Chain Reaction: Pizza Hut

Going to make this a rather short post because, if I'm being honest, the pizza I am going to describe was downed at least three weeks ago. I would not be able to be very elaborate with my descriptions, especially since I was eating with family members and was too coy to take notes. So let's get right to the point: A lot of pizza aficianados are quick to rag on chains, such as Domino's Pizza or Papa John's. They say that their pizza is not authentic. That it is taken out of a freezer before it is placed into the oven. This is fair. Still, I believe that even the greatest of pizza snobs would have to admit that, when compared to Pizza Hut, eating a pie from Domino's or Papa's is like devouring an offering from an artisan straight off the boat from the Old Country.

We got this $10 meal deal from Pizza Hut the other day. It's a lot of food, and that's great. But, boy, is the concept ridiculous! You get a one-topping pie of the medium variety. A bunch of breadsticks. And just in case you feel like you have not gotten your optimum carb intake for the year in the first two courses, they give you...MORE BREADSTICKS! Only this time, they are smothered with cinnamon sauce and accompanied by a sugary dipping sauce. It's a pretty good bargain, sure. I'm just saying: Couldn't they have dreamed up something better than more bread for that dessert item? The site of all that bread chilling in one box is patently absurd.

Chain Reaction: Papa John's

One of the wife's favorite pastimes is ragging on me for liking Papa John's pizza. She says it isn't authentic enough. That no self-respecting Italian person would eat it. And I don't know, maybe she's right. All I know is that when you order a pizza from Papa John's you know what you are going to get. The sauce may be a little too sweet, but it isn't bland or watery. If you ask for extra sauce, the supposed artisan who is making your pie won't get insulted and drench your pie like a fireman trying to put out a five-alarm blaze. Will your pie seem like it derived from a masterclass on pizzamaking? No, but nine out of ten times you will be guaranteed NOT to receive a bust! It was this thought that drove me to ask the wife if we could get a Papa John's pizza on this evening. We needed to eat something without meat. They were running an ad for some sort of Tuscan Six-Cheese pizza, and it just seemed like a perfect fit. Surprisingly, the wife agreed, an order was placed, and, about a half-hour later, the pizza had arrived.

Getting to the Crust of the Matter

"I don't know why we couldn't just order Papa John's!"

There we were, sitting at the dining room table on a snowy Saturday night with another disappointing pizza. It wasn't even worth trying to reason with my husband that while I do enjoy a thin crust with pepperoni, pineapple and jalapenos from Big Papa, it's just not what I want when I'm craving a real pizza.

We moved into our house five years ago and have yet to discover "our" pizza shop. We've had some decent pies from time to time, but nothing that blew our socks off or consistently satisfied.