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Looks like a fantastic stuffed - do they deliver to Upstate New York?

I grew up in and around NYC, so that is where my primary pizza preference tends to fall, but I love New Haven and Chicago as well. I first tried Papa Ginos while vacationing on Cape Cod, and really enjoyed it. It doesn't hold up to a good NY or NH slice, obviously, but in my opinion, it is light years ahead of any national chain, and an equal to just about any regional chain I have tried (I do like Regina Pizzeria, noted above and Bertuccis, both also found in New England). Where I live now, near Albany, NY is essentially devoid of truly good pizza, and if there were a Papa Ginos here, it would certainly be my most visited pizza place, but there are no shops here anymore (there were a couple ten years or so ago).

Here is the bad news. Whenever my family and I are in Papa's region, we make sure to hit it up, even if it just to take some pies (and cheese breadsticks, which are excellent) home. The last two times we have done so we stopped at two different stores on the way home from Boston. The pizza and breadsticks were, to put it bluntly, terrible both times. If this is what we had experienced the first time we are at a one, I seriously doubt we would ever have gone back. It seemed like different pizza entirely, and normally their pizza is pretty comparable from store to store. What seemed to be different is a different dough, inferior to what I have previously seen, and maybe even more important, conveyer belt ovens instead of traditional pizza ovens. All the other Papas I have ever been in had purely traditional ovens, or the rotating ones (but still with heavy metal decks as cooking surfaces). I sincerely hope that this is not the beginning of some company wide changeover, because the product really sucked. Anybody seen/experienced this in the past 6 months or so?

True, but disturbing nonetheless! :)

George's was a required destination on our annual family vacations on Cape Cod. We must have started going there when it first opened if it has been around for 42 years; I'm 52 and remember being a kid going with m Dad to pick up some pies to bring back to the family. Not really a fan of Greek pizza, but their's was always pretty good.

Just scanning the thumbnails, my first reaction is that two disturbing trends continue. 1) Piling up more and more ridiculous things on a crust doesn't make it good, in fact it helps obscure whether the essential pie is any good. 2) I like art. Many of these "pizzas" are very artful, very pleasing to the eye. That has essentially nothing to do with the fundamental question, "Is this pizza any good?"

That is really, really good lookin' pizza!

I've followed all the pizza stone commentary in the series with some amusement, as I switched to using screens years ago, and have perfectly good, crispy crusts pretty much every time, without having to preheat the stone for an hour and then making the ever dangerous transfer. Don't get me wrong, I've got a wood fired fireplace with a cookstove where I cook pizza directly on the stone, and that is the best, but you can't always fire that up, so I use the screen in my regular oven most of the time.

http://www.tulikivi.com/mallisto/mallisto06/erikois_06/TTU2700_Special_cmyk.jpg

I find I just need to get the oven nice and hot (dial set at 500), and put the pizza on the lowest rack (but not the floor of the oven). I turn the convection fan on. I typically give the screen a spin during the cook, and may move it to the top rack if I'm not getting the browning I want. I like a thin crust usually, New Haven type, and that normally cooks in 8 minutes or less. If I am doing Sicilian or other thicker crust, I may turn the temp down a bit, maybe 450, and not use the convection fan.

DaveK - I loved Tree Tavern, they really were great (for frozen). The last time I had one, maybe 6 or 7 years ago, it had really gone downhill - very dissappointing. And I did used to add some olive oil and found that made it even better, still do that today to some pizzas. The Tree Taverns were far better than any of the expensive "gourmet" pizzas available today.

If you are used to good pizza, i.e., NYC and surrounding area, lower Connecticut, most of Jersey, Boston, Chicago, etc., don't believe anyone who tells you there is good pizza in the greater Albany, NY area. Obviously some is better than others, but I have lived in this barren desert for almost 20 years (formerly NYC and nearby) and have only found what I could rate as acceptable compared to what I grew up with. Crusts a major problem, sauce not far behind, inability to cook them properly also an issue. Its been a while since I've spent much time in the western part of the state, but my general observation is that the pizza was generally better than around Albany.

Pizza, definitely. Just one of the wonderful varieties to feast on! Personally, I don't think a NYC style slice is really pizza if you're going to pile on things like BBQ chicken, pineapple, etc. But if that is what YOU like, go for it. I keep it simple, dough, sauce, cheese. But I love it as a good NYC slice, love it even more as a New Haven slice, love it almost as much as a good Sicilian slice, and love it still as a Chicago slice.

In the NYC area, Tree Tavern brand used to be really good. I used to drizzle a little olive oil on, maybe some oregano...very good! The company sold out probably 10-15 years ago now and it went way downhill. That said, I may have to give it another try one of these days.

That is one mighty fine looking pizza!

I was at Columbia in the late 70s. V&T was decent, and a good place to go if others in the group wanted something other than pizza. But the pizza was nothing special. There were two better places on Broadway, both between about 110th. St and 113th., I think (memories from back then are a bit "hazy"). The place on the east side of Broadway was kind of live V&T - more of a restaurant/pizzeria, as opposed to just pizza. Their pizza was better than V&T, but again, not great. It was a little doughy, like V&T was back then. The place on the west side of Broadway was a small hole in the wall. It had a window that opened onto the street and they served through that, and a walk in area deep enough for 2-3 people deep to stand in, with a small ledge on the wall to put your slice on while you stood there. I don't remember stools or anything - they really just wanted you in and out. I don't have any recollection of what the name of the place was, but the pizza was fantastic - regular or sicilian, both were great. Unfortunately, the place is long gone. Anyone remember the name?