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They're Ba-ack! 'Top Chef' Gets Windy
Okay, as a Chicagoan, I have to take issue with the chefs eating at Pizzeria Uno. Of all the fantastic pizza joints in this town, the powers that be at Bravo pick Pizzeria Uno?
On a more positive note, Tony Bourdain was amusing as usual.
David Lebovitz's Candied Bacon Ice Cream
This actually looks strangely good.
I never knew ____ could be so complicated!
For me it is rice - it seems so simple, but I always seem to end up with overly dry rice or it is underdone. Good thing I have a rice cooker now - it makes perfect rice every time!
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Recent Comments | Response to Comments
SE users: please introduce yourselves.
I'm Jacqueline a.k.a. Jazspin (a nickname based on my initials that I use on a bunch of sites) and I'm a freelance writer based in Chicago. I'm not the greatest cook, but I've learned a ton thanks to Serious Eats (and other sites) and of course, I love taking advantage of all the delicious eats Chicago has to offer.
They're Ba-ack! 'Top Chef' Gets Windy
Okay, as a Chicagoan, I have to take issue with the chefs eating at Pizzeria Uno. Of all the fantastic pizza joints in this town, the powers that be at Bravo pick Pizzeria Uno?
On a more positive note, Tony Bourdain was amusing as usual.
David Lebovitz's Candied Bacon Ice Cream
This actually looks strangely good.
I never knew ____ could be so complicated!
For me it is rice - it seems so simple, but I always seem to end up with overly dry rice or it is underdone. Good thing I have a rice cooker now - it makes perfect rice every time!
Stately Scoops: What Ice Cream Flavor Represents Your State?
I think my home state of Michigan could be Mackinaw Island fudge, although I'm not sure what my current state of residence, Illinois, should have.
All About Andalusian Goat Cheese
This is interesting - I'll be in southern Spain soon, I'll have to try some!
Depression / Eating
Everyone is offering such good advice. Good luck from someone who's been there - and I've always found that citrusy things helped a lot (eating the fruit, drinking the juice, or even dishes or salads that have a lot of citrus in them). Maybe the rays of sunshine come through in the fruit!
Photo of the Day: Mshalalé Cheese
That looks amazing!
What SMELLS better than it tastes?
Coffee seems to be a common one - and although I love the taste of coffee, the smell is even better. I usually think pumpkin pie falls into this category too, although I have had a few amazing pies.
Baking with Dorie: A Seriously Chocolaty Cake
Ooh, that cake looks amazing and decadent.
About the sub - I've used coffee or better yet, espresso, as a sub for both bourbon and rum in similar dishes, so I think that would work well. Besides, coffee goes wonderfully with rich chocolate.
Guinness Beer Options: Looking for Something Similar
Beamish is an awesome beer - similar to Guinness, but a little sweeter and more chocolatey. Another favorite of mine is Shakespeare Stout - it even made 3Luxe's top three beers!
Link: http://www.3luxe.com/best_ofs/Beer/Shakespeare_Stout
Also, finding some local microbrews would be a good idea as well - and trying all the different beers is just fun! I know that most bars that carry a wide variety of beers in Chicago (where I live) have "tasting menus", where you can try two or three ounces of a bunch of different kinds of beer. It's a good way to sample new styles.
Challenge: Dinner Party for Picky Eaters
Oh, so many of you are more patient people than me - I'd go with a restaurant. Barring that, some kind of potluck or a make-your-pizza or salad bar.
I do really like the kebab idea that has posted though - it is pretty unique, and you could a whole Middle-Eastern theme, from appetizers and dessert to decor and music.
A List of Regional Pizza Styles
I'm glad you included some Detroit-style pizza! If anyone here has ever been to Buddy's (a small chain of pizzerias in the Detroit metro area), their pies are the perfect example of this style.
David Lebovitz's Candied Bacon Ice Cream
I am a bacon lover and I have always wondered about bacon ice cream. As a home economics teacher I will definately be using this recipe.
A List of Regional Pizza Styles
This is an awesome page. My comment though is related to the DC jumbo slice. I can confirm that this is the appropriate style for this region as I have spent much time over the years in DC. Their slices at many pizzerias are the size of two average slices. They make a killing off of selling them to the college students. If a 16 inch pie normally has 8 slices, a DC pizza has 4.
