Super sized!

I've changed over to a new web host, so please update your bookmarks!

http://asideofketchup.com/

Catch you on the flip side.

Doubling Up

After not eating any burgers for almost an entire month, I book ended my juice cleanse by eating 2 burgers. And not just any burgers - 2 double stacked burgers. What can I say? I was making up for lost time. 

The night before the cleanse, we stopped into Lucky's Last Chance in Manayunk. I feel bad for Manayunk because city people never want to come out there because it's "too far". (I live there so I feel kind of slighted by it, because then I feel like I'm too far for everyone. /sadface) Lucky's is a fairly new spot - having opened earlier this year - that serves up awesome burgers, hot dogs & a great craft beer selection. I decided to go with the Bacon, Egg N Cheese Burger.

Bacon Egg N Cheese Burger

Now, all their burgers come standard with 2 patties, but you can get a "junior" with one patty. (Kind of like the 'Little Hamburger' option at Five Guys.) I went for the double: go big or go home, I say! I wasn't asked how I wanted it cooked, so I wasn't sure what to expect. It came on a deliciously soft Liscios Bakery roll and I opted for out-of-this-world onion strings on the side. The meat was still really hot when I bit into it, so even if they were trying to go for medium well, it was continuing to cook well after it was on my plate. It also wasn't very juicy, so I'm guessing they probably used some kind of ground chuck blend? But the bun was the perfect size, holding all the toppings in nicely.

EAT ME!

There was definitely room for improvement. If I had been given the option to have it cooked to order, I think that would have been better. Also, a better meat blend. The website says all the patties are hand formed, so maybe just flattening them out a bit more would have helped eliminate the hot spot in the middle of the burger. All in all, I would give it a "C+". 

A few days after the cleanse, we went to Alla Spina who just added a double decker burger to their menu called "The Burgamo", which is built like an imitation style Big Mac, except using a LaFrieda meat blend and an in-house baked potato bun. Again, I wasn't asked how I wanted it cooked (and maybe this is a thing because I'm getting 2 patties?) but the patties were thinner then at Lucky's so more on the "well done" side. 

The Burgamo - Belissimo!

 

I loved the concept, but I think the execution needs to be tweaked just a bit. While I loved the pickles, there were kind of a lot of pickles. The "special sauce" was a little too vinegary for my liking and I thought it could have had a creamery consistency if they were trying to replicate the McD's special sauce element. I also thought maybe it could have used another slice of cheese. Overall, I gave it a "B".

Juicin'

I did it! I survived a 3 day juice cleanse and I lived to tell the tale! Honestly though, it wasn't that bad. I went into this expecting the worst and by the end of it all, it was a total breeze. So I wouldn't really say that I survived, but that I thrived. 


So, why do a juice cleanse, you ask? Am I crazy? Maybe a little bit, but I'm pretty sure that was a pre-existing condition. When I saw a Living Social deal a few weeks ago for the Catalyst Cleanse at Jar Bar, I said, "Why not!?" There are lots of benefits to doing a juice cleanse. For me, it was kind of a motivator to stop eating a lot of junk all the time (which is what I've been trying to cut back on doing leading up to this Seattle/Portland trip where I will probably be gorging myself on anything I can find for a week). Also, just to do something different! My life has been feeling stagnant lately, and by giving myself a challenge, it kind of gave me a little boost of "Hey, if you can do this - you can do anything!" 


Here's how the juice cleanse worked: For three days you drink nothing but 16 oz of six different juices. No coffee or alcohol; just water and decaf tea. Each juice is blended with enough elements that they are supposed to provide you a 1,200 calorie a day diet. You drink them roughly every two hours or so, with it being suggested that you drink the last juice 2 hours before bedtime.


Breakdown:
8 AM - Green Juice #1: Cucumber, celery, parsley, apple, lemon, lime, spinach & ginger
10 AM - Spicy Lemonade: Lemon, agave, cayenne
12 PM - Carrot Juice: Carrot, apple, celery, lemon, lime
2 PM - Watermelon lime
4 PM - Green Juice #2: Repeat of breakfast
~7-8 PM (I tend to go to bed late & was treating this juice more like dessert) Cashew milk: Cashew, vanilla, cinnamon, agave

Mmm... Juices!

