The Pizza Company - North Baldwin / Carrick, PA

3050 Churchview Avenue
Baldwin, PA
412-882-6101

The Pizza Company is a small, but steadily growing, take-out pizza chain and since there is one fairly close to us, we'd been curious about their pizza.  We ordered a traditional crust pizza with extra sauce and asked that they go "easy on the cheese" since we don't like huge mounds of cheese on a pizza. 

We were happy with the pizza - we're not yet ready to add it to our top ten, but we'd definitely try it again.  The pizza is very family friendly - the sauce is mild and pleasantly herby.  The crust was a nice texture - it was cooked enough that it held the sauce well, and the ends were firm, but was not so hard as to have that cardboard texture that some crusts do.  Our friend Lexi loved it and said that it was an "awesome pizza"!   I only wished that it had more sauce, but again, that's my personal preference.

In addition to the traditional hand tossed pizza, the Pizza Company has white pizza and nine varieties of specialty pizzas - Supreme, Veggie, Pepperoni Feast, Gourmet White, Meat Eaters, White Chicken, BBQ Chicken, Buffalo Chicken and Greek.  (I think the Greek sounds really good - imported olive oil, garlic, spices, spinach, kalamata olives and feta cheese.)  They also offer wings, salad, some sides, and breadsticks. 

One interesting sandwich is the "Original Untouchable", that sounds kinda like a Primanti Brothers - meats topped with spice slaw and French fries on fresh Italian bread.  You can order an Original Untouchable with your choice of Steak, Ham, Salami, Capicolla, Meatball, Sausage or Turkey for $5.50, or a  Bacon and Egg Untouchable for $5.75.  You can also order either topped with tomato or a fried egg for a tiny extra charge.

Domino's Show Us Your Pizza Contest

I think all pizzas are beautiful, but is your pizza especially gorgeous?  Well, just take a photo and submit it to Domino's Show Us Your Pizza Contest and you might win $500!

They will accept entries until July 26, 2010, and will judge the entries on creativity/originality, quality of composition, and adherence to the photo promise as shown in the rules.  Four inners will be chosen and will be announced on August 16, 2010.

Good luck!

Vinny's Great Pizza & More - Brookline

618 Brookline Blvd
Pittsburgh, PA 15226
(412) 344-8500

We had a coupon for Pizzarella Pizza in Brookline, but when we called to place an order ... the location is now Vinny's Great Pizza!   (And guess what - they were nice enough to accept the Pizzarella coupon.)

When I think of a "Vinny's Pizza", I automatically think of a pizza from Vincent's Pizza Park in Forest Hillls and wondered if they were affiliated (the answer is no).  Vinny's Great Pizza & More is actually a chain, with locations in Brookline, Uniontown and Morgantown, WV.  This Vinny's Pizza was named for Vincent Tarzia, who came to American with his mother from Marina Di Gioiosa, Reggio Calabria, Italy.

When we try a new pizzaria, we like to order a plain cheese pizza with a red sauce, so that we can fairly compare it to others we've tried.  Our first impression of Vinny's was the wonderful aroma - we could hardly wait to open the box and dive in!  We enjoyed the robust sauce - it was thick and rich, with flecks of oregano.   The traditional style crust was also thick and rich and had a mild flavor, which made it a good vehicle for the sauce and the generous layer of luscious, gooey cheese.

Vinny's Great Pizza & More has a very extensive menu which includes Appetizers, Salad, Wings, Hoagies and Subs (including gyros), Calzones & Strombolis, Italian Dinners, Desserts and Soft Drinks.  They have red or white pizzas, eleven specialty pizzas and Vinny's Signature Pizza, which sounds fantastic.  It's called "The Mediterranean", and comes with either white or red sauce, and is topped with roasted red peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, Kalamata olives, onions, mozzarella, provolone and feta cheese.

Here's a cool idea - Vinny's has cell phone coupons!  Send a text to phone number 30364, type CHEESE, hit send and a coupon and special offer will be delivered to your cell phone, "like magic, Baby!"

Papa John's On Top in Consumer Survey

According to a blog post today on The Consumerist, Papa John's is at the top of the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index - beating out pizza chain restaurant rivals Dominos, Little Caesar's and Pizza Hut.   I have more of a "I've never met a pizza I didn't like" attitude than The Consumerist, or maybe it's an "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" attitude, but it is interesting reading and an interesting blog, even for a Pollyanna like me.

