Pizza Memories.....

[rwsmith]

In the Southeast here we were a little slower to catch on to pizza than other parts of the country, especially the Northeast. For many years in the 60s there was a place in Downtown Charleston called Labrasca's that was the place to go to get pizza. We never did.

Then I think we got a Shakey's in the late 60s. We never went there either. "We serve fun at Shakey's, also Pizza."

We used to make our own pizzas out of a box. We ate a lot of Chef Boy-ar-dee but the Krafts were best in my opinion. You could also get frozen pizzas, but they were terrible. Until they started making Red Barons and a few others that would really do in a rush.

Shakey's turned into minor chain called Village Inn Pizza. (I DID go there and that place was GOOD). In the 70's we got Pizza Hut, which while not the greatest, was still pretty good.

In the 70's they added some local places that were supposedly fronts for the mafia, but they made dam good pizza and since I added beer to my diet I had a LOT of pizza and beer there.

Then in the 80's everybody had a pizza place. Dominoes, Godfather's, Little Caesar's, Papa John's. Then there were 'all you can eat' abominations like Pizza Inn and C.C.s and worst of all, Chuck E. Cheese.

There must be a million pizza outfits in town, but the ONLY one that I think tastes anything like the old stuff is Andolini's, that I think has three far flung locations.

Home remedy for an attitude adjustment for a really messed up day. Get a large pizza with the nastiest ingredients possible. Anchovies are a must. Add a pitcher of beer. You will forget all of your troubles.

I can't eat pizza and drink beer like this anymore so I have to take anti depressants.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

My Junior year in H.S. an Italian guy up the road opened a pizza place about 3 miles from my home. It turned out to be the best pizza joint in the nation (IMHO). As Bob got older he sold the place but after a few years the new owner defaulted on the payments, so Bob took it back over.

When I had the farm, it was just 2 miles up the road, my oldest 2 sons would want a pizza and walk there (actually they ran) and eat it on the walk back. Bob got pretty old and sold it again and moved to Florida. The new owner changed the sauce recipe a little but it wasn't too bad. But he got to using drugs and died of an OD in the store one night. His two College age daughters took over, They went with pre made crusts (NOT too bad, and did away with the employee position that made crusts), less quality sauce, synthetic cheese, and real greasy pepperoni!
Like everything else, the price went up, but it went up & up & up and the taste went down.

The girls have sold it now, but I don't think I'll even bother to try it. There are too many pizza places that I know are good to waste time getting one there!

Ivan

 

[TX-Dennis]

Shakey's was my go to pizza joint in my college days. I like spicy sauce, and they had it. It was all great until one night . . . Some friends and I had picked up a pizza from Shakey's, and we were eating it while playing cards. Tasted great, and I was winning the game. Suddenly one of the girls started screaming. We kind of panicked wondering what was wrong. Finally she pointed to the slice of pizza she was eating. She had bitten a cockroach in half. Upon closer examination we found three others in the pizza we had been eating.

That was the last time I ever went to Shakey's. The local one closed up not too long afterward.

 

[Hamster65]

When I was stationed in Ft. Walton Beach Florida in the mid to late 80's, the ONLY pizza worth eating, was at a little family owned shop called Brothers Pizza, in the food court at the local mall.
The best deal they had going was their 5 LB pizza. It was an 18" pizza that literally had 5 LBS of topping on it for around $10 if I remember correctly. A single slice was a whole meal so, one pizza could easily satisfy 8 people. They made their own sauce and dough daily.
The one day out of the blue, they closed up. I heard that the reason was that due to inflation and the price of the ingredients, $10 was no longer cost effective on their best selling pizza. This made me sad that they closed the place over that. They could have charged $20 for that pizza and people would still have happily bought it. I know we certainly would have.

There was a Pizza Hut in town but, it never saw much business until after Brothers closed.

 

[bigwheelzip]

Growing up just off 18th Ave in Bensonhurst Brooklyn, we had great Pizza everywhere. Now Chinese are flooding in, so they also have plenty of good Chinese food now.

Something astounding is how fast they deliver the food to your home. Fleets of delivery scooters and cars mean home delivery in 15 minutes or less.

My perpetual favorite for eat-in is L&B Spumoni Garden.

A popular new food fad in the NYC area that is common elsewhere, are southern style BBQ joints, though at MUCH higher prices than is typical down south.

 

[Cardboard_killer]

My brother makes his own pizza on the barbecue, homemade dough, fresh cheeses, quality meat and fresh veggies. Home made beats the heck out of most restaurant pizzas I've had.