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Day 1 was kind of brutal just because it made me realize how much of my life revolves around food. I couldn't escape it! I follow so many restaurant and food blogs on Twitter, everyone is always eating, there were all kinds of awesome smells everywhere - I was being tempted by foods that I don't even like! (like the empty bag of Cheez-its in the trash at work) After drinking pureed produce all day, Juice #6 was such a treat. 


Day 2 I woke up and wasn't even hungry at all. I would see food and go, "Oh hey, that looks cool. I'd like to eat that when I can have food again." It certainly wasn't as torturous and I was actually starting to enjoy the juices. Admittedly, I loved the Green juice. I know it sounds gross, but it was actually really good. I'd recommend leaving it out a little bit to get warm because it did taste bitter straight out of the fridge. Once it got to almost room temp, it wasn't half bad.


Day 3 was more of the same. I wasn't hungry and was feeling great! I kept thinking about what to eat after the cleanse as my "celebration", but to be honest, I wasn't even craving food. I was doing the cleanse with a friend and he was ready to eat a slice of pizza at 12:01 AM. We toasted with our final juices and then fantasized about a delicious brunch the next day.

Final juice: Complete.

Post cleanse, Day 4: I still wasn't hungry. In fact, I kind of wished I'd done the 5 day cleanse. (More of that crazy right here) I felt skinny and awesome - even though I didn't really lose any weight.  I definitely had more energy; I wanted to be more energetic on the cleanse and work out, but the weather had been unbearably hot and humid and I didn't want my lack of solid food to make me sick. (The only time I ever felt sick at all was when drinking the carrot juice. It made me dizzy. This was also my least favorite juice.) We had brunch and it was nice to eat and feel like I was enjoying it and not just shoveling it into my face.


Post cleanse, Day 5: Still feeling good and not ravenously hungry. After a week with no coffee (I stopped drinking it  leading up to the cleanse), I didn't even feel like I needed coffee today. Could I have finally rid myself of my daily caffeine crutch?? Now I just feel like I want this awesome feeling to continue, to not "gum up" my system with gross stuff, to really go overboard with the junk food sometimes, to make a conscious effort to incorporate a healthier eating lifestyle into my everyday routine. 


Would I do it again? Absolutely! I am definitely looking to incorporate more fresh juices into my life on a regular basis along with solid food. 


But you don't have to do a juice cleanse all the time just to feel better about yourself. It doesn't have to be about the physical aspect; it's about your mental mood as well. During the cleanse I reflected on a lot of the things I do and how much I made food a part of my life. At one point, I even contemplated for a split second going Vegetarian!! (Let's not get crazy.) So many of the things I had been doing on a weekly basis were so centered around food and drink that it was starting to consume me. (What's for X meal? Where are we eating tomorrow? etc.) Don't get me wrong, I love food, but maybe it's easier to appreciate it when it's not always the constant in your life.



That being said, I'm ready to go on my trip and enjoy every bite a little more thoroughly instead of blindly ingesting something because it's in front of my face.

Philly Vendy Awards 2012

This past Saturday, July 28th, the 2nd annual Vendy Awards rolled into Philadelphia's University City section to honor the best in mobile cuisine while supporting the Food Trust (who run all the great Farmer's Markets in the city as well as the Night Markets). For those of you who don't know, the Vendy Awards were started back in 2005 by the Street Vendor Project in New York City as a way to appreciate some of the 20,000 vendors who pour your coffee, sling your hash and squirt mustard on your dirty water dogs on a daily basis. The awards have now moved on to Philly and Los Angeles where the popularity of food trucks is rapidly increasing. 


This year's finalists were comprised of 8 regular food trucks competing for People's Choice, 4 dessert trucks competing for Best Dessert, and all participants competing for the grand prize - The Vendy Cup! 

BYOF: Bring your own fork 

Once inside the lot, we bee-lined for Little Baby's Ice Cream, as we figured most people would save the dessert stuff for last. Little Baby's has delicious, handmade ice cream in a variety of fun flavors from Bourbon Bourbon Vanilla to Early Grey Sriracha. Currently they've been scooping out around town on these awesome little tricycle carts, but they are opening their "World Headquarters" Friday, August 3rd at 2311 Frankford Avenue in Fishtown. 