Pizza Hut Healthy Choice Ideas from Healthy Style Magazine

A few weeks ago, Healthy Style Magazine by Parade included an article on best fast food choices - the article was written by Joy Bauer, the Today Show nutrition and health expert.   She included choices for Taco Bell, Subway, KFC and McDonald's ... but of course I zeroed in on the healthy choices at Pizza Hut!  Joy's picks were all from Pizza Hut's Fit 'n Delicious choices - either Green Pepper, Red Onion & Diced Red Tomato, or Diced Red Tomato, Mushroom & Jalapeno, or Ham, Red Onion & Mushroom.   The best part is that they all weigh in at under 160 calories per slice!

Fox's Pizza Den, Pleasant Hills - Mini Review

This is a mini review because we only had one bite!  We went to an estate sale run by Estate Liquidation Services (Mark Dlugos) estate sale in Whitehall.  We were checking out just as Mary Ann rushed in with a pizza, and Mark was kind enough to offer us a slice.  Our one bite impression was that we loved the sauce, but need to try a larger portion to judge the crust and cheese.   We're been wanting to try one of Fox's famous "Wedgies", so we'll make a visit there soon!

Dominos Pizza - Forest Hills

2600 Ardmore Boulevard
Forest Hills, PA  15221
412-824-8700

I remember living in a neighborhood where Domino's Pizza was our only nearby option.  It's been a long time ... and a lot of pizzas ... since those days.  Lately I've seen Domino's advertising saying that they have totally revamped and improved their recipes, so thought it was time to give them another try. 

We chose a cheese pizza with a Brooklyn style crust.  The crust was hand rolled (the literature says the crusts are hand tossed, but we saw them rolling it).  The sauce was mildly spicy and enjoyable, but it was overwhelmed with an artificial garlic flavor on the crust.  The pizza was also loaded with an extreme amount of cheese  - I had to remove quite a bit of it from my slices so that I could taste the sauce.

On the plus side, the staff was very friendly and pleasant and the pizza was hot, and prepared quickly - which is nice when you are very hungry!   The loads of cheese - which the literature states is 100% real mozzarella with a hint of provolone - could be a plus, too, if you like lots of cheese on your pizza.  Domino's has eight new oven baked sandwiches that sound interesting, including a Mediterranean Veggie, Sweet & Spicy Chicken Habanero, and Buffalo Chicken with Blue Cheese among others.

On the other hand, when Veltre's and Foli's are so close to the same neighborhood, I think it will be a while before we give Domino's another try.

Vocelli Pizza

617 Brownsville Road
Carrick, PA
412-697-0888

Vocelli's Pizza was a pleasant surprise on a cold, rainy January day!

We ordered a traditional crust pizza with extra sauce - I opted to go easy on the cheese, because it made me feel like I am trying to stay on my diet.  Because of the nasty weather, we also opted for delivery, and were glad we did.  The pizza arrived about 10 minutes earlier than we expected and it was the perfect temperature - not too hot and not too cold.

The traditional crust was chewy and enjoyable.  The flavorful sauce had a bright tomato flavor, with small pieces of tomato and flecks of Italian seasoning.  The cheese was the perfect amount for our taste.  All in all, we were very happy with the pizza and would definitely order again - next time I might try one of the gourmet pizzas, and definitely would like to try the thin crust.

The non-dieting pizza taster ordered Vocelli's cheese sticks.  We were expecting an order of traditional fried mozzarella or provolone fingers, so were surprised to find a pizza shaped round, topped with lots of cheese and fried, then cut into fingers.  I tried a nibble and it was very garlicy; the others loved it and also enjoyed the marinara sauce that came with it.

Vocelli's is very generous with their coupons - a current offer that came with our order is for a free grande one topping pizza when you buy a grande one topping pizza at regular price.  We also received coupons for a Grande Gourmet for $14.99 and one for two Grande 2 Topping pizzas for $19.99.

Pizza Hut - Townesquare Way, Brentwood, PA

70 Townesquare Way
Pittsburgh PA 15227
Phone: (412) 885-4404

A flyer appeared in the mail this week from Pizza Hut advertising an online deal - any size pizza, any number of toppings, any style crust (well, almost any) for $10 - that sounded like a deal worth trying!  An even better deal is the extra 20% you can save with your first online order, using the coupon code "IG".  We ordered a hand tossed traditional crust pizza with sliced banana peppers on half and an order of cheese sticks. 

The crust was very bready, with a cardboard-like bottom layer; it was loaded with a red pizza sauce and a decent amount of cheese.  We were glad to have ordered the banana peppers as a topping - they added a welcome zing.  The bright spot was the "Wing Street Fried Cheese Sticks" which we enjoyed - they were small and manageable, and the side of marinara dipping sauce was tasty.

In the long ago past, we used to order a Mexican or Taco pizza from Pizza Hut.  If I do go back again, I think I'll try their Fiesta Taco specialty pizza - beans, cheese, choice of beef or chicken, tomatoes, and onions with a side of Tostito's salsa..