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I have just ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut. Hand-tossed crust (medium thickness), sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms, and black olives. This is not a plug for Pizza Hut, which I consider to make a mediocre product, but the convenience and cost is hard to pass up. So here’s the question: What are your favorite pizza toppings?

I think Sausage is the best. Pineapple is also good.
My wife always has to have Black Olives.

I spent some time as a pizza delivery guy (which gave me excellent skills for driving in crowded Central American countries). The place I worked for made ‘New York’ style pizza. The crust was raised for two days, tossed by hand, and cooked on a real stone with cornstarch rather than on a conveyor belt. The sauce was excellent with plenty of spices. These are some of the main qualities of a good pizza. If the sauce is good, there should be plenty of it.

There is also a good pizza from a place here in town called a White Pie – it has Olive Oil and Garlic Sauce, Ricotta, Mozzarella, and Romano Cheeses, Tomatoes, and Scallions. Very good. There are many good specialty pizzas out there, but for standard fare, I like Sausage.

Hmmm, well generally I go for a Hawaiian (ham and pineapple). Only reason I'd go to Pizza Hut is for their stuffed crusts... my other local pizza place does 2 for the price of 1 if you're collecting it yourself, and it's cheaper anyway

Having said that, the nicest pizza I ever had was in a little Italian restaurant in London last summer, and it was Crispy Aromatic Duck Pizza. Yum

I too have slaved at various pizza joints over the years as a peon, cook, delivery driver, cashier and every other job up to head honcho.

The best pizza is the hawaiian pizza: ham, bacon, pineapple smothered in loads of cheese on a pan crust.

Cornstarch is good.

I generally make my own but when eating out, extra cheese and extra pepperoni is what I order.

I like sausage and either mushrooms, onions, or olives. IMO too many toppings ruins a pizza. My father always taught me that the best pizza has crust, sauce and cheese and that's it. I still get it that way a lot and in some ways I think it's the best - you put some of that crushed red pepper or tabasco sauce on top and you're set

Oh no now I'm getting hungry.

Oddly enough, a topic on this very theme was one of my first when I joined SYM. Ah, cherished memories. Pardon me while I wipe away a tear or two.

There, that's better.

My favorite pizza probably has bacon on it, or bacon, ham and pineapple: the typical Hawaiian pizza. On the other hand, I'll eat nearly any standard topping except sausage, because I had a Pizza Hut one with sausage, once, and can still remember that queasy, oily flavor as if it were yesterday. In fact, after consuming that pizza I stuck a rag in my mouth and lit the end. It burnt for more than eight hours.

[ 11-09-2001: Message edited by: fable ]

bacon (breakfast bacon, not canadien) and pepperoni is the combo i usually get.
i also like mushrooms and of course as much cheese as you can pile on it.
papa john's gets my nod for best pizza(from a chain)

Oh, you poor poor people. Pizza Hut is not pizza. Papa Johns is not pizza. The only real pizza is in New York City, New Haven, or Hoboken.

Hmmm....N.Y. pizza bigotry? I thought you were better than that Dali

Originally posted by VoodooDali:
<STRONG>Oh, you poor poor people. Pizza Hut is not pizza. Papa Johns is not pizza. The only real pizza is in New York City, New Haven, or Hoboken.</STRONG>

There's a fine pizza place in Cherry Hill, called Vitarelli's. It's amazing, though, the number of substandard pizza joints you can find in Jersey. In fact, the very first one we visited actually pulled button mushrooms out of a can to apply to the pizza in front of our eyes.

@Georgi, HighLordDave (great name!), Fable: Hawaiian pizza is one of my favorites too, though most places usually substitute ham for the Canadian bacon. I've never considered having ham, pineapple, and regular bacon before - I'll have to give it a try!

@Jaker: A straight cheese pizza is probably the best way to compare pizzas. Excellence really shines through that way. Toppings, especially greasy ones line pepperoni and sausage, are good for covering inferior pizzas.