Their logo is totes adorbs!

Red Velvet Spodee Chocolate swirl. It had little bit of red velvet cake mixed in and was surprisingly delicious, even though I'm not a big red velvet fan.

Next, we headed for Tacos Don Memo, which already had a rapidly growing line. I'd never been to Tacos Don Memo before because they're usually set up in University City during the day so it's too hard to get out there. I love mexican food though, so this was clearly already the winner in my mind.

They were serving up carnitas tacos and chicken burritos, some of the best I've tasted in a long time. And their sauces were super tasty! 

We followed up tacos with more dessert: flavored pops courtesy of Lil Pop Shop. These ain't the pops you remember as a kid! They have an awesome variety of flavors like Goat cheese & fig and Vietnamese Iced Coffee (my fav!).

In addition to their cart, they also have a storefront in West Philly.

Next, we hopped on line for the Smoke Truck, which was also starting to draw a big crowd as they were serving up BBQ pulled pork and some savory mac & cheese. 

 

 I could have eaten this all day!

Right next door was the Vernalicious truck. I've always seen them around but never got a chance to sample their stuff before. However, grand testimonials have been made among many Philadelphians declaring their pulled pork grilled cheese as a gift from the Heavens.But they were also serving up a tomato & mozzarella sammich that I was very excited about.

 

 

 

adorable froggies! 

 

Tomato Mozz Pesto on left, Pulled Pork Grilled cheese on right

 

 

We'd made it to about the halfway mark and I was feeling pretty full now. I was determined to at least try a bite from every truck. Could I make it to all the stops? We moved on to the Delicias truck, who had a pretty slim menu for the day. They are another University City truck that I'd never been to before and was interested to try their arepas. 

 

I'd never had an arepa before so I'm not sure what it was supposed to taste like, but I didn't really like it. While the pork loin was tender, it was didn't do anything for me. And the arepa was dry, topped with black beans and kind of flavorless.

Following that, we checked out the macrons at Sugar Philly. 

They had ice cream ones! Like little mini ice cream sandwiches. Way cool. 

 

Rounding the final stretch was the Foo Truck, another truck I had been wanting to check out. On the menu today was a braised meatball "foowich" and Thai curry quinoa "foowich".

Thai Curry Quinoa on the left; braised meatball on the right

I tried the Quinoa first because I like quinoa salads, but sorry, I did not like this sandwich. The taste and the texture just did not work for me. I also took a nibble of the meatball one which was ok; it probably would have been better if I didn't already feel like I was going to explode. 

Sweet Box Philly was out of all the really good cupcakes by the time we got there, plus I just couldn't fit any more food in me. I waived the white flag at this point and in doing so, also missed out on Yumtown Truck, Lil Dan's and King of Falafel. (I'm sure I'll catch them around town)

Finally, the awards ceremony! Drumroll, please....

And the winners were: 

People's Choice - VERNALICIOUS!

Best Dessert: Lil Pop Shop (yay, I voted for them!)

And the Vendy Cup goes to: SMOKE TRUCK! 

photo courtesy of http://www.bridgesburgersbeer.com

And for my final course of the day:

Mmm! Indigestion!

I'm looking forward to doing this all over again on September 15th when NYC holds their 8th annual Vendy Awards. So stay tuned for future coverage!

Vegging out!

So, I'm preparing to go on a monster eating tour of the Pacific Northwest in a few weeks, hitting up Seattle again (which feels like my West Coast "home away from home") and Portland for the first time (which I am super excited about since everyone touts it as a 'Foodie Paradise'). As part of that preparation, I've decided not to over-indulge in all the delicious foods of Philadelphia so that I can make room for all the delectable goodness that will surely cause me to tip the scales upon my return. So no burgers, no pizza, no pasta, no rice, no junk food, NO BEER (!!) - and other treats in limited quantities, until August 9th!

So far on my "Snack Sabatacle", I've managed to be pretty good. We took a little trip to Elevation Burger and it was soooooo hard not to order something with meat. (Guys, dead animals are delicious; don't trick yourselves into thinking they're not.) But I showed tremendous restraint and ordered a veggie burger #2, while my dining partner ordered veggie burger #1 and we split both of them as well as a side of fries. (That was also hard because I hate sharing fries!) 

