Uno Chicago Grill - Clifton, NJ

It was another lazy Sunday afternoon for us and we spent the entire afternoon lazing on the couch, watching TV. We were watching some program on the Food Network about various types of pizzas around America and I realized that I've never tried the Chicago style deep dish pizza before. Yeah, I've been to Chicago before don't ask me why, I just never got around to trying the deep dish pizza. Now, I totally love our NY style pizza and I really think that it's the best pizza ever. Hands down. However, how can I make such a statement without even trying the Chicago style pizza, right? So, I told Kevin that we should go have some Chicago style deep dish pizza for dinner that evening. Now, the big question. Where can we find Chicago style deep dish pizza in the middle of Northern Jersey?
Uno Chicago Grill, of course! After all, they were the ones who invented the Chicago deep dish pizza! We have always driven past this place whenever we go grocery shopping in Clifton, but we never got around to checking it out. I guess today is the day! Since it's located in a shopping/commercial area of Clifton, parking was no problem at all. There were ample free parking spaces available all around the restaurant. I guess we were a little bit early for dinner, so we lucked out and didn't have to wait for a table. I can tell that Uno Chicago Grill is a pretty popular spot, cos all the tables were filled and there was a line when we left.
Before we left for dinner, I went online to see if there were any in store coupons and/or promotions for Uno Chicago Grill. I found out that if we sign up for their Insider's Club, we will get a coupon for a free appetizer. So, I did just that! We ordered the 1lbs of the Honey BBQ Wings ($9.79) to share as our appetizer. Of course, we got that free...so...YAY! The wings were really huge and juicy, just the way I like them! The honey BBQ sauce was also really yummy. Who would have known, that you can find such awesome wings in a pizza place.
For our mains, we of course ordered the deep dish pizza. Since we couldn't agree on a what pie to try, we decided to go with two personal pans. When they brought out the pies, the waiter told us that the pans are super hot. They then helped us remove the pies from the pans and placed them on regular plates. It smelled so good and yummy, we couldn't wait to dig in. Kevin ordered the Chicago Classic ($10.79) and I had the Numero Uno ($10.99) . Kevin's Chicago Classic is crumbled sausage, chunky tomato sauce, Mozzarella and grated Romano cheese. It looked yummy and Kevin said it tasted great too.
My Numero Uno pizza is their all time favorite and one of the most popular pizzas on the menu. It's basically a 'the works' pizza. It had sausage, pepperoni, onions, peppers, mushrooms and their signature chunky tomato sauce, all topped with Mozzarella and grated Romano cheese. Look at how deep it is. It's so thick, you can't just pick it up to eat, like the NY style pizza. You have to use a fork! It was just packed with all kinds of toppings and it was soo flavorful too. Another thing that stood out was the crust. It was so buttery and flaky, mmmm mmmm mmmm.
Our total bill came to $28.85 for 2 drinks, 1 appetizers (which was free) and two pizzas. We had plenty of pizza left over, so I would say that it was enough to feed 3-4 people. Not too bad at all. So, the answer to the question we have all been waiting for. Which is better? NY style of Chicago style pizza? I really love the Chicago deep dish pizza from Uno Chicago Grill. In fact, I am already making plans to return real soon. However, I must say that nothing can beat our greasy and huge sliced NY style pizza! Pick up a huge slice of pepperoni pizza with cheese and grease dripping from the sides, fold it in half and stuff it in your mouth. Ahhhh heaven! Now, that's what I call good pizza! :D

Uno Chicago Grill - Clifton, NJ
426 Rt. 3 West
Clifton, NJ 07014
Tel: (973)574 1303
Web: http://unos.com/

