World Pizza Capital

lol @ the internet tough guys...

JimboTJones

David_NYC


Jimbo and MC,
Mr. Hoffman was being facetious when he wrote the first post. In the third post, he expresses his real opinion of the pizza available in his local area. We have fun on this forum picking apart all those "Best of" lists and articles that appear in print, online, and television media. There might be five articles on "Pizza Capital of America", and all five give a different Metro area.

I understand that but like I said in my post, this thread is one of the first to pop up if you google the subject and I wanted the accurate answer (based on the FoodNetwork show and the amount of pizzeria's per capita) for future reference. I chose to ignore Mr. Hoffman's third post since anecdotal evidence based on a single time trying a particular pizza (that was over 30 years ago) is hardly a good basis for dismissing a pizzeria.

-Jimbo

 
JimboTJones, Welcome to roadfood.com. 

Twinwillow


That's funny. I always thought Fargo, North Dakota held that distinction.

For world's worst?  I'd like to nominate Minot, ND.   You can get frozen, chain, Chef Boyardee, or a local's interpretation of cheeseageddon on bread dough.

JimboTJones

David_NYC


Jimbo and MC,
Mr. Hoffman was being facetious when he wrote the first post. In the third post, he expresses his real opinion of the pizza available in his local area. We have fun on this forum picking apart all those "Best of" lists and articles that appear in print, online, and television media. There might be five articles on "Pizza Capital of America", and all five give a different Metro area.

I understand that but like I said in my post, this thread is one of the first to pop up if you google the subject and I wanted the accurate answer (based on the FoodNetwork show and the amount of pizzeria's per capita) for future reference. I chose to ignore Mr. Hoffman's third post since anecdotal evidence based on a single time trying a particular pizza (that was over 30 years ago) is hardly a good basis for dismissing a pizzeria.

-Jimbo

Jimbo,

You still don't understand the levity of this whole thread. You're not correcting a bunch of rubes here. I think almost all that contributed fully understood what it was all about. But your dismissal of Mr. Hoffman's anecdotal evidence pales to your relying on a Food Network host's comments with no substantiation to back it. I just roll my eyes to both and let it slide since I know Mr. Hoffman to be an ardent Waffle House advocate.   Besides if per capita determines capitol I'd be inclined to bet on Wyoming though my heart lies with Gary, Indiana because the Polish Guy said so a long time ago.

So who wants to take on the task of checking the yellow pages in all the states, count the pizzerias and divide into each state's population? Who really cares?

Davydd
 
So who wants to take on the task of checking the yellow pages in all the states, count the pizzerias and divide into each state's population? 

Maybe we should look for someone who is retired!

buffetbuster

Maybe we should look for someone who is retired

....and has an exceptionally high interest in pizza-making, and travel.

he (or she) could have, oh, I dont know, maybe one other highly specific food item that he (or she) could also have a exceptionally high degree of interest, like maybe a regional sandwich or something

Do we know anyone like that?

a good basis for dismissing the pizzaria in question would be that disgusting looking pepperoni pizza in the picture on the front page of their website. anyone who has every had pizza in New Haven, NYC, or Naples would reasonably get nauseated looking at that picture. maybe even old forge PA or Gary Indiana, i don't know, i've only eaten pies in the first three spots i mentioned. you couldn't pay me to eat that pizza in the picture on the first page of that link, pizza "capital" or not... (well ok maybe you could, but it would take an awful lot of 0's). enjoy- fb

JimboTJones


I understand that but like I said in my post, this thread is one of the first to pop up if you google the subject and I wanted the accurate answer (based on the FoodNetwork show and the amount of pizzeria's per capita) for future reference. I chose to ignore Mr. Hoffman's third post since anecdotal evidence based on a single time trying a particular pizza (that was over 30 years ago) is hardly a good basis for dismissing a pizzeria.

-Jimbo

 
 
quantity does not make quality.
 
despite the obvious choice of NY or its kid brother, Chicago, the World Capital has to be Naples  - where pizza (more or less) began.
 
this is kinda like Annapolis being the Capital of Maryland. It aint the biggest city in Maryland, but it's still the capital.
 
 


 

For what it's worth, I'm an Ohio State alum, and while Columbusites can be proud of their GREAT hole-in-the-wall stops (Blue Danube, Buckeye Donuts, etc.) and the glory that is the German Village, the city cannot hold a candle to a Chicago or NYC pie.

UrbanSpaceman


For what it's worth, I'm an Ohio State alum, and while Columbusites can be proud of their GREAT hole-in-the-wall stops ... the city cannot hold a candle to a Chicago or NYC pie.

yes, very true. That's a very inefficient way to cook a pizza.

 Part of the humor linked to this thread stems from a thread some years back that proclaimed Gary, Indiana as the center of the Pizza Universe (also claiming to be the center of many other things!). Unfortunately..or maybe not so ... we don't have the posts, nor the guy who made them in the "family" anymore.
  I am sorry that some of you folks just tuning into the debate were mis-led to think that any particular place is the "actual factual center of the Universal Pie".

