Maybe I should move to New York

[Jenise]

The Reader's Choice awards that our local newspaper puts together came out today. Best pizzeria? La Fiamma--and this is well deserved, I don't disagree with it. But second? Papa John's Take Out.

HELP!

There are a few Papa John's in NYC. The pizza is bad but it is cheap; that may be its advantage in the polling.

Oh.My.

I have purposely NOT taken a look at any of those "best of" pizza lists for Austin. We've found a couple pretty good places, but by and large, pizza is not done well here. Our favorite was a coal-fired place - thin and slightly charred aged crust, perfect sauce to cheese ratio, excellent specialty pies - they also served wonderful Italian dishes and had a good wine list that wasn't overpriced, AND they were 10 minutes from our house. We became friends with the chef and had an idyllic 6 months... before they went out of business because people here just didn't get it. "The crust is too thin, there's not enough cheese, and it's burned!"

One of the oddest things, and something I've never seen any other place, is that the standard "margherita" pizza in Texas *always* has fresh, sliced tomatoes on it. What?? It's especially awful when tomatoes are not in season. We unfortunately forget sometimes and order one.

[Jenise]

There are a few Papa John's in NYC. The pizza is bad but it is cheap; that may be its advantage in the polling.

You're probably right about that. And there are three or four locations around town, so right there they're primed for the suburban, newspaper-reading voters. Still, I'd hope that anyone voting would have the sense to consider take-home DIY pizza not even in the running.

The Reader's Choice awards that our local newspaper puts together came out today. Best pizzeria? La Fiamma--and this is well deserved, I don't disagree with it. But second? Papa John's Take Out.

HELP!

When we first moved to Napa (19 years ago) the first Papa Johns had just opened up and the pickup cook yourself pizza was decent. We were told this was either their first or second location. Within a few years their number of places all over NO. CA had spread like wild fire and the pizzas weren't worth a damn. Like the restaurant Slanted Door in San Francisco before it moved to it's present location in the Ferry building it was a hell of a restaurant but now it's a who cares place.

[Jenise]

"The crust is too thin, there's not enough cheese, and it's burned!"

One of the oddest things, and something I've never seen any other place, is that the standard "margherita" pizza in Texas *always* has fresh, sliced tomatoes on it. What?? It's especially awful when tomatoes are not in season. We unfortunately forget sometimes and order one.

"Not enough cheese" made me laugh. Like you, I would have loved that pizza, but my Texan in-laws would have been complaining right along those lines. The only pizza I ever had in Texas was absolutely smothered in cheese--oh, and cheddar was involved--leaving me to think the "everything is bigger in Texas" mindset was at work.

[Jenise]

The Reader's Choice awards that our local newspaper puts together came out today. Best pizzeria? La Fiamma--and this is well deserved, I don't disagree with it. But second? Papa John's Take Out.

HELP!

When we first moved to Napa (19 years ago) the first Papa Johns had just opened up and the pickup cook yourself pizza was decent. We were told this was either their first or second location. Within a few years their number of places all over NO. CA had spread like wild fire and the pizzas weren't worth a damn. Like the restaurant Slanted Door in San Francisco before it moved to it's present location in the Ferry building it was a hell of a restaurant but now it's a who cares place.

The Slanted Door's gone downhill? That's sad. Success went to their heads? Chan no longer personally running the kitchen? I had an amazing lunch at the old place one time and it would have been on my list to go back to on my next trip through town.

We live in a very bad zone for pizza delivery, and in an area of the fringes of the city that also doesn't have good pizza joints nearby. So in desperation one night (hey, you do stupid things when you're having a pizza jones, alright) we ordered a Papa John's pizza.

It was atrocious. Enough sugar in the sauce you could have used it as ice cream syrup for dessert. And bland beyond belief. Couldn't get past one slice.

It may be vaguely tomato-flavored pillow dough...but it ain't pizza.

Our local "Readers' Choice" awards always seem to be like yours. A place like Biba will get "Best Italian Restaurant", but then Olive Garden or Buca di Beppo will be second. We have some amazing, very authentic Mexican places in town yet Taco Bell often ends up in the top three for Best Mexican.

Sad.

[Jenise]

Enough sugar in the sauce you could have used it as ice cream syrup for dessert. And bland beyond belief. Couldn't get past one slice.

I've never had one. I did walk in one time, but when I saw that 'sausage' as a topping meant little extruded pre-cooked poops of meat, I left. That's about what I would have expected.

[Jenise]

Our local "Readers' Choice" awards always seem to be like yours. A place like Biba will get "Best Italian Restaurant", but then Olive Garden or Buca di Beppo will be second. We have some amazing, very authentic Mexican places in town yet Taco Bell often ends up in the top three for Best Mexican.

Sad.

You know what, that actually makes me feel better.

A Papa Johns opened up near one of my 2 local grocery stores. I've occasionally looked at it and thought "Well, how bad could it be?" Thank you for answering that question without my having to make the experiment.