There is a wonderful pizza place down the road a bit here in Little Rock called Shotgun Dan's.
They use the cheese that is stringy and gooey when it melts.
They make a truly lovely pizza!
I don't believe they do delivery, though, and when you order your pizza you have about a 30-minute wait to munch on the salad bar while they make and cook your pizza.
Redwolf wrote:I've worked in a couple of fast-food places (including a pizza place) and the secret is advance preparation.
Bingo!
Living in Chicago you'd think we eat out or ordered pizzas all the time but no. (Actually, I think its only pizza parlor owners and tourists who rave about Chicago's pizzas.)
We were given a "pizza stone" as a wedding present and a bread machine the next year, the rest is history.
Once the dough is made and all the rest is chopped up it takes no time at all to put a decent pizza together. We usually bake the dough first then take it out and top it.
If we don't bury the cheese under other toppings its simply a quick melt at the very end.
We haven't made a pizza in months though. I don't think I've "fired up" the oven or stove once these past couple of months. We've been experimenting in the Vita-mix all summer.
Redwolf wrote:I've worked in a couple of fast-food places (including a pizza place) and the secret is advance preparation.
That's always been the secret, but p[izza making hasn't always been this fast. In recent years the process suddenly got faster, particularly with the larger chains. The switch I'm talking about are what changed.
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')
I grew up in the Pizza Triangle in Connecticut, where the sauce is homemade and the cheese is full-fat mozarella, which melts very easily. The pies are individually made, and usually arrive 15-20 minutes after ordering. As Nano said, the key is the brick oven. These cook at about 800 F. I cook my pizza at 450 and it takes 15-20 minutes depending on how thick the crust is and how many toppings are on it. At 800 degrees they cook about twice as fast, which means it takes 7-10 minutes. As Red said, they're prepared -- the ingredients are all cut up ahead of time, the dough has been rising all day (or since the night before if it's lunch) and is divided, the sauce is cooked and always the right consistency. And the people in the joints REALLY know what they're doing -- usually people just tossing dough, and others assembling the pies -- so they do it fast.
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We used to live on an unmarked gravel alley in downtown Hurricane, WV. This was the only gravel alley in downtown Hurricane. City Hall was our next door neighbor. We used to get so many pizzas for free because new drivers couldn't find our home. I think they taught every new driver how to get to our home as part of their orientation because after we finally had to pay for a pizza, we never got a free pizza again.
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peeplj wrote:There is a wonderful pizza place down the road a bit here in Little Rock called Shotgun Dan's.
They use the cheese that is stringy and gooey when it melts.
They make a truly lovely pizza!
I don't believe they do delivery, though, and when you order your pizza you have about a 30-minute wait to munch on the salad bar while they make and cook your pizza.
It's well worth the wait.
--James
We've got a place like that too. Local folks, everything homemade, all kinds of ingredients you can't get at regular places. They don't deliver (they used to, but it got to be too expensive), but you can call in for carryout, or to advance order for eating in. If you're ever in Felton, CA, Redwood Pizza is the only place to go!
Redwolf
Redwolf
...agus déanfaidh mé do mholadh ar an gcruit a Dhia, a Dhia liom!
our "local" pizza parlor is part of a city chain (LaRosa), but Bruce, the manager, goes the extra step to get to know his regular customers.
When he found out Nate is allergic to milk, he told me to always tell him or his employees which pizza is for Nate (we always ordered him a small one with no cheese) and they add extra toppings and make doubly sure that all clean utensils are used on it (no carryover).
Their "normal" way to cut pizza is in squares, which is a sin to Tom, so they always cut ours pie shaped.
We never have it delivered, however, we go pick it up so we can talk to the employees in the restaurant. They also give us pizza and drinks for free when we are walking Citizens on Patrol. Of course, we also get free drinks from BaCall's (burger and bar place) and the College Hill Coffee Company when we are walking - hot chocolate on a cold snowy night is wonderful!
I have a Papa Johns just up the road. I can call them with a pickup order,
put on my shoes and drive there and it will be ready about the time I've
paid. Elapsed time, about 10 minutes. The only time this doesn't work is
when they accidentally mark it for delivery (and my pizza just passed me
on the way to my house).
I've watched them make the pizzas. It's an assembly line. The dough is
made by one dude*, the sauce ladled by another, the cheese spread by
yet another, and the toppings put on by the only person on the line who
is required to read. The oven is a conveyor belt kinda job. They box the
pizzas as they slide out of the oven. It's an operation built for speed.
* of course, by "dude" I mean "perpetually-baked person of any sex"
(just kidding, Papa Johns. I know you guys are always totally sober.)
There is an excellent pizza parlor near my house called Johnny's . It's about as good as great pizza gets and I would know. I walk in and order to go all the time. It's about a 15 - 20 minute wait. No big deal. The oven is hot as hell that's all. A thin pizza crust isn't much insulation against that burning hot slab for all the toppings. It's not really all that surprising.
S1mon: here's what Papajohn says about their cheese on their website:
Our signature cheese, exclusive to Papa John’s, is crafted from 100% mozzarella and high-quality milk by one of America’s finest cheese producers. It’s mild and delicate, yet full-bodied in flavor.
It's definitely not powdered but like a lot of chain stores the cheese is in small chunks rather than shreds. It is easier to control portion size that way and I'll bet it melts a little faster too.
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Flying Pie. Portland, Oregon. If there's a better pizza out there, I would have to taste it to believe it. You guys are making me think it's about time for a road trip...
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WyoBadger wrote:Flying Pie. Portland, Oregon. If there's a better pizza out there, I would have to taste it to believe it. You guys are making me think it's about time for a road trip...
WyoBadger wrote:Flying Pie. Portland, Oregon. If there's a better pizza out there, I would have to taste it to believe it. You guys are making me think it's about time for a road trip...
Sorry guys, that stuff ain't pizza.
The first time I tried Dominoes I spit it out, and Papa John's isn't much better.
The further you get from Brooklyn the worse the pizza gets.
