WhyBeeSea wrote:So I'll tell you my strong opinions on what I'm eating, but I'll still eat it all even if it's terrible.

That's how I feel about bad pizza, whether it's a chain or family run business.

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Rene G wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:You left out my LOL emoji when you quoted me.

I think thetrob tried to quote you correctly. Here's the code:

Code: Select all

[quote="ronnie_suburban"][quote="thetrob"][quote="ronnie_suburban"]
...
Imo, they're pretty bad.  Having to feed a bunch of children is not a meaningful measure of quality.  Otherwise, I'd still eat at Old Country Buffet once a week.  In any event, starting kids on bad pizza is a gateway mistake that can only lead to bad taste and bad palates down the road. :lol:

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My kids ate enough Dominos as kids and their palates survived with no problem.  They won't touch the stuff now.[/quote]
Yes, understood.  You left out my LOL emoji when you quoted me.

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Just yesterday, in another thread, I tried to post a response that included a quote with an essential emoji. Everything appeared properly except the emoji was missing. I tried troubleshooting, but eventually just gave up and didn't post. I didn't want to "misquote" the person.

Thanks, Peter, for the heads up. Flame wars have erupted over less, especially on threads about pizza!

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Rene G wrote:Is there any solution?

Rene G wrote:Is there any solution? This is a general, persistent problem. Whenever I try to quote a post containing an emoji, the emoji fails to appear even though the proper code is present. If I delete the quote code tags (with no other changes), the emoji is displayed as it should be. I assume everyone has this problem. Often it's of little consequence, but sometimes it results in a "misquotation," as you noticed earlier.

chainey wrote:The jumbo slices from any of the Bacci Pizzeria locations are usually disappointing. Taking a slice home and baking it to firm up the crust usually helps.

Katie wrote:

Panther in the Den wrote:

thetrob wrote:As I write this I find it hard to believe that I am defending Pizza Hut, Dominoes and the likes, but for people I know that travel extensively to small towns and out of the way places, they relish a chain pizza joint nearby to get something they at least know will be edible.

I find it hard to believe too and hence my post.

I also not going to buy the small town thing either. I travel a fair amount and will always seek out a local, privately owned place, a diner, anything.

Okay, I fully understand that most of the population is scared of small places and will h ad to a chain, McDonald’s, Taco Bell because they know what to expect and won’t get sick.

But not here on the forum. That is just being lazy and giving up.

Maybe some of us here are afraid of small town diners too?

I think that's a bit too judgmental. There are thousands and thousands of small towns and rural areas in the US that would love to have a pizza or Chinese or barbecue or fried chicken place, but there often is just not enough population nearby to keep such a place in business.

Case in point: my mom came from a small town downstate, 13 miles away from the nearest interstate, population about 3,000. The town has occasionally and gratefully hosted a pizza place or a Chinese restaurant or something similar, but has much more often than not only been able to pine for such a place. It is a typical small town in farm country with a long-dying Main Street, a small IGA, a gas station, exactly one restaurant in town (currently a Subway), and a Casey's gas station (which has decent things to eat when you need them). I'm certainly not "afraid" of mom's home town; I'm down there a couple of times a year. But, much to my cousins' chagrin, there's basically no place to eat there.

My dad came from a town 13 miles away, alongside the interstate (technically, on Route 66 before it was mostly overlaid with I-55), population about 7,000, a town that, despite its similarly dying old Main Street, by virtue of its location next to the interstate, has plenty of gas stations, fast-food restaurants, hotels, sit-down restaurants, Chinese and pizza carry-out places, and a Super Walmart.

You shouldn't assume that people who travel away from urban areas and interstates in the US (or the people who live in such places) eat at chain restaurants because they are afraid of nonchain local places or that they're unadventurous or unsophisticated or lazy. Away from the interstate system and from towns at junctions of US or state highways, the dining options---even chains, much less nonchains--- are very often few and sometimes none. Jane and Michael Stern's Roadfood enterprise would never have been so successful if it weren't as uncommon as it is to find "hidden gem" dining options away from urban areas and interstates.

There are about 4 million miles of roads in the US; about 1% are interstates; another 2-3% are US highways. If you say you have no trouble finding decent to good to "hidden gem" local eateries while driving around the US, I'd conclude you don't often stray very far from the 4% of the road system that carries the vast majority of the traffic. But many, many millions of people do live farther away than that from such options, and have to drive farther than we, up here in the big city and leafy suburbs, have to drive to get to them.

ld111134 wrote:I’m an East Coast native, so I am biased. In my humble opinion, most Chicago-style thin crust is at best mediocre and subpar: Cloyingly sweet tomato sauce, industrial mozzarella, cracker-y and oh-too-crisp crust, etc.

admich wrote:

ld111134 wrote:I’m an East Coast native, so I am biased. In my humble opinion, most Chicago-style thin crust is at best mediocre and subpar: Cloyingly sweet tomato sauce, industrial mozzarella, cracker-y and oh-too-crisp crust, etc.

My wife (also an east coaster) says the same thing, particularly the crust. In her opinion, the best case scenario is that it's like a cracker and in many instances it's closer to a soggy cracker.

Panther in the Den wrote:

admich wrote:

ld111134 wrote:I’m an East Coast native, so I am biased. In my humble opinion, most Chicago-style thin crust is at best mediocre and subpar: Cloyingly sweet tomato sauce, industrial mozzarella, cracker-y and oh-too-crisp crust, etc.

My wife (also an east coaster) says the same thing, particularly the crust. In her opinion, the best case scenario is that it's like a cracker and in many instances it's closer to a soggy cracker.

Have you been to some of the top places?

Vito & Nick's Pizzeria
8433 S Pulaski Rd, Chicago

Villa Nova Pizzeria
6821 W Pershing Rd, Stickney

Marie's Pizza & Liquors
4129 W Lawrence Ave, Chicago

In my experience the sweet sauce is mostly on the southside and as a spillover from Indiana.

I can believe that heading into some of the not recommended neighborhood places can give you mixed results.

As always look for LTH recommended places.

As always if you do find a subpar pizza place please post about it here so we know to avoid it.

ld111134 wrote:Yes, and Wells Brothers. IMHO, the best Chicago thin-style with its under-proofed dough is, at-best, on par with generic New York slice shop pizza. It belies it’s origins as a cheap bar snack that can be prepared by people without much pizza-making skill.

I will say, however, that places like V&N, Villa Nova and Wells Brothers serve pies with outstanding Italian sausage.