Steve Arntz - Lean Technology and Business

Five Years of Pizza Love

Anybody who knows me knows that I LOVE pizza.  One day I’ll tell the story of how it all started, but for now, I just want to share all the places I’ve been since getting married.  Most of these I’ve been to in the last two years, but some are just outside that window.  I’ve tried to put them in order of favorites and tell a bit about the place and the experience. Enjoy!  (Even if you don’t read the whole post, PLEASE leave a comment with your favorite pizza place, where, and why :) )

1. Giordano’s Famous Chicago Stuffed Pizza - This was my first time to Chicago and I was very excited to taste some “real” Chicago deep dish.  When they brought the pizza out, I couldn’t believe the amount of toppings and cheese.  I was stuffed after the first slice, but I put down another.  After leaving I wished I had forced down one or two more.
2. Cavalli Pizza - This wasn’t my first exposure to Neapolitan pizza (Pizza from Naples) but it was certainly my favorite.  The restaurant was small, but the service was fantastic.  The business is family owned, and one of the owners was there making pizzas.  The brick oven takes up nearly as much space as the rest of the restaurant. The crust was crisp but chewy and charred just right from the fire in the oven.  Great meat, great crust, great pizza!
3. Delia’s - This restaurant is a hidden gem near Old Town Alexandria.  The signature food here is called “Pizza Knuckles” and they are about as big around as a silver dollar but they are about two inches high and filled to the brim with meat and mozzarella.  The dough is nice and chewy and you can almost fit an entire knuckle in your mouth.  The meat is delicious, the dough is perfect, and there is a TON of cheese.  The restaurant is filled with fantastic dishes, so start with some knuckles to share, grab some pasta or a gyro, then go back for some more knuckles!!
4. Matchbox Pizza Chinatown - This is my favorite pizza in the district.  This pizza is nice and thin, good and charred, and the meat is excellent.  The toppings taste extremely fresh, and you can tell the pizza is cooked in an extremely hot oven.  I loved everything about this place.  From the outside it seems like a small hole in the wall (literally) but when you go inside, the restaurant is massive and very lively.  All of the details are attended to - from the unique menus, to the small matchboxes at the end.  Great pizza, great atmosphere, fun location.
5. Pizzeria Paradiso - I’ve had this pizza in two locations.  The first time I tried it was in Georgetown with my in-laws.  They were eyeing something like Chipotle or Subway, and I had to make a mad scramble to find something unique to try.  I was able to convince them to go to this awesome little pizza joint.  The bread is certainly lacking and might make you want to head out before ordering pizza but make a nice mix of olive oil, parmesan and oregano on a small plate and you can save the bread.  Definitely also try the various types of olives that they bring out before the meal.  If you’re picky about your pizza, order something familiar, but make sure to try something unique as well.  Our favorite here is the Potato Pesto pizza.  It’s got a white sauce, cheese, potatoes, and pesto.  I know the combination sounds weird, but it’s fantastic.  Whether you go in Georgetown or Old Town Alexandria, there are fantastic desert places near by - so skip desert here and find something tasty elsewhere.
6. District of Pi - This pizza place had been on my radar for months before we finally went.  I had heard that a fresh new deep dish place had opened up in the heart of DC.  I thought it was going to be Chicago style and was only temporarily disappointed when I found out it wasn’t.  Turns out it is it’s own kind of awesome.  The crust is a cornmeal crust and really isn’t all that thick.  The dish it is cooked in is deep which makes for a lot of room for extra cheese, farm fresh tomato sauce, and excellent meats and veggies.  The pizza tastes like no other pizza I’ve ever had.  It’s fantastic.  The only regret I have is not ordering enough of it.  What came afterward was also heavenly - a big slice of Apple pie.  This was one of my favorite dates with my wife in the city.
7. Pizzeria 712 - This was my first experience with Neapolitan pizza.  Until I tried this pizza, I thought that all pizza was supposed to taste like a slight modification on Dominos.  I had house made sausage, fennel, roasted pepper, tomato sauce, and mozzarella.  Even though I love to eat pizza, I usually get something with good meat, onions, and peppers.  I love the bread here and I always have a thing for pizza places where you feel like you’re eating with the pizza oven right there in the dining room.  When you can see and feel the fire your pizza is being cooked with it makes it taste all that much better.
8. Church Street Pizzeria - I’ve never thought I would like New York style pizza, until I tried this place.  Church Street is one of my favorite spots in Virginia.  It’s in the heart of Vienna and has a lot of small town charm.  There is a frozen custard place that is incredible, a Pasty place with the best crust ever, and then this place.  One Saturday we visited every food place on the street, mixed in with boutique shopping and strolling to the park on Church street.  Lest I forget the pizza, the crust here is fantastic.  It’s super thin and very crisp on the bottom, but has just enough chew on it.  The rest of the chew comes from the excellent cheese.  It’s not the mozzarella you’d get at a “fancy” pizza joint, and kind of reminds you of pizza you loved as as a kid - but it’s better than that.  The only drawback here is that they don’t throw nearly enough of the pepperoni on top.
9. Brick Oven Pizza - It’s hard for me to know where to rank this place.  Part of me wants to park it right up top at #1 - but I’ve tried so many places since last eating here, that I hardly know where it fits.  The pizza is nice and thick, the toppings are very generous, the meat is amazing, and the crust is cooked in a fiery brick oven (definitely my favorite).  The bread is excellent and the Root Beer is house made (and fantastic).  The best way to describe this place is “guilty-pleasure-comfort-food”.  This is an anytime kind of pizza.  I would pick up a personal pan after I nailed a final, and I would pick up a personal pan after I failed a final.  Anytime I’m in Provo, I like to go back to this place.  Get a personal pan, and make it your own.
10. Pizza Hut (PUNE, INDIA) - Click on the link and take a look at the menu and you will know this isn’t your childhood Pizza Hut.  This place cracks the top ten for one reason.  I was in India and I hadn’t had familiar food in a week.  Don’t get me wrong, genuine Indian cuisine is incredible, but there’s something to be said for a familiar bread and a thick layer of mozzarella.  I was here with a friend, and our stomachs were churning with spices (and not in a good way).  When the pizza guy rode up on a tiny little motorcycle and handed us the manna from heaven, $2 US hardly seemed enough reward for his efforts.  He went home with a nice tip that night.