Besides any Pie that doesn't contain Coconut Cream, Lemon Merengue, Berries of various types, peaches or Apples and Cinnamon, ButterScotch or Pecan filling isn't worth looking at! 

Al, I think I found the Gary, Indiana pizza posts. The thread numbers were renumbered by the new software. I think there were three main threads involved:
http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/tm.aspx?m=180717
http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/The-Best-Pizza-You-Ever-Ate-m235697.aspx
(Posts on pages 1, 2, and 3)
http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/fb.ashx?m=248618

Mike, the Polish guy kept resurrecting this topic over a period of about a year. He also kept bumping the thread, possibly hoping someone would see it and provide more information. The source of his claim was an article in Collier's magazine.  As we all know from picking apart magazine articles about food, magazine writers are not top notch scholars. Polish guy was never able to prove his hypothesis.
 
ADDENDUM: This thread shows Polish guy's "style", and the fact people would not let him live down his Gary, Indiana campaign:
http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/tm.aspx?high=gary+indiana+pizza&m=253676

That's the stuff

Scorereader

JimboTJones


I understand that but like I said in my post, this thread is one of the first to pop up if you google the subject and I wanted the accurate answer (based on the FoodNetwork show and the amount of pizzeria's per capita) for future reference. I chose to ignore Mr. Hoffman's third post since anecdotal evidence based on a single time trying a particular pizza (that was over 30 years ago) is hardly a good basis for dismissing a pizzeria.

-Jimbo

 
 
quantity does not make quality.
 
despite the obvious choice of NY or its kid brother, Chicago, the World Capital has to be Naples  - where pizza (more or less) began.
 
this is kinda like Annapolis being the Capital of Maryland. It aint the biggest city in Maryland, but it's still the capital.
 
 


 

Now I know why I love NY style pizza pies so much........not only did I grow up eating them in Yonkers and NYC but my dad's family was born and raised around Naples!

NYPizzaNut:

I love NY pizza. I love the slices of Ray's - in it's many forms, and I love the whole pie places like Grimaldi's. When I'm in the NY area, I always get pizza, it beats the pants off of almost anything in DC. I can think of only 4 or 5 pizza places in DC worth my time - in NY, there's good pizza everywhere.

Reminds me of chicken (buffalo) wings. When I'm in CNY/WNY I can get great wings just about any place I go. Outside of there, it's hit or miss - around here, mostly miss. Less than a half dozen places I'd even order (buffalo) wings around here.


David: the addendum was spot on regarding his "style" - nice find.

Scorereader


NYPizzaNut:

I love NY pizza. I love the slices of Ray's - in it's many forms, and I love the whole pie places like Grimaldi's. When I'm in the NY area, I always get pizza, it beats the pants off of almost anything in DC. I can think of only 4 or 5 pizza places in DC worth my time - in NY, there's good pizza everywhere.

Reminds me of chicken (buffalo) wings. When I'm in CNY/WNY I can get great wings just about any place I go. Outside of there, it's hit or miss - around here, mostly miss. Less than a half dozen places I'd even order (buffalo) wings around here.


David: the addendum was spot on regarding his "style" - nice find.

That is the way it is in SW Ohio and environs - great pizza is a rare find - most in the area are not aware the pizza they are eating is subpar or worse - very frustrating to try to explain this to natives and non-natives here - they think I a grouchy old man!

Scorereader


NYPizzaNut:

I love NY pizza. I love the slices of Ray's - in it's many forms, and I love the whole pie places like Grimaldi's. When I'm in the NY area, I always get pizza, it beats the pants off of almost anything in DC. I can think of only 4 or 5 pizza places in DC worth my time - in NY, there's good pizza everywhere.

Reminds me of chicken (buffalo) wings. When I'm in CNY/WNY I can get great wings just about any place I go. Outside of there, it's hit or miss - around here, mostly miss. Less than a half dozen places I'd even order (buffalo) wings around here.



David: the addendum was spot on regarding his "style" - nice find.

That is the way it is in SW Ohio and environs - great pizza is a rare find - most in the area are not aware the pizza they are eating is subpar or worse - very frustrating to try to explain this to natives and non-natives here - they think I am just a  grouchy old man!  Do you like your pizza pies plain or with toppings?  I generally like mine plain.  Unlike most folks I know.

WarToad
For world's worst?  I'd like to nominate Minot, ND.   You can get frozen, chain, Chef Boyardee, or a local's interpretation of cheeseageddon on bread dough.

Knocking frozen pizza? You've obviously never had this: http://www.palermospizza.com/index.aspx

Big Ugly Mich

WarToad
For world's worst?  I'd like to nominate Minot, ND.   You can get frozen, chain, Chef Boyardee, or a local's interpretation of cheeseageddon on bread dough.

Knocking frozen pizza? You've obviously never had this: http://www.palermospizza.com/index.aspx

Itsa betta than DiGiornio's?

