Best of the Philly Beer Scene

If you like good beer and you live in or near Philly, you've probably read Philly Beer Scene. Their annual Best Of Awards is now open for voting. It's a quick survey and may even give you some ideas for new beer bars to hit or brews to try. And if you you happen to write in our very own Saucy McGilliguddy as the Best Beer Writer, well, we certainly wouldn't object.

Best of the Philly Beer Scene >>

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The Pizza Project
Just a nibble: http://twitter.com/ThePizzaProject
Single slice: http://www.facebook.com/ThePizzaProject
The full pie: http://thepizzaproject.blogspot.com/

Victory Brewing Company Winter Haiku Contest

Looking for a quick diversion during the workday? Write a haiku that mentions Victory or any of its beers and submit it for a chance to win $50 and assorted Victory goodies.

Just send your poem, along with your name, age, phone number, mailing address and T-shirt size to inspired@victorybeer.com by Monday, Jan. 23.

Find more details about the contest at http://victorybeer.com/inspired/.

How do you write a haiku?  With only 17 syllables, in three lines of 5, 7 and 5 respectively. Here's a sample:

Required reading
for pizza and beer lovers
The Pizza Project

You get the point. Good luck!

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The Pizza Project
Just a nibble: http://twitter.com/ThePizzaProject
Single slice: http://www.facebook.com/ThePizzaProject
The full pie: http://thepizzaproject.blogspot.com/

Tale of the Pie: Affamato's Pizza & Italian Restaurant

Before we launched The Pizza Project as a blog, it was simply a spreadsheet we used to keep track of the best and worst pie attributes from local pizzerias. Some of the worst belonged to an establishment by the name of Paesano's. So it's not exactly a surprise that Paesano's has since closed down and been replaced by a new pizza shop: Affamato's Pizza & Italian Restaurant.

With hopes that the same owners weren't simply reopening under a new name, we decided to give Affamato's a try. And while their pie was definitely a million times better than Paesano's, it still has some room for improvement.

We ordered a large pepperoni with a side of mozzerella sticks. At first bite, the crust seemed to be nearly perfect in texture and form. Curiously though, it got thicker and chewier with each subsequent bite, making the edge basically inedible. Light on the sauce, which was a bit watery, definitely not a robust tomato-y red. Heavy on the cheese, which I wouldn't really complain about, but if you're not a major cheese lover, you may find it a bit tough to swallow...literally. The pie was topped with just the right amount of flavorful pepperoni.

Mozz sticks (and accompanying sauce) were pretty run of the mill, and perhaps a bit cold because the cheese wasn't oozing.

Hubby picked up the pie - it was ready in 10-12 minutes even though they quoted us 20 (so get there early if you don't want a cold one). Friendly cashier and a significant difference in the number of people there picking up orders (from the extremely empty Paesano's).

To sum it up, it was an average pie, but we'd consider giving them another try a few months down the road (since they just recently opened).

Pros: Fast, friendly service, tasty pepperoni
Cons: Crust got too thick and chewy, sauce sparse and thin

Affamato's Pizza & Italian Restaurant
431 S. Trooper Road
Norristown, PA 19403
610.666.6800

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The Pizza Project
Just a nibble: http://twitter.com/ThePizzaProject
Single slice: http://www.facebook.com/ThePizzaProject
The full pie: http://thepizzaproject.blogspot.com/

10,000 Views! Woohoo!

Just wanted to deliver a big THANK YOU to all of our readers, followers and fans! Yesterday, The Pizza Project hit 10,000 views. A special shout-out to one of our favorite commenters (MC) and @DannyZ24, a good friend who is spreading the word about our pizza reviews and bathroom musings.

It's not just the site traffic that has expanded. We've been getting an increasing amount of email from readers with suggestions and pizza thoughts of their own ... and we love it! Our blog is now featured on Restauranteers. And we're slowly but surely making our way up the Urbanspoon Philadelphia Blog Leaderboard, from #135 to #41.

To celebrate 10K, Saucy, the nibble and I will be hitting up a new Philly Mag pizza spot tonight and then enjoying some Barefoot Bubbly after the nibble goes to bed. Stay tuned for a review.

5 Quick Thoughts on ... Pizza Project Post 101

Woohoo! This is post number 101 on The Pizza Project. From a random idea at a family lunch in February to 100 posts published, probably about half of them about pizza, we're pretty excited about getting this far. While we've got a bit to go before we are the Craig LaBans of the pizza world, we're ready to take this thing to the next level ...

1. Please Comment! We know we have visitors because of the nifty google blogger analytics, but we don't have nearly enough comments. Hate one of Saucy's opinionated rants? Love one of the pizza spots we reviewed? Just stopping by for the neon Chinese food sign photo? Have any suggestions on how to make this thing better? LET US KNOW! You can even post comments anonymously.