The only good chain pizza I have ever had is Donatos. Everything else on the menu is terrible: sandwiches, salads, wings, ciabattas, thick crust pizza. But the thin crust pizza more than makes up for it. Pizza as good as a lot of places in Brooklyn and NJ.
Unfortunately, Donatos is only available in Ohio, Alabama, Northern Kentucky, Indianapolis, and Orlando. But if you ever want to experience the best pizza in fly over country, this is it.
laemtandrew: You're joking right? "MVP" and "Second String" are not pizzerias. They're the descriptions of ... oh, never mind. AGH.
Ok, where is MVP pizza and Second String??? I've tried to google these pizza joints. If there is going to be throwdown and recommend these places, put the @#$!&*$@@@!!# address and location so people can order one, DUH!
I spent 20 years plus running around the country in the military. I've had pizza around the country. NYC, Chicago, Old Forge style, every chain there is, and my personal favorite, Erie pizza.
There's a lot to be said for pizza you grow up with. I'm from Erie, PA and our pizza, especially the crust, is quite unique. They usually use par-baked shells that are somewhere between thin and thick crust. I know it sounds sacreligious, but I've never had better. The ovens are seasoned from high use and they add a nice char taste to the bottom. The sauce is spicy and plentiful, and they have an enticing aroma that hits you as soon as you walk in the door.
I live in California for now (0 good pizzas in this state), but I was just home a couple of weeks ago, and I can't get over how much I love Erie pizza. Erie's such a small town that I don't expect our food to reach much of an audience, but if you ever travel through, try Patti's, Skipperino's, Valerio's, Serafini's, Presque Isle, or one of the other mom and pop places.
We had a Domino's in the heart of downtown Erie, but it went out of business. For a town of around 100K there are more mom and pop pizza joints than any other food, Erie's a great wing town too. Like NYC, Erieite's take their pizza seriously. Before you laugh, think about it, not one Domino's. I don't have anything against Domino's other than the fact that I dislike their food.
Yes, we're more famous for Brian Wells, the "Pizza Bomber", but Mama Mia's where he worked is a great shop as well.
Donato's is the biggest chain in Cincinnati. The quality of their toppings is very good, but sorry, that "cracker" crust is a big turn off to me. NY style fresh dough is great, but that's not what Donato's is. Tasty pizza due primarily to the quality toppings, but lousy crust in my opinion. They cut their round pies in to whacky squares too. I don't care for that either.
The comments about St Louis and about people that moved to NY are probably accurate. If you grew up with a certain style like I did, you tend to remember it fondly. As far as I'm concerned, all of the chains are abhorrent, and just support your local establishments.
On the west coast is a bake-at-home chain called Papa Murphy's. For our household it was the only tolerable cheapy crap pizza, made more tolerable by being able to pick up the unbaked pizzas and then refrigerate them until we were drunk enough to bake them.
Anyway, Murphy's had what they called "garlic sauce," a cream sauce not unlike alfredo. A friend tipped us off one day to order "pink sauce," or have them mix the garlic and traditional tomato together and I have to say it was rather brilliant, particularly when ordering a pie with a lot of vegetables on it. Makes me wonder if Papa John's will do the same thing.
Oh, and I live in Donato's country right now and I vote no. No Donato's.
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