@Gruntboy: Making my own pizza is always a fun experiment in horrible flashbacks to my confused pre-pubescent youth. My pizzas always end up like Grade School cafeteria pizzas - thick, dry crust 2 inches thick with a thin, tomato-y sauce....

@VoodooDali: I always considered the New York-style pizza from the place I used to work as one of the best pizzas I had ever encountered. However, there was also a place in my hometown that specialized in Chicago-style pizza that was quite good.

Originally posted by fable:
<STRONG>Oddly enough, a topic on this very theme was one of my first when I joined SYM. Ah, cherished memories. Pardon me while I wipe away a tear or two.</STRONG>

Great minds think alike? Except... I'm just about 9 months behind you.

Um, you're not going to ban me for not running a search before posting this thread, are you?

I don't think I ever saw a Hawaiian pizza that had bacon on it. They tend to be ham and pineapple. Except aforementioned cheap pizza place, which puts mushrooms on theirs. Whatever. It's all good

BTW, the worst pizza topping ever has to be... anchovies. *shudder*

Someone please explain the difference between New York and Chicago style pizza?

@Gwally my homemade pizzas never work out very nice either... I've given up trying

Georgi: I even purchased a baking stone so I could cook the pizza right, and I still mess it up!

I'm not sure what makes a pizza 'New York' or 'Chicago' specifically. AFIK, New York seems to be basic pizza while Chicago is deep dish.

Anchovies. *sympathetic shudder*

Perhaps the good Ms. VoodooDali could explain the subtle qualities of a New York pizza. And then her evil clone, VoodooDolly, could explain about Chicago Pizza...

I'm working pizza delivery right now. Tips are great, but i nearly come to tears thinking of the torture i put my car through.

Mushrooms and jalapenos are great on pizza. And cheddar cheese is also a nice change every once in a while.

And as far as i'm concerned, Ham and Canadian Bacon are the same thing!

Best pizza place...i don't know. All i know is that i love pizza huts THIN AND CRISPY. That stuff is the bomb.

[ 11-10-2001: Message edited by: average joe ]

Originally posted by average joe:
<STRONG>All i know is that i love pizza huts THIN AND CRISPY. That stuff is the bomb.</STRONG>

No way! I like Pizza Hut for deep pan pizzas, but thin and crispy style pizzas are done so much better by a proper Italian restaurant, IMO

I'm with you, Joe, I'm not sure what the difference is between Canadian Bacon and Ham, except that Canadian Bacon tastes a little smokier...

Delivery does net good tips, especially during the Super Bowl, IIRC. Unfortunately, you are SOL, Joe, because the Cowboys have no chance of even getting into the playoffs! (j/k)

My wife likes the thin crust too. I can't see the purpose. I think a good crust is half the battle in a good pizza. Why make it thin? Besides, I never get full on thin crust, and it doesn't taste as good for breakfast the next day...

Chicago is known for deep dish pizza. New York pizza has been flat and crisp for years, perhaps even centuries. I remember chowing down on street corner pizza-by-the-slice in front of Rockefeller Center at Christmas time (huuuuge decorated tree each year) back in the mid-60s. Later, the street vendors changed from elderly Italians into young Arabs, who were selling falafel and pita bread. Nowadays, they've been banished altogether. Unhygenic, I know, but still--they're missed.

Still, the New York pizza from the place where I used to work wasn't nearly as thin as Pizza Hut's Thin and Crispy. Hand tossed dough has a different quality to something that has been pounded and rolled.

Originally posted by Georgi:
<STRONG>No way! I like Pizza Hut for deep pan pizzas, but thin and crispy style pizzas are done so much better by a proper Italian restaurant, IMO </STRONG>

Second the motion there.

As for Pizza Hut, it's Meatlovers for me with xtra cheese.

We've got a pizza chain in my country called Shakey's. Love the way they make their thin-crust pizza, lotsa meat, ONIONS, bell pepper, and of course xtra cheese.

OMG, I'm getting hungry already!