Pizza Places, What is Your Measuring Stick?

I like the toppings. Old pepperoni is my favorite. Slightly well done and spread out evenly. Second, the crust slightly crunchy with garlic butter and parmesan cheese.
 
Most of the pizza I eat, I make at home. When I do get pizza out. It's rarely from a national chain, usually from a local chain or single location.

I'm devoted to pizza, so in that respect, I don't have a preference for one style over the other. I love NY style, Sicilian, Grandma, Detroit style, a Philly tomato pie, New Haven style, Quad Cities style, Greek style, cracker crust, St. Louis style, Chicago deep dish, Chicago thin, Chicago stuffed...it's all good!

I do like my toppings fairly traditional, so I stay away from California style. :)

As long as the ingredients are good and it's prepared competently, I'm happy. If it's a thin crust, it's got to go light on the toppings or it'll end up in your lap, and if it's thick, then I want a load of sauce on it and more on the side.

I also don't like a variety of toppings all at once. Three is about my max. Frequently, when I make pizza at home, I'll top it in quarters, like one quarter will be pepperoni and sausage, another quarter will be plain cheese, another quarter will be peppers and onion, and the last quarter will be bacon, so it's like four pizzas in one.
 
NY style, Sicilian, Grandma, Detroit style, a Philly tomato pie, New Haven style, Quad Cities style, Greek style, cracker crust, St. Louis style, Chicago deep dish, Chicago thin, Chicago stuffed...it's all good!

Most of these I don't know - we don't have these named varieties in the UK. So what is a Grandma?
 
@morning glory - Detroit style pizza does a similar thing with the sauce. I love all pizza styles, just like a mama loves all her kids (except for California style pizza - that's the kid you leave on the doorstep of the nunnery :) ), but if I had to pick one pizza style to have for the rest of my life and exclude all others, it'd be Detroit style.
 
Pepperoni, then sauce, then crust.

We stopped going to a local brewery because they changed their pepperoni. They used to use the small pepperonis that would curl up when cooked.........mmmmmm, then they changed it to the standard chain pizza pepperoni. I inquired as to why. They basically said it was cheaper (without actually saying that). We never went back.
 
@detroitdad - I'm ok with either pepperoni, as long as it's quality and as long as it's appropriate for that style of pizza.

If I use the really thin pre-sliced pepperoni at home, it's going to be on a thin crust or a NY style. I also like to nuke it for about a minute to render out a bit of the grease.

But if it's a thicker crust, I want it to be thick-sliced, off the stick, and in a natural casing. That's what causes the curl and gives those lovely little cups of grease.
 
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@morning glory - Google's ok, but to me, the point of a forum is to talk and share back and forth. That way, you get a little more personal (dare I say, biased) input. :)

Anyway, where some styles depend on the dough recipe or the finished crust, and some styles depend on a type of cheese, and some styles depend on the preparation, and some styles depend on all that, California style kind of does away with all that and just focuses on toppings.

On a California pie...you want hummus on a pizza...put hummus on there! You want corn and prawns, roasted beets, charred lettuce and fruit salsa ...put it on there! Anything goes! The less traditional, the better!

I've always been of the opinion that there's good food and bad food, and that it doesn't pay to get caught up in some kind of militant authenticity exercise, but at some point, that stops being pizza and just becomes "flatbread with stuff on it." It's total chaos!

As I said earlier, my own tastes are pretty simple, so when I look at a pizza with cabbage, hazelnuts, and starfruit on it, it really has no appeal.
 
@morning glory - Google's ok, but to me, the point of a forum is to talk and share back and forth. That way, you get a little more personal (dare I say, biased) input. :)

Anyway, where some styles depend on the dough recipe or the finished crust, and some styles depend on a type of cheese, and some styles depend on the preparation, and some styles depend on all that, California style kind of does away with all that and just focuses on toppings.

On a California pie...you want hummus on a pizza...put hummus on there! You want corn and prawns, roasted beets, charred lettuce and fruit salsa ...put it on there! Anything goes! The less traditional, the better!

I've always been of the opinion that there's good food and bad food, and that it doesn't pay to get caught up in some kind of militant authenticity exercise, but at some point, that stops being pizza and just becomes "flatbread with stuff on it." It's total chaos!

As I said earlier, my own tastes are pretty simple, so when I look at a pizza with cabbage, hazelnuts, and starfruit on it, it really has no appeal.

Then there are those that have unique toppings.
https://www.cookingbites.com/threads/grilled-fig-and-prosciutto-pizza.11396/

https://www.cookingbites.com/threads/grilled-crawfish-pizza.11395/
 
There is a Sicilian family-owned restaurant near to my daughter's which is supposed to make a superb pizza but they always seem to be on their holidays whenever I go up there. The only time they were open I had pasta, but my granddaughters shared a pizza and it looked fantastic. There is a Sicilian family-owned restaurant near me too, but I haven't tried it as yet. I'll have to pop in there one lunchtime. I wouldn't go to our town centre at night if someone paid me.
 
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