Veggie Burger #2 is supposed to be the totally vegan, all veggie burger. It has a little bit of  visible corn in it as well as some other veggies. I obviously am not a vegan because I put cheese on it. (Another thing I am trying to limit, but I was worried it would taste like cardboard if I didn't put cheese on it.) And I was pleasantly surprised! It was totally tasty. I wanted to eat it all but remembered we were splitting them.

As for Veggie Burger #1, it was supposed to have a "fire roasted taste"; maybe if it was fire roasted BLAH! It had absolutely no taste at all, the cheese didn't help, and I wanted to cry about how bland it was after I finished eating it.

So, survey says: Veggie #2 > Veggie #1. (But obviously in my world, Meat > Veggie, period.)

I also took a raw foods adventure at Jar Bar Philly, ordering a delicious Asian Kale salad. I mean, I guess that's not really jumping head-first into the raw food movement since salad is already raw, but I dipped my toe in the pool. 

 This + Asian Ginger Dressing = soooo yummy! Kale <3

I also got a Strawberry Kale Lemonade elixir, which was totally delicious and surprisingly filling. And we split a chocolate mousse pie for dessert, which did not taste like cardboard or like it was some lo-cal diet gross thing. It was super yummy and now I wanna make it forever and ever.

Photo courtesy of http://www.bridgesburgersbeer.com/

I can't believe it's vegan!

The trip to Jar Bar was basically just to get an idea of what exactly raw food is since we are planning on doing the 3-Day Catalyst Juice Cleanse right before our trip. (In case all the trying to be good about eating and stepping it up with the exercising isn't working out well enough.) I've never done a cleanse before, but I read up on a friend's experience with the same cleanse and it seemed not to be soooo bad. I'm still a little bit nervous about it, but another friend is also doing a FIVE day cleanse right now and he seems to be doing alright. I'm sure a lot of it is easy if you have good willpower and self-control. I think maybe if I was eating fast food and other junk stuff all the time already prior to this, it would be difficult to go cold turkey and just drink juice six times a day for three days. 

The part I'm most worried about is not being able to drink coffee! You are restricted to water and decaf tea as the only other beverages other than the juices during the cleanse; reason being that since you are detoxing your body of the gross stuff, you will have more energy and not need coffee.(We'll see about that...)

The countdown is ON! 

Days until the cleanse begins: 8
Days until Seattle:14
Days until Portland: 18
Days until I bring all my pants back to the tailor to have them let out: 23

Feelin' Seedy...

...Or "A good bun is hard to find."

I've expressed my disdain in the past for brioche burger buns, mostly because people get thrown off about the quality of a burger if it's wedged between two shiny pieces of bread. But the fact of the matter is: a burger's bun can really make or break the burger sometimes.

For example, this burger from Farmer's Cabinet:

Looks totally great right? The bun felt really soft and tasted buttery - which overwhelmed the taste of the burger, so it was kind of disappointing. (I felt like I was getting the Paula Deen special.) Plus, even though it was flavored like butter, it was definitely not as smooth as butter. The bun's buttery softness actually made it a little dry and crumbly, and the burger wasn't juicy enough to even it out. Even with the amount of ketchup I tried putting on it, I felt like it was hard to swallow at times.

Example #2: One Mile House's Bowery Burger

Photo credit: Bridges, Burgers & Beer

The bun was just your basic, supermarket-style hamburger bun. Plus, the burger-to-bun ratio was totally off here. Bet you can guess what happened when I picked it up to eat it. It promptly began to fall apart in my hands - especially after adding ketchup and burger juices flowing. A bad boy burger like this needs some backup. You can't just throw it on a whimpy potato roll! (Especially since it's loaded down with all those toppings.)

But the Parliament Burger at Pub & Kitchen gets it right:

Good burger-to-bun ratio, gets everything nestled under there nicely, plus the adorable pickles on top. It was a sturdy bun, it looked good and it tasted delicious. It didn't add or take anything away from the burger itself; it was the perfect compliment. (And did I mention how cute it looks!?)

However, sometimes great buns happen to not-so-great burgers:

Photo credit: Bridges, Burgers & Beer

Oh yeah, I want you inside me.

