in Chicago but after seeing those pizzas I now know why pizzas are sometimes called pies.
jayhawk, I prefer NY style in general, but agree that those Chicago deep dish pies are pretty awesome. Giordano's and Gino's East have the best deep dish in Chicago, in my opinion. Feast your eyes on these pies and start salivating for lunch:
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Last night I went out to dinner with 4 other members of my family. We went to a local pizza joint that opened in 1977. There are now 4 others locally and 1 in Richmond KY? We ordered an 18" pepperoni and a potato pizza. Sour cream, potatoes, green onions, bacon and cheddar. To each his own.
Those of you have never experienced a Chicago-style deep dish pizza are missing the ultimate pizza treat! I get the Special -- thick crust with Italian sausage, mushrooms, green peppers, and onions -- at Giordano's almost every time I'm in Chitown. I would rank the Chicago-style mini-chains as follows:
Giordano's > Lou Malnati's > Piezano's > Gino's East
Giordano's has 20+ locations in Chicagoland plus a few in Florida and a new one in Indianapolis (yay!).
My stomach will let me know if a pizza chain uses MSG or uses some type of dough conditioner I believe is banned in Europe but still used here in the US. I get stomach aches and worse without going into too much detail. Little Ceasers is terrible with msg. Dominos has it too I believe. I used to order from papa johns but something with the local chain has changed and had stomach aches. All the above, I no longer order from. The first two chains I stopped using years ago. There is one local Italian owned pizza place that makes great tasting pizza and I get no stomach aches from eating there. Homemade tastes pretty good too. If homemade, extra cheese, pepperoni, tomatoes, hamburger, oregano, tomato sauce, and or mixed in with sirloin ground beef from when I made sloppy joe using sirloin beef, tomato soup, ketchup, oregano, garlic powder, etc. I have a relative that gets the same stomach aches from eating the pizza chain pizza.
I second Giordano's or your best local alternative for Chicago-style deep dish, but this can only be had a few time per year.
In terms of nationwide chain pizza, my favorite is CPK.
My Pi -preferably the original in Lincoln Park- with italian sausage, bacon, beef, peppers, and onions in either double crust or deep dish pan crust. There are some Chicago- style pizza places in Ft. Myers that reasonably emulate it, but nothing compares to the original.
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