Big Ugly Mich

WarToad
For world's worst?  I'd like to nominate Minot, ND.   You can get frozen, chain, Chef Boyardee, or a local's interpretation of cheeseageddon on bread dough.

Knocking frozen pizza? You've obviously never had this: http://www.palermospizza.com/index.aspx

they lost all credibility with me when I saw they sell breakfast pizza. 3 menu items that signify a bad pizzaria: #1: Breakfast Pizza, #2: Mexican Pizza;, #3: Hawaiian Pizza.
 
 
 
PS: speaking of frozen pizza. Anyone ever try this?: http://www.amnonskosherpizza.com/products/regular_kosher_pizza.php 
saw this in the grocery store. Was intrigued, but did not purchase. 
 
  
 
NYPizzaNut: I generally do one traditional topping, like pepperoni, fresh tomato, olives, or mushrooms. But, I'm no topping junkie. 
  
  
  
  
 

Scorereader

they lost all credibility with me when I saw they sell breakfast pizza. 3 menu items that signify a bad pizzaria: #1: Breakfast Pizza, #2: Mexican Pizza;, #3: Hawaiian Pizza.  

I have to agree with Big Ugly Mich.  Palermo's once got one of their frozen pizzas into a NY metro area supermarket, and I thought highly of their product. But, it must have been a market test, since the supermarket didn't continue selling the product. They finally started selling another line of Palermo pizzas a year later. So, I called Palermo's and somehow got connected to President and CEO Jack Fallucca. While he is a frozen foods manufacturer, he talked like the operator of a classic Roadfood place. He took my comments, and said he would pass them on to his marketing people.
 
I agree with Scorereader that they put out some frou-frou products. But they also put out a number of great frozen pepperoni pizzas, under both their own name and under a zillion different house brand names. Some of my observations about this Milwaukee-based company: While they talk about their "family recipes" and Jack has his native Sicilian parents on one of the videos on the web site, most of the people the company names as being in charge of product development have German surnames. This is Milwaukee, after all.
 
A few years ago, they built a new plant in Milwaukee. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ran one of those advertising features. In it, Palermo's listed the companies they bought their ingredients from. Not the same list as the industrial frozen pizza manufacturers buy from. Palermo's also built a cafe and company store on the grounds of their frozen foods manufacturing plant:
http://www.palermospizza.com/pdf/Store%20Menu.pdf
I haven't been to Milwaukee in years, but I think the idea of opening their own pizza cafe on site was pretty neat, and I want to see it. 
Palermo's makes various grades of frozen pizzas (at various price points) for the private label market. Brands I know about are Price Chopper, Archer Farms (Target), Big Y, Richfood. Look for a USDA plant number of 1487 on pizzas containing meat. But I think the ones they sell under their own brands are the best. I think of their products as an entirely new type of food, "good frozen pizza", and not as a head-to-head replacement for NY slice joint pizza.

Scorereader
 
PS: speaking of frozen pizza. Anyone ever try this?: http://www.amnonskosherpizza.com/products/regular_kosher_pizza.php 
saw this in the grocery store. Was intrigued, but did not purchase.   

Amnon's is a bricks-and-mortar Kosher pizza joint/restaurant in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn, a Orthodox Jewish neighborhood. I believe their line of frozen pizza (don't know if they make it in the restaurant or if it is contract manufactured in a factory) is primarily purchased by observant Jews. I have bought frozen Kosher pizza in the past to try it, and found its flavor profile to be quite different from, say, Palermo's.
 
DiFara is not too far from Amnon's. Yet, no one raves about Amnon's.

I knew about the restaurant in NY, but wasn't sure about who actually made this frozen version - and if it was any good.

Thanks for the info on Palermo's. Since, despite some fluff products, it sounds like a legit frozen pizza, I'll save any further comment until AFTER I try it. I'll have to see if it's available anywhere around here. We don't eat much frozen pizza, but if I found a worthy one, it might be better than a couple of the local delivery places.

my local delivery options:
https://order.pizzabolis.com/Menu.aspx?T=t&RestaurantID=b4ba21d1-c11d-486d-a7f7-fb2a9ac55f2b

http://www.alsgourmetpizza.com/

and Capital Pizza at 1004 Florida Ave NEWashington 20002 (no website)

They each have their drawbacks - so we rotate. The Greek Pizza from Pizza Boli would probably get the "it's not pizza" tag from folks here on Roadfood, but even if one was to concede that is not "pizza" it is a good pizza-style pie. Al's has a good product, but their specials are often on their "specialty" pizzas which include pizzas with 4,5, or even 6 toppings. Like the Greek Pizza from Pizza Boli's, it starts to become an overly large flatbread sandwich. Capitol Pizza is hit or miss. I don't know why. I've have some good pizzas, followed by a lousy one. But, I have to be glad in some respects. Apparently, even as short as five years ago, getting anything but Chinese delivery in my neighborhood was close to impossible. So, I have hope that things will continue to improve.