Here's that trick I was telling you about: Using a sexy looking bun to reel  you in and trick you, while secretly disguising a less than stellar patty underneath.

Photo credit: Bridges, Burgers & Beer

It's like the morning after the bar and you wake up next to someone realizing you had total beer goggles on the night before. Look how small that burger is compared to the bun! Not to say the burger itself wasn't tasty. But I was eating a lot of bread most of the time when I was wishing I was biting into a delicious, juicy patty. (Industry Burger - The Industry, Philadelphia)

Let's recap: A good bun should be - firm yet soft, stand up to anything you pile on top of it, be willing to take in anything that's thrown it's way, never overwhelm, look cute, taste delicious and go down easy. (FYI, these are the same things I look for in a relationship.Hey-o!)

Smorgasburg!

A few weeks ago after a Friday night bender in NYC, my hangover left me with an insatiable hunger to eat ALL THE THINGS! But what did I want? (Making decisions when hungover is wayyyy hard, bro.) Enter - SMORGASBURG: An outdoor food flea market wonderland located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. You want a chicken pie pot with a corn on the cob on the side and a vegan, low-fat, organic smoothie, plus some s'more macaroons for dessert? Well, your wish has been granted because you can find pretty much anything and everything your palate desires in this lot located down by the East River which houses several dozen vendors every Saturday. 

 Yummy-ness awaits just past these chain-link gates!

With so many options to choose from, we were unsure just where to begin. We did a lap around first so that we didn't choose one place and then walk 5 feet, see an awesome-r place and then go "SHIT! I shoulda went there instead!"  

Obviously I was tempted to go for a burger first, especially when DuMont was serving up 6 oz mini sliders. Since we were sharing, it was kind of a one-bite deal, but still pretty juicy & tasty! I loved the tiny brioche bun, but the bread & butter pickles were kind of meh. (Those are my dad's favorite, not mine.)

Our next stop was Lumpia Shack. If you're not familiar with lumpia, they are delicious Filipino spring rolls - and I'm a giant sucker for them. 

They had a special roll of the day, which was Kaldereta - a short rib filled spring roll - so we got an order of those, as well as their "vegetarian option" consisting of a fresh veggie and tofu salad on a crepe, almost like an inside-out spring roll. The Kaldereta rolls were good, but the salad was a little bit lacking. I was kind of unsure what to even do with the crepe since it was soft and mushy from the salad, so it was too hard to eat. I think maybe if they kind of rolled the crepe around the salad like a wrap, it would be a little easier to eat. 

Kaldereta lumpia!

"Fresh Lumpia" salad - tasted good, but not well executed.

Just shortly down the walk from Lumpia Shack we found Brooklyn Piggies, where they were serving up fat little pups in puff pastry. Too awesome to pass up, and at only $2 a pop, we just had to get one. My only complaint is that the puff pastry crumbles as soon as you take a bite, so you're kind of like, grasping at these bits of dough falling out of your mouth. Still yummy, though!

What food adventure would be complete without dessert? We stopped at Dough, whose slogan is "We Fry in Bed-Stuy". These doughnuts are probably the best thing to come out of that part of Brooklyn since Biggie Smalls! They're big and yeasty and delicious - and they blow Federal Doughnuts right out of the water.

I ordered a Cafe Au Lait doughnut and it was so friggin good that I was greedy and didn't even share with my dining buddy. (Sorry! But c'mon, look at that thing! You wouldn't share either.)

And finally, just when we thought we had eaten everything we could and we were going to explode, we decided we just had to get a little bit crazy and try out fried anchovies at Bon Chovie. With an awesome, rockin' name like that, how could we not check them out??

 For those about to Nom, we salute you. 

(Yes, I know that is AC/DC and not Bon Jovi, but just go with it.)

So, I'd never had an anchovy before. I have never had a desire to have an anchovy. But I'll try anything once. Because hey, you never know - you might like it. 

 And... yeah, that's it. I took one bite and I did not like it. Anchovies are not for me.

(This was also probably the worst thing to eat when it was 97 degrees out.)

Smorgasburg has something for every one, so pack up your shit and head over there some Saturday afternoon already! (And if you can't find anything you like there, then you're the pickiest eater alive and I have no respect for you.)