Mandy's Pizza - Pittsburgh, PA

Kev and I were back in Pittsburgh for the whole of last week. In fact, it was a little more than a week. It's been a while since we had the opportunity to be back in Pittsburgh for such an extended period of time (it would usually be just for the weekend or 4 days, at the most), so it was good meeting up with friends and family. We also had the opportunity to head out some of our favorite restaurants in Pittsburgh as well as check out a few new ones. Over the next few posts, I will share with you some of the new places that we checked out during our week in Pittsburgh.
There is a pizza shop just down the road from Kevin's parents house in Westview. We have driven by it countless times and every time we drove by, I would say that we should check it out someday. I know, there are many other things that we can check out while we are in Pittsburgh and really, Pittsburgh is not exactly known for their pizza. After all, we are currently living in a city that is known for their awesome pizza. Why should we want to eat pizza while we were in Pittsburgh? Well, what caught my attention was a huge sign saying that Mandy's has the largest and best pizza in Pittsburgh. In fact, they have won a whole lot of awards as proof of their awesomeness. Now, when somebody claims that they have the best of something, I would really want to go check them out, just to see if they really do measure up. Soooooo, we stopped by one day to carryout a pizza and some wings.
All the pizzas in Mandy's are Gluten-Free/Allergen-Free. From their website and menu, I found out that they came out with a proprietary recipe that is Wheat-Free, Milk-Free, Nut-Free and Corn Free. Now, we don't really care much about all this but I am sure they are a lot of people out there who do. What is most important to us is, the taste! Their menu is rather large and there were quite a lot of traditional as well as signature pizzas to choose from. We finally went with a large Philly Steak Pizza ($16.49). Just look at it! Cheddar sauce, shaved sirloin, fried mushroom, onions, green peppers and premium blend pizza cheese. If that is not fattening enough, they topped all of that off with french fries!! One word - WOW! How does one even come up with that? They must be sitting around one day and decided that pizza in general is not fattening enough, they MUST do something else to bring it over the top. So, hey, why not? Lets top it off with some greasy fries! :P As fattening as it sounds, I must say that, it really tasted AWESOME! The toppings all just came together and the dough was nice and baked to perfection. Really really good!
We also ordered half a dozen of Monster Wings ($7.99). Monster Wings...really? How big are they? Well, Mandy's claim that they serve the largest wings in town. Guess what? They ARE huge! Look at that...none of those tiny dry stuff. The wings from Mandy's are huge and juicy! They are also not 'cut' into drummets and wings, you actually get the WHOLE wing! They come in 10 different flavors and we went with the Honey Mustard. Mmmm mmmmmm goood! Both the pizza and wings hit a home run, in my books. Apart from pizzas and wings, they also serve salads, hoagies, gyros, calzones, Italian dinners as well as desserts. We will definitely stop by again to check out the other items on the menu the next time we are back in Pittsburgh.

Mandy's Pizza - Pittsburgh,PA
512 Perry Hwy
Pittsburgh, PA 15229
Tel: (412)931 1120
Web: http://www.mandyspizza.com/

Mario's Pizza - Newark, NJ

There is a fairly new pizza place (well, not THAT new but new enough) that opened up a couple of doors away from Jersey BBQ Pit that we have been meaning to check out. Every time we drive down McCarter Highway, we would say that we wanna swing by one day to try it but we just never got around to doing so. It was another lazy weekend for us and as usual, we were just too lazy to cook dinner or even head out to grab a bite. We just didn't feel like going anywhere, let alone leave our couch! I did manage to make it down to the lobby to collect our mail though and I saw a stack of delivery menus nearby. I picked one up and realized that it was for Mario's Pizza....how perfect! We could try the food from this new place and we didn't even have to leave our apartment for that. Life is good! :P
The menu itself was rather extensive. Not only do they have pizzas but they also offer all kinds of soups, salads, appetizers, pasta, wraps, sandwiches, hamburgers, wings as well as Italian chicken, veal and seafood dishes. Oh, they also have selection of dessert and drinks too. Unlike some other places that deliver, Mario's accepts credit/debit cards transactions. Delivery is also free, with a minimum purchase of $10. The only thing thing that we didn't really like was the delivery time. We had to wait for an hour or so, just to get our food. The acceptable delivery time around these parts is usually half an hour.
To start off our meal, Kevin and I shared a small cold antipasto salad ($7.50). The large goes for $12. Boy, we were glad that we ordered a small cos the portion was really huge! A whole bunch of lettuce, tomatoes, onions, green peppers, toasted red peppers, black olives topped with rolls of ham, genoa, salami and provolone cheese. Look at the amount of meat that came along with it! Definitely worth the $7.50. Not only were the portions huge, it tasted yummy too.
After such a yummy salad, this was a little bit of a letdown. Sausage Calzone with Marinara Sauce ($6.25). By the time the calzone got here, it was cold. Really cold. Also, it was super greasy. Look at all the grease on the paper plate. Terrible. The crust wasn't all that great and I felt as though they are skimping on the stuffing. There was only stuffing in the middle, which leaves us with very hard (almost stone like) crust at the end. The marinara sauce was also really watery. I wouldn't order this from them again.
The calzone was really bad but I must say that they redeemed themselves with their wings. We ordered 10 pcs of BBQ chicken wings ($7.25) and it came with complimentary celery and blue cheese. As you can see from the picture, they were huge wings. If there is one thing that I can't stand, it would be tiny, hard, over fried wings. This wasn't the case. They were really huge and juicy. The BBQ sauce was awesome too. Yes, they arrived cold but after reheating it for a bit, it tasted great. Sooooo, the big question now. Would we order from Mario's again? Well, this is a tough one. The delivery was super slow (thus resulting in us getting cold food) and the calzone was horrible. However, we really liked the antipasto and the wings were yummy too. I guess we would give them another chance to see if the long delivery time was just a one off thing and maybe we will try something else from the menu. Will keep all of you posted!