Blog Pizza
A List of Regional Pizza Styles
I grew up outside of East Liverpool Ohio, I never realized that pizza was made any other way until I moved to college. Bruno's pizza was a friday staple growing up, so much that now when I go home to visit my parents, my mother always picks up a tray. The best part if Ohio River Valley Pizza, is that it tastes just as good the next day out of the fridge! Home pizza in St. Clairsville is VERY good as well. I live in Columbus now, and the pizza just doesn't get to that level, but there is a DiCarlo's off of 256 in Pickerington, although I have not had it.
If anybody passes through Athens Ohio, Goodfella's pizza is a must. They sell by the slice, and it is close to Ohio Valley style, but they use a much thicker sauce. It was perfect after a night uptown at the bars.
A List of Regional Pizza Styles
I just read comment above...(tomdobb)I didn't eat pizza when i came to Columbus but in Canton, Ohio u will get authentic Italian pizza made by the best owned italian family restaurants.
A List of Regional Pizza Styles
Ohio pizza is the best....They actually have some really good pizza places there...The problem that i have is....i'm not there anymore =(....I'm in San antonio,Tx and there is one good pizza place [[Pizzabella]].They have the jumbo thin crust pizza...Its good but nothing like Canton Ohio's Papa Bears Pizza Oven , Wacos Pizza, East of Chicago,Napolians,So many different styles of pizza. And they don't have it in the south =(....
Baking with Dorie: A Seriously Chocolaty Cake
Just wanted to second some of the folks who had problems. I'm an experienced baker. I've made a fallen chocolate souffle cake for years, but thought I'd try something new as my party pleaser.
Had the same problem as most. Baked for 30 minutes, and the middle was 'molten'. Poured back into the pan with relatively little damage, baked for at least another 30 minutes then unmolded. It's sitting in a fudgy puddle on my counter. It certainly tastes fabulous, but I can't serve it to the judging masses.
What went wrong?!
Possibilities:
1) Mistakenly boiled the whole 1 1/3 c sugar with the bourbon to start. So I only added a few tbsp of sugar to the eggs.
2) I noticed that the chocolate had nearly completely cooled half way through the first stick of butter. It took at least 10 minutes to incorporate all of the butter.
Could these be the culprit(s)?
Thanks all!
A List of Regional Pizza Styles
There's a mouthwatering style of white pizza which seems to be peculiar to McKees Rocks, PA, just outside Pittsburgh -- I know I've never seen it prepared this way anywhere else and I eat a lot of pie, dude. I believe it originated at Mama Lena's (now Mama Mia's) and has been cloned by former employees at another shop down the street called Doughboys (which is cheaper & maybe even better, IMHO). I've never seen one prepared from start to finish, but here's my best guess as to the general idea: a medium-thickness pizza crust is brushed with olive oil & perhaps garlic or other spices and partially baked, then removed to add a light layer of some kind of white shredded cheese (don't think it's mozz), then baked again until done. The hot pie is then topped with a room-temperature prepared mixture of diced tomatoes, minced garlic, finely chopped onion & basil and olive oil and sprinkled with more shredded cheese. The pie partially melts the additional cheese and warms the topping mixture up to the perfect temperature while preserving the flavor & freshness of the ingredients. On every other white pizza I've had the tomatoes & other ingredients are baked along with the crust which dries them out. This stuff is almost like a big round bruschetta. I'm no longer in the 'burgh, but I might have just talked myself into driving 3 hours each way to get one right now -- it's that good.
A List of Regional Pizza Styles
I came to Columbus Ohio from central NJ, and have long taken issue with the Pizza here. It seems to be the product of gluttony over good sense. Round pies are cut into square pieces.because you can not lard a pizza with all the cheep ingredients, low grade cheese, greasy pepperoni, fatty sausage, and rivers of sugary sauce, that are considered necessary here, and serve it any other way than two inch square bites. When I want good pizza in central Ohio, I make it myself. In summer, I use a pizza stone on a charcoal grill, in winter I use my 550 degree oven, and follow the directions for Neapolitan, above.
A List of Regional Pizza Styles
I have no idea what cloyd42 is talking about. Vince the Pizza Prince is neither long gone nor do they make Old Forge style pizza. Vince's signature pizza is round and covered with almost-burned cheese. They are still open in Scranton in the same location they've always been.
A List of Regional Pizza Styles
andy stoops - I think Vincents is gone. You're talking about the place on Penn Ave, right? Yeah, that's Spak Bros. now. It's relatively new, and I haven't been there, but I've heard good things (they do all local/organic stuff, and have vegetarian and vegan offerings).
