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Seems to be a "Hot Choice" machine with a Tombstone ad insert in the front. The site is http://www.hotchoice.com/index.html but TBH it really looks like some nasty stuff. Plus the 'pizza' only weighs 4.1 ounces, can't be very filling. I've got a call in to Dave at KRh Thermal in regards to locating a machine in NYC, I'll update when he calls back.

Bacon cheeseburger, mushrooms, extra cheese. Regular fries, please.

I knew she was too obnoxious to stay off TV. I just cracked up laughing when I saw that Romulan comment as well, then I saw who it was from. Figures ;)

I agree, the Manchester Pepe's stinks. I've never had the original, but I can't imagine it would be at all successful if it makes pies like the branch I tried. I went on a Tuesday night around 8pm, and called in my order ahead of time because I thought there would be a huge line, being only about a month after they opened.

Boy was I wrong.

Only 3 or so tables were occupied, and there were a couple of people waiting for takeout. After finally being getting the counterperson's attention (sweeping around the register took precedence over me) I was able to pick up the pizza I'd been staring at for a few minutes sitting a couple feet away, slowly losing it's lifeforce. Blah. Overcooked cheese with an undercooked, way too salty crust. No char at all.

I'd give them a second shot but I don't work in Manchester anymore and with Harrys (both West Hartford Center and Bishop's Corner) around, who needs mediocre pizza at high prices? Not me. I have a feeling this is just the beginning of the end for Pepe..

(quote)@ratbuddy. Awww, thanks. That, too, means a lot. This post lured out a lurker! ;) I'd love to do a Hartford-area crawl. That would be a bit more involved, with car rental and such. Would have to really plan that one out. What would you recommend up there?(end quote)

Asides from the usual suspects in New Haven (Pepe, Sally's, Modern) there are some great pies a bit north in the Hartford area. A couple locally famous favorites include Harry's (2 locations, not related, both awesome) and Luna (not my thing but many people like it.)

First and Last Tavern in Hartford makes an awesome pie, as does Vegas Blvd on Sisson Ave.

There is also a great style of pizza up here that I don't see often on Slice called 'greek pizza' which has nothing to do with olives, spinach, and feta. It's a pan-cooked medium crust pizza that's cut in squares. My all time favorite closed a year or two ago, Pizza West in West Hartford, but there are still some great examples around. Park Lane Pizza in W. Hartford, Riverbend in Southington, Master Pizza in Avon, Apollo's in Simsbury, and a few others that slip my mind.

A bit further up I-84 is Ellington Pizza, also locally famous for their red potato pie. I haven't tried it yet, but I've never heard a bad comment on it.

That's only scratching the surface of the more well known places, but I better stop at that since I'm starting to get a serious craving for pizza from about 6 different places! Connecticut really does have a great wealth of very good pizza places, and there just aren't enough meals in the day to sample them as much as I'd like ;)

@wgf911 Your last name wouldn't happen to be Pepe, would it?

Ciao,

Paulie Gee

"Hot Choice" Tombstone Deep Dish Pepperoni Pizza

Submitted by Robert Moor

Visiting my old alma mater last week, I was drawn like a gluttonous moth to a vending machine reading "Tombstone Pizza." Yes, pizza from a vending machine. I stood, perplexed, imagining the birth of warm pizza from this cold mechanical womb. An undergrad strolled by and chuckled, obviously familiar with this pitiable sight. "Have you tried it?" I asked. "It sucks. No one even bothers," she responded. With that, of course, my mind was set. I would do what no one else had the heart to do—I would venture into the future.

After some deliberation, I opted for the pepperoni pizza, choosing it over other, less traditional choices such as chicken fingers, barbecue chicken pizza, or a warm Oreo brownie. I fed it my three dollars (!) and eagerly watched the baking process on a small digital screen.

The result? One minute later, the machine spit out a small cardboard package, which it warned would be "Very Hot." Inside was a hot (not very hot) "pizza" about the size of a video iPod. Approximately 75 percent of this tawdry square was composed of dough, which was thick, salty, and tasted something like baked Silly Putty. The bright-red pepperonis were tiny, faintly reminiscent of Bacos ("MADE WITH PORK, CHICKEN, AND BEEF," the package proudly proclaimed), and actually more numerous than the shreds of cheese by a ratio of 2-to-1. Needless to say, I devoured it in a matter of seconds.

After one bite, I understood the undergrad's grave warning. Never eat pizza from a machine. It's like making love to a Terminator: almost satisfying, but slightly creepy, and there's always the possibility that it will collapse your chest cavity with one fatal blow. Thank you, Tombstone, but I'll take my pizza the way it was meant to be prepared: baked lovingly by burnt-out hippies and their disgruntled, overweight, mustachioed Italian managers. Or underpaid illegal immigrants. Whichever.

(i shamelessly copy-pasted this from http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/newfood/. internet faux pas?)

I'm with the National Automatic Merchandising Association. If you're interested in fun vending machines go over to ww.CoolVending.biz. There are a variety of different machines, some history and "The Secret Life of Vending Machines."

Adam, If you're interested in attending the vending expo in October, let me know.

I'm 100% certain that there used to be one in the Union Square movie theater (Regal), on the second floor by a bunch of other vending machines; less certain whether it's there today, though I just saw a movie there a few weeks ago.

OK the guy from the manufacturer just called back. There's a machine at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, 585 Schenectady in Brooklyn. He wasn't sure where exactly but it shouldn't be too hard to find.