Mario's Pizza - Newark, NJ
1413 McCarter Highway,
Newark, NJ 07104
Tel: (973)497 2031
Fax: (973)497 2130
Web: http://themariospizza.com/

Heart Shaped "Valentine's Special" Pizza from Papa Johns!

Kevin and I never really believed in going all out to celebrate Valentine's Day. Sure, it's nice to receive some flowers or celebrate by having a 'nicer than normal' meal but no way would we join the crowds by going out on the day itself and paying double (sometimes even triple!) just for a meal. This year, we went out for some Filipino food the day before, so we were not really planning to do anything on Vday itself. Just as I was cracking my head, thinking of what I should make for dinner that day, I saw an ad from Papa Johns. They were having some Valentine's Special going on and I thought that the heart pizzas looked kinda cute. So, I figured, why not? Let's just have this for dinner tonight! :P

I believe Papa Johns had this promotion last year and since it was such a hit, they decided to bring it back again this year. For $14.99, you get a one topping thin crust heart shaped pizza and a Cinnapie. We have never tried Papa John's thin crust (we've always gone with the hand tossed original) pizza before and we were pleasantly surprised. It was actually not too bad. However, you have to keep in mind that the thin crust pizza doesn't really fill you up. Usually, the most we could eat would be about 2 slices (each!) of the original crust pizza but we managed to gobble up almost the entire heart shape pie (we had one slice left over) without any problems! Also, the pizza was rather greasy. I guess it must be due to the pepperoni topping. Ahh well, it was still yummy though.

Like I said earlier, the Valentine's Special also included a free Cinnapie. When we ordered our pizza online, we were actually given a choice. We could either opt for the Cinnapie or the Applepie. We went with the Applepie. I think that was an awesome choice. Really really yummy! Freshly baked original hand tossed dough topped with sweet apple filling, brown sugar streusel and drizzled with white icing. Mmmm mmm mmmm, good stuff!

Check out our yummy Valentine's Day dinner. The red roses is in the middle was my Valentine's day present from Kevin (thanks baby!! :D). Apart from the Valentine's Day special, we also ordered a 10 pcs side of Honey Chipotle Wings ($7.50). We would usually order either the BBQ wings or the Buffulo wings but we decided to try something new this time around. Another good choice. It tasted rather sweet in the beginning but then the spiciness from the chipotle hits you after a few bites. A good combination of sweet and spiciness. iLike! Overall, it was a good Valentine's Day dinner. The best part of it all was that we didn't even have to leave our apartment! A yummy Vday dinner, minus all the traffic, crowds and over priced food!

Pizza Hut's Cheesy Bites Pizza!