 

Comida!

Back in the day, I used to run a little blog called "Mexican Fridays", where, you guessed it - we would choose a different Mexican restaurant every Friday to eat at. I use the term "eat" very loosely as it was mostly us sharing a pitcher of margaritas and drunkenly shoving some chips and/or fajitas into our faces. It was kind of a short lived thing because we usually got too tanked to remember what we ate and my waistline started rapidly expanding from the all the empty calories. 

Mexican food is definitely one of my favorite kinds of food - and when I say Mexican food, know that I'm referring to the Tex-Mex, Americanized version of the cuisine that most of us have come to know as "Mexican". Don't be a total snob about it and say "Oh well, that's not real Mexican food!" I grew up in an area that was very heavily populated by Mexican immigrants, so I've been to my fair share of hole in the wall taquerias, but obviously, that good ol' Americanized stuff is what's more readily available. 


A lot of places are trying to incorporate finer cuisine into their Mexican-style menus, and there's no greater sign of this then in the Philadelphia area. From El Vez to Distrito to La Calaca Feliz, there are nopales salads, duck confit nachos, hamachi ceviches and pulpo tacos side by side with jumbo margaritas and bowls of fresh guacamole topped with lump crab meat. But the thing that really gets on my nerves the most is that they've all appropriated the same aspects of Mexican culture into the decor: the bright colored roses, the skeletons, the low rider bikes, the Luchadores. So every place has become a carbon copy of the other because someone said "Hey, I like this! People here like this! Let's do the same thing at our place!" 

 El Rey's skirt steak sopes: pretty and delicious

Can we maybe tone it down a bit? Yeah, the Day of the Dead festival is awesome but maybe we do it for a day or a week in the fall? I'd like to walk into a mexican restaurant and actually see a Mexican flag, maybe some paintings on the walls of Aztec ruins, even some cheesy mariachi guys with a horn player strumming "La Cucaracha". Something that actually feels like a little, roadside cantina in Tijuana. Anything but these overkill, super-hipster neon Mexican places adorning Center City. 

Exhibit A from one of the biggest offenders

On the opposite end of this spectrum, one of the better mexican places I've eaten at here in Philly is Mexican Post (Love Park/Cherry St location). The decor inside is so minimal, you might forget that you're even eating in a mexican restaurant, but the food is pretty great. On my most recent visit, I got a chicken chimichanga that was ridiculously good; covered in sauce, slathered in cheese with a side of rice and beans.

Look at that bad boy! 

Who needs Kobe beef tacos with truffle oil infused avocado reduction sauce when you're getting a delicious version of something that's standard? Plus, something like this takes the guesswork out of paying $15 for something you're not sure you're going to like and that probably won't even fill you up. Mexican food isn't meant to be fancy and overpriced; it's meant to be comfort food, to taste good, fill you up, and want you coming back for more. And I definitely plan on visiting Mexican Post again whenever the mood strikes.

Pizza, Pizza!

As a New Yorker, I tend to take my pizza very seriously. I keep it simple with a regular slice - or sometimes a Sicilian, if I need some extra carbs. Some people put garlic powder or crushed red pepper, but I'm a pizza purist. There's a saying that goes "Pizza is like sex, even when it's bad, it's good." I completely disagree (on both counts). I've had some great pizza, some bad pizza, and some downright awful pizza that I don't even know how it could be sold for human consumption.

(Photo credit: http://lainsomnia.blogspot.com/2011/02/nyc-pizza.html) 

 Live by the fold, die by the fold. Never utensils.

And don't EVER sop up all the grease with 100 napkins!

Another thing about New Yorkers and Pizza is that we are extremely territorial when it comes to which borough has the best. I'm from the Bronx, so clearly, we're the winners. One of my favorite spots is Crosby Pizza, right off the 6 train, Buhre Ave stop. It's crispy, quick and delicious, with a perfect balance of sauce and cheese that is just greasy enough to give it the flavor it needs - just what you want in slice.(And I would like to point out that I've been to that so-called Famous Pizza place in Brooklyn and wasn't impressed.)


