It’s the world’s most popular food! (I seem to recall hearing somewhere.)
So what’s your favorite pizza “for the money”? Is it homemade, takeout, store bought?
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We made some pizza last night with dough purchased from Mojo for the first time. Cheap, easy to work with, and delicious. .
When you consider the relatively narrow price range between plebeian pizza (Fellini’s), great pizza (Mellow) and gourmet pizza (Napoli), I see no reason to scrimp.
And then there is Little Caesars. I see them with their spinning signs curbside — large pizza for $5! I’m afraid to imagine what goes into one.
Agree wholeheartedly. I try not to eat too much pizza because I love it and it’s bad for you. So when I do, I’d prefer to spend the extra $5 on Napoli or Antico.
Schlotsky’s for me, all flavors.
We recently bought a breadmaker and have made our own pizza a couple of times. Not that tough, really, and it tastes pretty good. Total cost – about $2.50-$3 depending on how fancy we get with the toppings (goat cheese and chicken the other night).
Store bought – can’t beat $5.99 for a 16″ sausage from ALDI!
The diavola at Sapori di Napoli is a.maz.ing. And totally worth the $.
All Napoli pizza’s are incredible, but diavola is the best. Try their olives, too!
Tombstone Supreme.
+1 Add some extra cheese, cook it until nice and crisp (longer than instructed), then add Parmigiano-Reggiano (the real stuff)!
The problem with “best pizza” is that there’s so many styles out there and folks tend to judge by what they grew up with. Avondale Pizza is classic (vs. nouveau) NYC style, IMHO. Avellini’s feels authentic too but is more expensive. Liked Napoli’s but have only been there once so need to refresh my memory. Kids tend to have horrible taste in pizza, IMHO. Mine favor Papa John’s and CiCi’s (sp.?). The only pizza that we all agree is pretty good is Athens Pizza, but it’s not my favorite.
The little Nellies love Sapori di Napoli. I do too.
Mrs. Books pines for the late lamented Everybody’s shrimp and artichoke pizza crisp.
I agree that it comes down to style. Napoli pizza may have good flavors but I appreciate neither the floppy (and soggy to me) middle nor the pretty yet unsatisfying arrangement of minimal toppings placed only in the middle of the pie. I like my stuff crispier and toppings spread over the entire pizza. In our area, my favorite is the SPO from Avellino’s. When I return to my Chicago stomping grounds, it’s Deep Dish at Barry’s Spot. Dang…now I’m hungry.
More money, but satisfying the deep dish craving, every once in a while we’ll do pick up at Nancy’s Pizza on the way home from work.
+1 for Avellino’s. Mt. Vesuvius hurts so good.
Every time I’ve ever tried to make pie w YDFM dough, it turns into an epic disaster. Much better luck w Mojo.
Some may be aware, but YDFM has raw dough you can make your own with.
Public’s also sells dough at the bakery counter. Pretty good.
so does Fellini’s on McClendon
Homemade grilled pizza! I follow the dough recipe in the 1991 cookbook “Cucina Simpatica,” which is also quite good for high-calorie baked pastas and interesting salads. I did a side by side taste test with this dough recipe and the YDFM and the former was deemed better for the grill method. The YDFM performed well in the oven on a pizza stone.
Shortys for thin crust, Mellow Mushroom otherwise. CPK when it’s on sale at Kroger for 5 bucks. I don’t like the fancy, deep dish pizzas that require a fork.
Totino’s at 2am.
agreed. add a little crushed red pepper and parm and it’s the best dollar’s worth of pizza anywhere.
I miss Rocky’s.
Me too!
My wife and I can split a pizza and a salad at Fritti and it comes out cheaper than a large two-topping pizza at most places.
“For the money” in Atlanta, sadly it’s whenever Publix has the BOGO Homerun Inn Pizza. Forget the money part, and I’m glad to see that others have also discovered Sapori’s diavola.
That said, I’ll be in Philly until Friday and I plan to eat about two dozen slices from my various favorite places here before then. I’ll be checking back on this thread for the sheer amusement of some of you redneck pizza no-nothings
Baaaah, no can edit from mobile phone??? Anyway, I was just saying I’ll be checking back so I can laugh to myself every time someone else says Mellow Mushroom 🙂
No can edit from ‘puter, neither.
Not sure why Mellow Mushroom gets such a bad rap. I love their crust, though it isn’t for everyone. I guess for this redneck, pizza just isn’t that big a deal (I feel much the same about hamburgers and other low-end foods that people try to take upmarket ).look for culinary excitement elsewhere.
My only real problem with Mellow Mushroom is that they call it “pizza”.
You can always count on Yankees to get uppity about pizza. Guess they don’t have all that much else to be uppity about. >:-o
If you have met anyone from Pennsylvania/Philly, you should know that EVERYTHING there is the best in the world. I don’t know why the rest of the world even tries….
Me neither.
Bagels. We can be uppity about bagels. Not to mention pastrami. And dirty water franks.
I’m guessing any progress you made during the Decatur Biggest Loser event has been halted!