I never realized that Pittsburgh had sweeter sauce than other parts of the country. I would like to add that it's not just sweet, but usually well seasoned (at least the good ones are), sometimes a little kick to them. There are soooo many pizza places in town, and they're all different, but I haven't encountered any that aren't good. You can always find one that's right for you - the right taste to the sauce, texture to the dough, quantity of toppings. My personal favorite is Rialto's over in Greenfield (although I haven't been there in a few years).
Mineo's seems to be our most famous, but yeah, a bit overrated. Adam, if you make it to Pittsburgh, just order a slice from Mineos, NOT the whole pie. The slices are actually twice baked, which makes them way better.
I also think this is probably fairly local - the pierogie pizza. I refuse to try it, but a lot of local places have some variance of a pierogie pizza, because Pittsburgers seem to think that they invented the pierogie. A pierogie pizza will have mashed potatoes, onions and cheese.
A List of Regional Pizza Styles
I wanted to chime in on the ongoing New England pizza discussion.
Papa Ginos is somewhat similar to the mom-and-pop stuff, but it's different in a few key ways: 'Ginos has a thinner crust than most local places, and it's less (!) greasy.
Thinking back to the local non-chain pizza of my northeast Connecticut youth, the distinguishing characteristics are a firm-but-not-crisp, doughy bottom, sometimes tending towards rubbery, and the use of cheap manufactured mozz, typically very oily. It tended to be the sort of pizza that, if you were eating a slice and folded it, you could pretty much squeeze several tablespoons of orange grease out of it. The crust tends to be crisp on the outside and soft inside, sometimes a little bready.
And the pizza places, almost always "[town name] Pizza" or [town name] House of Pizza", were uniformly owned by Greek families. (I never quite worked out why...but it was always faux-Italian food, pizza, and good Greek stuff on the menu.) I'm not sure if that's still as much the case now as it was 20 years ago, though.
Some places in New England seem to do the square-cut thing, which I think is truly blasphemous, while others pie cut. I've never been able to figure out a regional variation to this. It's just a weird individual preference of the restaurant owner, I think.
Why nobody in New England, at least north of New Haven, seems to be able to produce a decent NY-style thin-crust, I've no idea. Maybe it's the water.
My personal recommendation, if you wanted to "experience" a representative sample of New England-style pizza, would be to try Willington House of Pizza in Willington, CT. Although they have a menu that's more diverse than average, it covers pretty much everything I remember from all the local places I went as a kid.
A List of Regional Pizza Styles
There are 3 kinds of pizza: Good, Better and Best. You be your own judge.
A List of Regional Pizza Styles
One more vote for Buffalo style. I've yet to find anything like it in DC, Virginia, California or Washington state. I have some shipped to me every year from Imperial. Carbones on South Park was also a favorite.
A List of Regional Pizza Styles
Here's a working URL to the DC jumbo slice lore article:
A List of Regional Pizza Styles
i still have a soft spot for papa gino's, it's the only chain pizza i like. the only problem i've ever had with it is that they never used to peel the tomatoes so i would always end up with some in my teeth. not sure if that's changed since i haven't been there in a few years.
A List of Regional Pizza Styles
For those in New England, what about Papa Gino's? Yeh it's a chain, but it's essentially the blueprint for east coast pizza - thin crust, thin layer of cheese that melds perfectly with the somewhat sweet sauce. And on a "side note", two friends and I created http://www.slicefinder.com for just these debates. Pardon the plug, but seems relevant here.
A List of Regional Pizza Styles
Ohio Valley Style. This native NY-er and sister of a Bronx Pizza Guy went to school in Steubenville, OH for a couple of years and tried Iggy's (the photo in the Mine Road Blog) exactly ONCE. I couldn't get my taste buds around it. I ordered from Domino's from then on in. There was a good midwestern style place in the Steubenville Mall that I've forgotten the name of (this was the early 90's.) I'm open to regional pizza variations (unlike my aforementioned Pizza Time Bro), but this did not work for me.
The calzones I had in Steubenville on the other hand, were a revelation. They were very, very good. Sauce inside? Sauce outside? Yum.
A List of Regional Pizza Styles
I gotta add a vote for Upstate NY Style - I grew up in Buffalo, went to school near Rochester. I now live in Florida.