The saddest, darkest point of my life was going away to college in Boston; not just because I was a Yankees fan in enemy territory, but because the pizza was atrocious! I don't even know how anyone could call it pizza? (And I wonder even less that Canada could even operate a chain called Boston Pizza. Really? Of all the other places famous for pizza, you went with Boston?) The crust was too thick, it was doughy and chewy, the sauce was bland, and there was way too much cheese. I was at a keg party and wouldn't even eat it, so that just goes to show how awful it really was, because you know when you're drunk, you'll eat just about anything. 


As for pizza in other famous cities in the US... Well, if you've been following, you know how my experience with Chicago Deep dish style went. But there's also New Haven style pizza, made famous by Frank Pepe; a Neopolitan-style, wood-fired pie that's been served up in the Northeast since 1925. When I was living in CT for a few years, I visited the original location on Wooster St in New Haven - and waited on a line for 30 minutes. (Just to get pizza - are you guys serious??) It came out on a big, rectangular tray and was just a little too burnt to be edible to me. I'm all for a well-done pie, but this was too much. It just didn't even taste like anything to me at that point; that's how overcooked it was. 

Recently, my parents and I ate at the Pepe's Pizza in Mohegan Sun casino. I was skeptical because they've just recently started opening all these Pepe's outposts in the past few years (Fairfield, CT and Empire City casino in Yonkers, just to name a few), and one of my former co-worker's complaints was that, because the oven at the Fairfield location was so new and the Original Pepe's oven has been well-seasoned over it's 75+ year history, they tasted completely different. This pie was a little less 'cajun-style' than the previous pie, and maybe, sorta, kinda-if-I-closed-my-eyes, tasted like the pizza I was more familiar with.

 It's like Pac-man. Nom Nom Nom!

The crusts were too crispy - heavily charred by the oven's 650-degree temps - and I'm a crust fan. To me, that's one of the key elements that makes a pizza. Anyone can throw sauce and cheese on some dough, but to have a perfectly, crunchy crust - that's what does it for me.

In other wood-fired pizza news, the Pitruco Pizza truck has been roaming the streets of Philadelphia, taking up residency during the week at Love Park or popping up in South Philly.The overall concept is pretty cool. I mean, it's a wood-fired oven on wheels - and who hasn't just wanted the pizza place to come to them instead of vice versa?

Pitruco's Margherita pie.

Their margherita pie is decent: I'm not a fan of the $8 price tag or the fact that they tear these little slivers of basil and sprinkle them on your pizza. A real margherita pie should have big, fresh leaves of basil to give you that sweet, summery taste to mix with the saltiness of the buffalo mozzarella. 


The most surprising place I've actually had great pizza was a small little Italian restaurant in the Akita prefecture of Japan, about 400 miles from Tokyo. Now, if you're not aware, pizza is not really a big menu item in Japan. (Although they are nuts about KFC!) Domino's and Pizza Hut do exist - but be prepared to shell out close to ¥3,000 (roughly $38 US) for a Large pie. Dairy products in general are pretty scarce due to the fact that most of the land is used for rice farming; milk is usually pretty watered down and cheese is big ticket item and usually only available in limited varieties. So imagine my surprise when my friend and I wandered into this tiny little restaurant and were given an amazing looking pizza.

 Don't mind the Engrish-y Italian.

Pizza Margherita, Japanese style.

We didn't talk to the owner, but from the decor and the rest of the menu, we got the sense that he had probably either visited or lived in Italy at some point in time, and loved it so much that he learned to cook and decided to open this restaurant in the middle of the mountains and serve up some of the best Italian food in Japan. My friend ordered spaghetti arrabiata, which was cooked perfectly al dente - compared to other Japanese places I'd been to where the pasta is still hard and crunchy and they think that it's al dente - and full of flavors of fresh garlic & chilli peppers, which gave it a nice little kick. The pizza's crust was nice and thin, airy and crisp without tasting like a cracker. And the owner had to have gotten the cheese imported because it was that perfectly salted buffalo mozzarella that should be on a pizza and I know he didn't find that at the local Aeon. 

This definitely won't be the last you hear from me about pizza (and definitely not the last time I start a post with 'As a New Yorker...'), so feel free to share your thoughts and your pizza snobbery with me as well! Because, honestly, the only thing better than sex might very well be great pizza.