We were watching our usual Thursday night NBC marathon (30 Rock, The Office, Outsourced, The Apprentice) on TV last week when we saw the ad for Pizza Hut's new promotion. Looks like they have brought back the Cheesy Bites pizza! Oh what joy! I have tried it once, a very very long time ago and I remembered it to be totally awesome. I am not saying that it's the healthiest thing around but it sure tasted great! Since we already had dinner that night, we said that we MUST head out to Pizza Hut to pick up one for dinner the following day. Yes, I know. The powers of advertisement! :P
The Cheesy Bites Pizza comes in only one size and it's going for $11.99. That gets you one large (total of 28 cheese filled bites!) one topping pizza. For an additional $2, you can upgrade it to a specialty or three topping pizza. So, on Friday night, we ordered the Cheesy Bites Pizza online and headed out to the Pizza Hut in Belleville, NJ to pick it up. It kinda sucks that Pizza Hut doesn't deliver to our area :( Anyways, they said that our pizza will be ready in about 25 minutes (at 6:50pm). We arrived at around 6:55pm and that particular Pizza Hut was filled with people. It was seriously in total chaos! We had to stand there for a good 15 minutes before anybody asked us if we wanted a table, to order take out or if we wanted to collect our pizza. The phones were ringing off the hooks, customers were just getting all impatient (many of them ended up leaving), it was just horrible. When we told them that we had already ordered our pizza and it should be ready at 6:50pm, they said that it wasn't ready and we had to wait another 20mins to half an hour!! Seriously, how long does it take to make a pizza? To make things worse, we didn't see many pizzas coming out from the kitchen. I really don't know what they were doing in there. We finally got our pizza at around 7:35! Very horrible service.
Ahhhhhh, here is our yummy Cheesy Bites Pizza. Since we were utterly disappointed with our Bacon Chocolate Bar the other day, we needed our Bacon fix. So, we ordered a Bacon Cheesy Bites Pizza. Mmmmm mmmmm mmmmmmm, I can feel my arteries clogging just by thinking about it but it really tasted oh so good! Each bite was filled with tons of melted ooey gooey cheese and the garlic butter seasoning was awesome too. One bite and you are in heaven. Definitely worth the long wait and bad service. If it wasn't so fattening and unhealthy, I would eat it every single day! Hmmm, maybe we should order it again this weekend :P

No more Dominos Pizza for us!

In the past, we have blogged quite a lot about specials from Dominos. We have also commented on their pretty fast delivery and easy to use online ordering via their website. However, a recent event has change all our positive opinions about Dominos and we have decided that we are not going to order from Dominos (at least the Bloomfield, NJ branch) ever again. Here's what happened.

The Wrong Order
On September 2nd, we ordered the two medium pizza with two topping promotion ($5.99 each) and a 2 liter bottle of Coke online. It's not the first time we that have ordered online and so far, we never had any problems with it. When our pizza arrived, Kevin noticed that on one of the pizzas, there was only one topping. He ordered extra large pepperoni and bacon but all he got was bacon. We doubled checked our receipt ( just to make sure that we really ordered extra large pepperoni and bacon) and yes, it shows extra large pepperoni on both the online receipt as well as the actual receipt. No problem, all we need to do is call them up to tell them of the mistake and they should bring us the correct order, right? Well, wrong! Continue reading.

The Phone Call
We called the Bloomfield, NJ branch and spoke to Esmirna. We told her that they brought us the wrong pizza and went on to explain to her that we ordered extra large pepperoni and bacon but all we got was bacon. We then asked if they were going to re deliver the correct pizza to us. Guess what? Esmirna just rudely said "WE AIN'T GOT NO EXTRA LARGE PEPPERONI". Excuse me? It was on the menu, we picked it, the order went through, you charged us for it and then you are saying that you don't have any extra large pepperoni? She then said "OH, YOU ORDERED IT ONLINE, RIGHT?" Yeah we did. She went on to say " WELL, IT'S AUTOMATIC THEN. THE ORDER JUST GOES THROUGH. WE DON'T HAVE ANY EXTRA LARGE PEPPERONI. IT'S NOT OUR FAULT, IT'S CORPORATE.". What do you mean it's corporate's fault? Anyways, we then asked her why didn't they call us if they are out? We could have changed to another topping or if you don't have any extra large pepperoni, just use regular pepperoni. Don't just give us one topping and act as if nothing happened. She then rudely said "WAIT!" and I could hear her talking to the manager (Carlos) saying that we want a new pizza and why didn't they call us if they didn't have extra large pepperoni...blablabla. We could hear Carlos rudely replying "NO NO IT'S NOT OUR FAULT, THEY ARE NOT GETTING ANOTHER PIZZA". She then came back and flat out said "NO IT'S NOT OUR FAULT, IT'S CORPORATES. WE CANNOT GIVE YOU ANOTHER PIZZA!". Not wanting to argue anymore, we just asked for her name. She then got all defensive and asked "WHAT YOU WANT MY NAME FOR?". Then we said that since you insist it's corporate's fault, we will bring this matter to corporate and file a complaint against the Bloomfield branch. We ordered and paid for a two topping pizza but was given a one topping pizza. That's outright cheating. She then rudely said "FINE, GO AHEAD!" and in a challenging voice asked "YOU WANT CORPORATES NUMBER? I CAN GIVE THAT TO YOU TOO!". So, I took the number from her and hung up. Not a single word of apology from them even though they didn't deliver what we ordered.