 

[italiansport]

The 1st bought pizza I remember growing up in a small New England town was made by an old Italian lady in her own kitchen and it was very good. We also bought Appian Way packaged pizza mix at the grocery store. I still remember having to wait for the dough to rise and surprisingly they still sell it!
Now living in the Southwest pizza quality has been spotty. I have been told that one of the reasons is water quality. Thankfully Lou Malnatti from Chicago has opened 3 places here and their Pizza is truly(expensive though) excellent.
Jim

 

[H Richard]

In the early 60's I was in the USAF and stationed in France. One of our F84 fighters returning from Libya (bombing and gunnery practice in the desert) couldn't get restarted after fueling up in Pizza Int airport. A couple of us (Jet Engine Mech's) were dispatched to fix it. Needing to stay overnight in Pizza we found a Pizza joint so we could say we had Pizza in Pizza, Italy. Well, I can't say I cared for it, whole small sausages, whole sliced tomatoes, bland tomato paste. At the time we didn't realize Pizza was actually an American invention.

 

[DWalt]

My very first pizza was also from Chef Boy-ar-dee, back in the early 50s. It was a box with pizza crust mix and a can of sauce, maybe a few other things. Not particularly good. We had no pizza in my southern Ohio home town until the late 1950s. Two of my high school teachers each started pizza places. One of them (my English teacher) was an Italian from Boston, and his was the best - big square pizzas and he sold square pieces. My chemistry teacher's pizza was the more conventional round pizza with triangular slices. I don't think pizza was accepted very much, both went out of business within a year or so. The strangest pizza I had was in Abu Dhabi back in the early 1980s. Nothing but a crust with melted cheese on it. No camel pepperoni even. But it was not too bad and the only pizza place in town.

I just looked up information about Chef Boy-ar-dee pizza kits. They were first marketed in 1955 (I thought it was a little earlier than that), and still available today. But I don't remember seeing them in stores.

 

[bigwheelzip]

At the time we didn't realize Pizza was actually an American invention.

Maybe frozen, microwavable pizza is from here, but the Boot is home to the original.

 

[DWalt]

I have read that pizza, or something like it, was made by the early Romans.

Just read this morning that one of the important markets today for anthracite coal is the pizza business. I haven't seen a coal-fired pizza oven but they must exist.

 

[Targets Guy]

My lasting pizza memory will always be Chef Boy-ar-dee. It was a special night when Mom brought the package home. All of us helped make the pizza. They had the best crust but the memories were far better than the pizza.

 

[rwsmith]

In the early 60's I was in the USAF and stationed in France. One of our F84 fighters returning from Libya (bombing and gunnery practice in the desert) couldn't get restarted after fueling up in Pizza Int airport. A couple of us (Jet Engine Mech's) were dispatched to fix it. Needing to stay overnight in Pizza we found a Pizza joint so we could say we had Pizza in Pizza, Italy. Well, I can't say I cared for it, whole small sausages, whole sliced tomatoes, bland tomato paste. At the time we didn't realize Pizza was actually an American invention.

Pizza is definitely Italian, but it's a different animal altogether than 'American Pizza'.

 

[Cardboard_killer]

Pizza is an American development of the oldest packed lunch in the Roman world--bread, olive oil, and cheese. When Italians settled here, they upscaled what was a peasant worker's field lunch. Then, once the sons/daughters of immigrants worked their way to wealth, they returned to visit Italy and asked where the pizza was. Italians quickly sold them what they were told was pizza, because Americans had money.

And that's how pizza came to Italy.

 

[JH1951]

I have seen all the chains come, and many go..... Same with 'local joints'. My small town has at least five pizza joints. Some are better than the others.....
BUT, the best pizza in the land, IMHO, is "Broiler Pizza" in Arlington, VA. I crave the stuff, but it is about a three hour drive away. I do visit the relatives down there more than I likely would if there were no Broiler. I bring a couple home, too.

 

[Nevada Ed]

Shakey's was my go to pizza joint in my college days, also....
another that was called Pinky's, in Marin county, Calif.

In Reno they only had Shakey's but the Big Ed's special and a
cold pitcher, made for a great meal.

Now that I have a Traeger smoker, I make my own pizza.

 

[DWalt]

We lived in the D-FW area throughout the late 70s-early 80s. There was a local chain called Parton's Pizza (I don't think it had anything to do with Dolly) which had the best pizza in the area. We used to frequent a location on the west side of Ft. Worth just off I-20 near Carswell AFB. My son was in Ft Worth several weeks ago and had to go see if it was still there, and it was. He said it was exactly the same as it was back when we lived there nearly 40 years ago. That's my best pizza memory.

BTW, we had a party for about 25 people at our house last Saturday night. We got 10 pizzas, thin crust with various toppings, from Little Caesar's, first time we had any from there. It was very good and everyone liked it. Nothing left over to give to our dogs.

 

[Rustyt1953]

This local chain (since '52) has long been our 'go-to'. You can't short stroke a 5 iron without hitting one.

Roba buona!

 

[delcrossv]

Here in Chicagoland, the home a million pizza joints, there's one place in the Northern burbs that's worth the ride. The Silo. I've been going there about 40 years now.

To get this:

 

[16thVACav]

This local chain (since '52) has long been our 'go-to'. You can't short stroke a 5 iron without hitting one.

Roba buona!

I recall that LaRosa's was the big advertiser on the Saturday 11:30 PM horror movie show on one of the Cincinnati TV stations. The host was a little white haired fellow - I think he went by Chilly Billy?