Monday, June 29, 2009

Pizza Memories

One of the best pizzas I ever ate was handmade by a guy who used to live in the East Suburbs. He made pizza out of his basement kitchen and sold them "to his friends" only. You had to have a personal introduction and be vouched for by a friend of his in order to be able to buy a pizza from him. The dough and sauce were both handmade, and he would spin the dough while you watched. The sauce was thick and rich and made with fresh tomatoes and herbs from his garden; the topping were freshly sliced and artfully arranged. We would drive over to his house every Friday night to pick up a pie, and even bought a special pizza carrier so it would stay warm on the drive home. This was over 25 years ago and he is long gone, but the memory lives on!

Friday, June 26, 2009

Welcome!

Hi! The intent of Pizza Pizzazz is to share our comments about our favorite pizzas and to have you share yours with us. We like pizza so much that we have been known to plan a vacation around our craving for a particular pizza (New York City Pizza, Coligny Plaza in Forest Beach, Hilton Head, SC), and still dream about a particular pizza that has disappeared from the local food scene.

We like all types of pizzas for different reasons. There are times when we enjoy the comfort of a Pittsburgh style pizza, or are hungry enough to dive into a thick Sicilian, need the ease of a fast and good frozen pizza, the reliability of a chain pizza, or crave one of our favorite New York style pizzas. I was raised on Chef-Boy-R-Dee boxed pizza and long for one of those every now and then, too! I have a great pizza crust recipe and sometimes make my own lopsided pizza on cold winter nights when I feel ambitious.

We live in Pittsburgh, so the pizzas we include will primarily be from Pittsburgh, with a few "road pizzas" tossed in here and there. We do have favorites, which we will include, and at some point will even jump into the Aiello's versus Mineo's debate ... although I really like both of them!


Although I enjoy some pizzas more than others, I believe there is some good in all of them, just as I believe there is good in all people, and a treasure to be found in every thrift store. I might not like them equally, but I do like them all.