Any Opinions on the New Quick Bake Pizza Chains?

We have a Pieology that opened 10 minutes from work. And there are other brands trying the same "Chipotle* only Pizza" concept. I wouldn't say it is "great" pizza, but I like the range of choices and the flavor of the crust. You can get a pie really piled with vegetables very easily. Not crisp enough, perhaps, but not bad for a cheap lunch!

*I love Chipotle. It's off that a town with such a prominent Mexican influence has such bad real Mexican food, but Chipotle is consistently ok to me!

[Robin Garr]

I wouldn't say it is "great" pizza, but I like the range of choices and the flavor of the crust.

Brian, that's been a thing here for a few years. We've had an Uncle Maddio's and a couple of Blaze Pizza; also Jet Pizza, which is an offshoot making Detroit-style pies, semi-thick in flat rectangles that allegedly got their start with parts pans stolen from auto-industry production lines. Pieology just got here, also, but we haven't checked them out yet.

Based on the others, though, it's just as you said. Corporate chain food in a town full of home-grown pizzerias, and it's not going to be the same, much less serious competition for New York or Neapolitan style. But not really bad, with a lot of choices, crisp if not artisanal crust, and quick service.

I like Chipotle, too. Again, it's not fine dining, but it's one of the few fast-food chains that I'll even consider.

BLAZE just opened in Davis, the college town 20 minutes from me. I actually have a "free" coupon, so need to check them out!

There was a line last night!


On a broader note: as with coffee chains like Peets and even Starbucks, foodie culture seems to be greatly improving "corporate" food as well. Pieology blows away Dominos, Roundtable, Pizza Hut, etc. I even like it more, to be honest, than the long standing Northern California chain Mary's Pizza Shack, which I never understood the appeal of.

And Chipotle is better than 90% of the chain Mexican and a large percentage, to me, of the family-run places. Better ingrediants. Less chance of missing three days of work due to severe gastrointestinal distress!

I know this will sound elitist, but I have no opinion on something I would never choose to experience. The mere phrase "chain pizza" makes my ancestors rise from their ashes and spook my home...

[Robin Garr]

I know this will sound elitist ...

Recognizing the problem is the first step toward working to overcome it ...

[Robin Garr]

And then there is this ...

Cocaine ring run from New York pizzeria smashed

I know this will sound elitist, but I have no opinion on something I would never choose to experience. The mere phrase "chain pizza" makes my ancestors rise from their ashes and spook my home...

You do understand that your vaunted "New York" pizza is made by FAILURES who couldn't hack it in Naples and so fled the Motherland in despair, don't you?

Bwahahahahahaha!

Robin--at least I'm making progress where others aren't and if you haven't tried cocaine with pizza you have no idea what you are missing.


Brian: those were not my relatives; well, not all of them...on my mother's side, her father and two cousins were gunned down in the Bronx (by mistake, so the story goes).

...on my mother's side, her father and two cousins were gunned down in the Bronx (by mistake, so the story goes).

The mistake was that there were three cousins present?

Jeez, I haven't even noticed the Blaze in Davis yet. I did walk by the Pieology in downtown Sac a week or so ago. I had no idea what it was. Since I am committed to experiencing pizza in every possible manifestation, I will probably want to try one of these places out soon.

...on my mother's side, her father and two cousins were gunned down in the Bronx (by mistake, so the story goes).

The mistake was that there were three cousins present?

Hah!

This happened in 1928. I have the NY Times story. They caught one of two men, but reported conflicting reasons for the murders. Knowing her father, my mother had her slant on why, which was not flattering to him.

As for pizza, one of my father's uncles operated a pizza joint in Italy, but that was decades ago. Today, I have a cousin who operates two restaurants in Tuscany--how she got up north is a mystery...

...on my mother's side, her father and two cousins were gunned down in the Bronx (by mistake, so the story goes).

The mistake was that there were three cousins present?

Hah!

This happened in 1928. I have the NY Times story. They caught one of two men, but reported conflicting reasons for the murders. Knowing her father, my mother had her slant on why, which was not flattering to him.

Ah, first-generation immigrant families have lots of interesting stories. Apparently, one of my grand-uncles was a bodyguard for Dutch Schultz -- who was gunned down but they didn't bother killing the bodyguards. Uncle Sol lived to be an old man.

Ah, first-generation immigrant families have lots of interesting stories. Apparently, one of my grand-uncles was a bodyguard for Dutch Schultz -- who was gunned down but they didn't bother killing the bodyguards. Uncle Sol lived to be an old man.

Oh my, we might have mutual gangster stories! My father grew up on Union Street a couple of tenements away from Al Capone's apartment, and where I grew up, too (Capone and I were born in Fort Greene). That part of Brooklyn was mob-controlled well into the 60s, when I went off to the Air Force.

Monte's Restaurant on Carroll Street was a Cadillac/Lincoln/handgun haven--but the food was stella Southern Italian.

[Jenise]

By quick bake, you mean they have one of those 2000 degree ovens that cooks an entire pizza in 90 seconds, or something to that effect? If so, went to one on the other side of the border. Very bland, 'safe', unexciting, would never go back. The so-called "fresh mozzarella made especially for us!", which was in fact aged and dark yellow like swiss cheese and cut in wide strips. On top of the pizza it looked liked bandaids.

But that's not the fault of the process. I fondly remember a killer 'pizza a la emporter' purchased from a truck in a parking lot in Alberville, France, that was topped with Roquefort, fresh ham and raw mushrooms, that we ate with a fresh bottle of Vieux Telegraph we'd actually intended to bring home (doesn't everybody have at least one vacation story like this?).