You have no idea. Isgro cannoli…Pat’s cheese steak…Tony Luke’s roast pork…Port Richmond pierogi and Polish soul food…thank God I brought some sans-a-belts!
Never fear, Keith. JT is always Decatur’s Biggest Loser
You just won the Internet.
But she lost her shot at ever getting that Jack and Coke slushie from me.
My wife just fell in love with the slushie last week. Can she take her place?
I can sue you with really good lawyers, JT
The mushroom pizza at No. 246… can’t stop thinking about it after ordering it last week.
I had my first Diavola at Sapori di Napoli last week and it compares very favorably to the Inferno at Ammazza, which is our gourmet pizza joint of choice despite the fact that we are members of the olds and not hipsters. For the money, however, you cannot beat the $12 large with one topping at Urban Pie on Hosea in Kirkwood. Lisa makes a nice thin crust pie with fresh ingredients, and it’s fun to sit on the patio and watch people leaving Kirkwood Bark and Lounge with their dogs. And she’s finally got a beer and wine license after many years. I’m sure Oakhurst is in her delivery circle if not all of Decatur.
Best pizza I’ve ever had in Atlanta was at Jeff Varasano’s home before he opened up his Buckhead restaurant, and the pizza is great at the restaurant, too. Just don’t get over to his part of town that often (or Antico’s for that matter).
LOVE Urban Pie.
I agree it depends on childhood and personal taste. Many people from the north grew up eating Greek pizza, so Athens Pizza is very familiar and a great value for the money. The other great northern pizza is Brooklyn “Fold-it-in-half” pizza which is available at Rosa’s downtown – also a great value – two slices and a drink under $7.00. Also like Mellow, on par with Athens price-wise.
Not a huge fan of thin crust or cracker pizza (like sotto sotto) so not a good judge of that kind of pizza because I don’t eat it.
Many of us from the north really hate Greek pizza. Souvlaki yes. Pizza no.
Thanks for pointing that out, Fats. I’m a native New Yorker who later spent a few decades in Boston. Greek pizza is a big think in New England. I #%*&in’ hate it. It’s cakey and greasy and there ain’t nothing good about it. It’s like toasting a sanguiche or putting ketchup on a hotdog: food travesties.
Our family’s best bang for the buck is Savage or Fellini’s. Any lower quality than that, and it ain’t pizza. Mellow Mushroom is great for that… other kind of pizza, and the owners are good people, so give them your business.
I add my vote for Sappori’s diavolo as my favorite pie in town. It’s a great bargain when awesomeness is taken into consideration.
I wish the “dollar slice” place would make a toehold in this area. There are certain times in NYC when it hits the spot, in a Waffle House or Krystal kind of way.
I remember when dollar slices were 50 cents! I don’t know why pizza by the slice is so good in the NY metro area but it hits the spot! The raunchier the location the better–outside of Staten Island Ferry subway station, bus stations, sleazy beach boardwalks. I would think pizza by the slice would be a hit among high school and middle school students walking home. (Not that we have any raunchy locations in Decatur, of course.)
When Dandy Pizza opened up on Whitney Avenue in Elmhurst, Queens in the late 50s, a soda and a slice was a quarter. The place was a hole in the wall but it had an espresso machine as big as the Ritz.
Growing up in New England every town had it’s own (insert town name here) House of Pizza and Roast Beef. I never could figure out what the roast beef part of the equation was, but I loved the greek-ish style pizza. It was tasty and cheap and not too far from school when we managed to slip out during lunch period.
Nowadays I’d have to say the best value for the quality of ingredients and all-over tastiness is Antico Pizza, San Gennaro.
My little New England home town had it’s own House of Pizza right by the school, also. 🙂
For me, it depends on whom I’m with. DHS kids after a service project? That would be Little Ceasars. Not much money buys a lot of young people satisfaction and silence and for high school students, silence is still golden. My son? Either Felini’s or Savage Pizza in Avondale. Both have a DHS connection and always great pizza. My wife? If I wanted to sweep her off her feet (literaly of course), the new Napoli pizza joint on Church is the place for me. A big plus is the free parking next door but what would seal the deal is to have a short chunky waiter, like that guy from Moonstruck, to serve us in a nearly empty restaurant late at night and of course, by candlelight. After a bottle of house Prosecco and a delicious authenic Italian pizza, she would say, “Take me home. I’m yours”.
Now that’s the best pizza for the money!
We ALL like Savage Pizza but don’t get over there much.
Last time I had Savage Pizza, I went into labor, so my husband has forbidden me from going there again..until it is “time” of course.
There’s an angle we are missing here. Another level of complexity. Eat-in? Take-out? Delivery? Some pizza’s work great in the restaurant but don’t travel well.
Also, some are great at the time served, but don’t do so well for one of my favorite treats: cold pizza for breakfast.
Ok. Did you all know that they serve pizza slices cold in convenience stores in upstate New York? I was never upstate enough to develop a taste for it.
Shorty’s Decatur Style Pizza!!!