Buffalo style pizza as pointed out is a thicker crust, not greasy, often a little doughy but crisp on the bottom. TONS of cheese... and almost always the peperroni is loaded on, smaller in diameter than most, but always with crisp edges on the pepperoni. Bocce is a great example of this.. but almost any roadside pizzeria in Buffalo has this formula.
Living in Florida, I am sick and tired of every kind of pizza place offering only "NY Style" pizza. Big thin floppy slices that taste like cardboard... I never understood the appeal of that. They taste especially crappy the next day cold... and cold pizza should be one of the BEST ways to eat pizza ;)
The more I think about it, I need to open a Bocce-style pizzeria in Orlando...
A List of Regional Pizza Styles
The Maryland style pizza mentioned before is from chains like: Ledo's, Stained Glass Pub, Corner Pub, Gentleman Jim's, T.J. Elliots, and Pizza Oven. Characterized by rectangular sheet pans, and pizza with a very thin crumbly buttery bisquit style crust. Sweet sauce and cheese is usually provelone but not always.
A List of Regional Pizza Styles
Yeah the Upstate style!!! The best is Brandani's on W.Henrietta rd. on Rochester. Pontillos does a nice job for a chain. Columbini's in Chili makes a good one and they have a bakery,so you grab some canoli too.
A List of Regional Pizza Styles
Aha!
St. Louis Style all the way! Ok, my opinion maybe, but I love it! A close second for me is Chicago deep dish from Lou Malnatti's.... Heavenly!
SE users: please introduce yourselves.
I'm lamora and I live in the Central Valley of California. Half British, half Latina (air force brat). I spent most of my early years in England, until transferring back to the states when I was 17. I married a latino, who had never had anything but straight mexican foods, birria, tacos de cesos ( don't make me tell you what that is) and believe me, our first date dinner of roast beef, mash, brussels & gravy (which I cooked) was washed over with a slurp of his smuggled in hot sauce!!! I was mortified...but you know what...22 years later, he has grown to appreciate different foods. I am from a family of 8 and while in English school, took cookery lessons since age 9. We grew up cooking homey, hearty meals for the family and there are quite a few "twists" on the food my Brit mum tried to make for my dad back in the States...Chile on top of mashed potatoes!! (try it, it's delish!!) Anyway...I love this blog and hope to get to know you all!!!!
A List of Regional Pizza Styles
Utica Style: No cheese
A List of Regional Pizza Styles
what the hell? where is dayton styled pizza? that is a glaring omission. it's ohio's own unique pizza style.
basically it's very, very thin round pizza, but cut into tiny squares. they use moz and the toppings go all the way to the edge. often to keep the pie from sticking the bottom it is salt crusted (rather than cornmeal or flour), which really gives it a great taste.
i think of it as extremely addictive party pizza.
the city of dayton, ohio has many individual outlets and chainlets. the biggest chainlets are cassanos:
http://www.cassanos.com/
and marions:
http://www.marionspizza.com/
a marion's pizza photo:
http://l.yimg.com/g/images/spaceball.gif
also, donato's of columbus, oh....recently bought and owned by freakin mcdonalds for awhile (!!!) is yet another version of dayton-style pizza:
http://www.donatos.com/
my gawd, you guys really blew it by mentioning nebulous ohio valley and leaving this truly and extremely unique and locally popular ohio style off your list. i am hoping maybe you were just confused and really meant dayton-style pizza?
David Lebovitz's Candied Bacon Ice Cream
I made this decadent treat and added a little espresso to the custard mix for a coffee flavored treat with bacon highlights. People eating it could not believe that bacon was an ingredient, let alone the fantastic flavor explosion it imparted.
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About jazspin
Website: http://jacquelinezenn.wordpress.com
Location: Chicago
About: I'm a freelance writer, blogger, and web consultant who lives in Chicago - and makes it a habit to sample the best the city has to offer.
Favorite foods: I'm a huge fan of anything that includes cheese, salsa, and chilies! Otherwise, I tend to be a fan of savory over sweet.
Last bite on earth: A rare hamburger with good cheddar, grilled onions, and bacon, with a side of frites with garlic aioli and washed down with some good Belgian beer.
I'm Jacqueline a.k.a. Jazspin (a nickname based on my initials that I use on a bunch of sites) and I'm a freelance writer based in Chicago. I'm not the greatest cook, but I've learned a ton thanks to Serious Eats (and other sites) and of course, I love taking advantage of all the delicious eats Chicago has to offer.