By quick bake, you mean they have one of those 2000 degree ovens that cooks an entire pizza in 90 seconds, or something to that effect? If so, went to one on the other side of the border. Very bland, 'safe', unexciting, would never go back. Lots of hype on the menu that the pizza didn't live up to. Like the so-called fresh mozzarella, which was in fact dried and dark yellow like swiss cheese and, cut in wide strips. On top of the pizza it looked liked bandaids.

But that's not the fault of the process. I fondly remember a killer 'pizza a la emporter' purchased from a truck in a parking lot in Alberville, France, that was topped with Roquefort, fresh ham and raw mushrooms, that we ate with a fresh bottle of Vieux Telegraph we'd actually intended to bring home (doesn't everybody have at least one vacation story like this?).

Certainly-maybe more than one. One of the finest pizzas ever happened to be in Verona at a place called Pizza di Napoli. The fresh mozzarella made at the shop was not put on the pizza before it went into the oven, but after it came out. The small pieces of cheese hit the pizza and melted halfway--it was perfection, and since it was Verona, the Valpolicella paired well.


But a standout is eating raw oysters at an oyster cart on a Paris street corner in 1975, with a bottle of Albert Pic Chablis.

Monte's Restaurant on Carroll Street was a Cadillac/Lincoln/handgun haven--but the food was stella Southern Italian.

Funny you should write "stella": Where I grew up, in Queens (Forest Hills), there was no doubt that the best Italian restaurant was La Stella and it was very... safe... in there.

Monte's Restaurant on Carroll Street was a Cadillac/Lincoln/handgun haven--but the food was stella Southern Italian.

Funny you should write "stella": Where I grew up, in Queens (Forest Hills), there was no doubt that the best Italian restaurant was La Stella and it was very... safe... in there.

Safe. I'll say: http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/b ... rest-hills

Is it fair to say I remember the livornese to this day?

Great article, thank you.

Livornese! Not at Monte's. There were few, if any, northern Italians where I grew up...

Everyone told me Monte's Italian cheesecake was superb. I hated it. It reminded me of rice pudding, which is not my idea of cheesecake.

Anyway, at Monte's you always tried to sit with the advantage of having your back to a wall. It made for quite a lot of chairs moving around and lopsided table settings, but we got alive.

By quick bake, you mean they have one of those 2000 degree ovens that cooks an entire pizza in 90 seconds, or something to that effect? If so, went to one on the other side of the border. Very bland, 'safe', unexciting, would never go back. The so-called "fresh mozzarella made especially for us!", which was in fact aged and dark yellow like swiss cheese and cut in wide strips. On top of the pizza it looked liked bandaids.

Blaze and Peiology are not THAT bad, Jenise. At Pieology at least, you can get fairly spicy pizzas with quite a lot of veggies. No yellow plastic mozzarella, but nothing pulled dripping and oozing from the salt water either.

I would say overall the ingrediants are "B+" quality. The major problem may be overindulgence for the veggies, which can lead to a less than crisp crust. But that is not really Pieology's fault.

By quick bake, you mean they have one of those 2000 degree ovens that cooks an entire pizza in 90 seconds, or something to that effect? If so, went to one on the other side of the border. Very bland, 'safe', unexciting, would never go back. The so-called "fresh mozzarella made especially for us!", which was in fact aged and dark yellow like swiss cheese and cut in wide strips. On top of the pizza it looked liked bandaids.

Blaze and Peiology are not THAT bad, Jenise. At Pieology at least, you can get fairly spicy pizzas with quite a lot of veggies. No yellow plastic mozzarella, but nothing pulled dripping and oozing from the salt water either.

I would say overall the ingrediants are "B+" quality. The major problem may be overindulgence for the veggies, which can lead to a less than crisp crust. But that is not really Pieology's fault.

Brian:

You will never convince this purist, no matter how many caveats you muster. And, no, I will not try one--don;t need to

No worries, Thomas. My main argument is that pizza, on the whole, is so terrible in inland suburban Northern California that these places do represent an improvement. I mean, mary's is mediocre, Round Table is awful, and Little Caesars is to pizza what Kraft singles are to artisan cheddar, so...

But then, I work in a place that ONLY has Starbucks (bleh) at this point in market saturation protocol history.

My main argument is that pizza, on the whole, is so terrible in inland suburban Northern California...

We end in full agreement--including the Starbucks bleh. In actuality, my last run through Northern Oregon and Northern California found me dreaming for a real cup of espresso. In Oregon, they think espresso is the name of a falvored drink. I twice had to tell a server what espresso is and once made up my own price for one, as the kiosk did not have a price for a cup of coffee without intervention.

My main argument is that pizza, on the whole, is so terrible in inland suburban Northern California...

We end in full agreement--including the Starbucks bleh. In actuality, my last run through Northern Oregon and Northern California found me dreaming for a real cup of espresso. In Oregon, they think espresso is the name of a falvored drink. I twice had to tell a server what espresso is and once made up my own price for one, as the kiosk did not have a price for a cup of coffee without intervention.

The coffee scene is actually improving. Sacramento has some oustanding roasters, and one of them now sells their beans to a very good and earnest new coffee bar (Journey Coffee). The third wave has arrived! Just this year!

Of course, in the larger cities and wealthier suburbs, there is some excellent pizza, too. Even my place of employment has a good very New Yawk style pizza place which we sometimes hit up. I don't really like their tomato sauce, though.