wine food yum

we just got back from chicago - known for its deep dish pizza, and so i thought it would be appropriate to write a quick post on pizza :)

i've come to wonder why (as is my job as a philosophy grad) it is that meet-and-greet group games often force you to answer such absolute questions like "what is your favourite food?" - when it's obviously a completely unfair question - but one that requires an answer to which your new-found-friends (whose names you've forgotten by the time it's your turn) will forever judge you, if you ever see them again (and don't pretend that you don't see them because you don't remember their names).

the following "why" question to my first "why" question is - why is it that "pizza" is always the default answer? you'd think it might be chicken. and why is pizza always the default food for serving the masses? i'd argue that i'm not sure it deserves to be held in such high recognition :\

thus, here are my "confessions" to my rather new-found realization that i've begun to have quite particular and strong feelings against pizza.

now, this wasn't always so. there was a time, i'd beg my dad to let us order pizza for a midnight snack. he'd order it from pizza pizza over the phone and we'd go pick it up, piping hot from the oven, extra cheese and all. three whole pieces and most of the crust would be gone by the time we got home.

but it seems that 10-15 years ago, the caliber of pizza coming from pizza pizza chains was 10x better than it is today. it just doesn't cut it for me anymore, even when it's piping hot from the oven.

i think that with the age of dipping sauces, stuffed crusts, salads, and chicken wings at the pizza parlour, came a long downhill slide of quality in many pizza shops, sadly.







panago pizza - is the sworn favourite of all westcoast and vancouver-ites. i have yet to see what the big deal is about, i find that panago's crust is often soggy and rather doughy. i'd put it on the same level with pizza pizza.

2-4-1 pizza, domino's pizza, pizza hut - can you even call this pizza? it's either flat and oozing with oil and waxy cheese - or see-through at the bottom from all the oil that's seeped through its super crusty crust that's trying to be a deep dish pizza.

mama's pizza - is probably the best take-out pizza i've found so far (of easy access in toronto) that appeases my taste at the moment: variety, good ingredients, thin crust - and a glorious pesto, sundried tomatoes, feta pizza.

as for the chicago deep dish pizza - we had a quick lunch at pizzeria uno's sister resto, pizzeria due, just around the corner a hop and skip away from the "magnificent mile" on michigan ave.

although i have an aversion of deep dish pizza, our bbq chicken deep dish was a great balance of enough dough to make a deep dish, yummy toppings, crunchiness, not too much seeping oil, without having soggy slices.

it was a nice surprise :) but i'm not sure if it has re-kindled my faith in pizza.