The Best Pizza
Like everyone, I've got my favorite pizza places in Cleveland. And although I'd probably fly into a chimplike rage if someone started knocking them, I've concluded that, like wall-to-wall carpet, pizza is an intensely personal thing, and it's probably best if we just stay away from "Best Of" designations this week.
How did I come to this conclusion? The sheer volume of pizza I've eaten over the last 31 years, which was greatly augmented the year I lived in coastal New Jersey. An awful lot of it claimed to be "the best." It wasn't.
Pizza is a mostly emotional thing. Ask someone why they're so kissy-face over their favorite pie and they'll give you some vague answer about the sweetness of the sauce or the crispiness of the crust. But if you press them for more, a story will invariably come out. A story about love, youth, the old neighborhood, death on a mountaintop (well, maybe not that....) In my early twenties I had a boyfriend who was hell-bent on making sure I'd tasted every single one of his favorite Cleveland-area pizzas. There was a story attached to each one.
So what's your favorite pizza-related memory? Or, if you want, your least favorite?
How did I come to this conclusion? The sheer volume of pizza I've eaten over the last 31 years, which was greatly augmented the year I lived in coastal New Jersey. An awful lot of it claimed to be "the best." It wasn't.
Pizza is a mostly emotional thing. Ask someone why they're so kissy-face over their favorite pie and they'll give you some vague answer about the sweetness of the sauce or the crispiness of the crust. But if you press them for more, a story will invariably come out. A story about love, youth, the old neighborhood, death on a mountaintop (well, maybe not that....) In my early twenties I had a boyfriend who was hell-bent on making sure I'd tasted every single one of his favorite Cleveland-area pizzas. There was a story attached to each one.
So what's your favorite pizza-related memory? Or, if you want, your least favorite?
posted by Christine Borne at 8:00 AM
6 Comments:
Nunzios wom my heart forever when I was 20, in someone's apartment drinking and watching the Exorcist, and they delivered at 2am. Oh cheesy bread...
Best pizza memory was grabbing personal pans from the takeout Pizza Hut on 30th and Carnegie last summer with a good friend, and driving down to the East 9th pier behind the Rock Hall to watch the sunset and the subsequent heat lightning.
Maybe not the best pizza I've ever had, but it tasted good after a long day of work and it was just a gorgeous night.
I think you're onto something here.
Master's pizza
**sigh**
Trio's (in Rocky River) was great.
These days, I'm digging my homemade with a bottle of red and my sweetie. woot!
Cala's Pizza on Vine St. in Willowick.
I've had pizza in every major city in the US... but none are as good as this pizza place that I grew up a few blocks from.
Real sausage (not that rabbit kibble the corporate chain pizza places use) and sometimes there's so much grease it runs down your arms.
LaRich's Pizza, hands down the best in the metro area, reopened after many years of being out of business. It's only a takeout place now, but still worth going out of one's way.
Giovanni's in Lorain (the city, not the street). We always ordered from Giovanni's when I was a kid: movie night, Saturday night, don't-feel-like-cooking night. But my best memory was when we adopted our mutt puppy, Trixie. We had Giovanni's for dinner the night we brought her home. Trixie was pretty shy, but when that pizza arrived, her nose was in the air and she had to have some. I miss that dog...and Giovanni's...
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