The First Email To Corporate
Since it was already pretty late, we figured that we should just send out an email instead of calling (most probably nobody will be working at this hour). So, we went to the Dominos website and filled up their contact form, telling them all that has transpired. With an hour, we received a reply from them. I am not sure if it's automated or if "Denise' actually typed it out, but here is their reply:

September 02, 2010
Dominos Case #: 809259

Hi Kevin,
Thank you for taking the time to contact the Domino's Pizza Customer Care Team and notifying us of this matter. We will forward this information to the appropriate department for further investigation.
Sincerely,
Denise
Pizza Customer Care

Again, not a single word of apology from Dominos. Of course, we understand that they will have to look into this matter to see what actually happened. However, if it was me, I would just apologize first (even if the customer is wrong and the company is right). Anyways, we left it at that and allowed them to do their 'investigation'.

The Second Email to Corporate
One week went by and still no news from Dominos. What's taking them to long? In my opinion, it's a straight forward case. We ordered something, but we received the wrong order and the branch refused to deliver the right order to us. What's there to investigate? Anyway, we emailed them again and asked what's happening? Mind you, it's been a week and not a single person from Dominos apologized yet.

The Reply from Dominos
On September 10th, we received an email from Ryan.

Dominos Case #: 809259
Hi Kevin,

Thank you for taking the time to contact the Domino's Pizza Customer Care Team. I apologize the local management has not addressed your concern. I will once again inform the local representative of the Newark store of the unsatisfactory situation you experienced so they may address these types of issues in their training efforts.

I will be sending gift certificates through the mail for your use at any Domino's Pizza store. Please accept the gift certificates in appreciation of your business and for taking the time to bring this situation to our attention. You should receive the gift certificates in approximately 7-10 days.

We hope to regain your trust in the future and have the opportunity to serve you again as our loyal customer.

Sincerely,
Ryan
Domino's Pizza Customer Care

If you noticed, it's the first time anybody from Dominos apologized. However, he didn't apologize for bringing us the wrong order and refusing to redeliver the correct pizza to us. He didn't apologize for charging us for a two topping pizza but delivering a one topping pizza. He didn't apologize for the extremely rude staff at the Bloomfield, NJ branch. He was just sorry that the local management didn't address our 'concern'. Concern??? Excuse me...I think it's more than just a 'concern'. Putting aside the rude staff and also having to sent a 'reminder' email, the fact remains that we were given a one topping pizza but paid for a two topping pizza. Even though we are talking about a small amount, that's outright cheating! Wouldn't that warrant at least an apology?

Our Gift Certificates
On September 18th, we received this letter and $15 worth of gift certificates in the mail. Not wanting to be petty, but if you noticed, not a single word of apology. Yes, we thank you for the gift certificates (which was how much we paid, minus delivery charges and tax) but in my opinion, it still doesn't make it right. What would? Just a simple "I'm sorry, we screwed up this time" would have worked. This shows, up til now, Dominos still refuse to admit that it was their mistake and thinks that the $15 worth of gift certificates will shut us up. I am not saying that we won't use it, oh yes we will. However, that will probably be the last time we will ever eat a Dominos pizza. They are not the only players in the market, there are many other pizza companies out there. Looks like Dominos has lost two very loyal customers. Instead of giving us the certificates, maybe they should have put that $15 towards classes to teach their employees some manners instead. :P

Frankie Cee's Pizzeria - Little Italy, NYC

We were in Little Italy on the 4th of July weekend and were looking for a place to have dinner. Now, Mulberry Street is just lined with cafes and restaurants, so we didn't really know which one to pick. Most of them had all types of "promotions" going on, with waiters standing outside, trying to lure in customers. We decided to walk away from the popular and touristy part of Mulberry street, in search of something that will not put a huge dent in our wallets.

We found Frankie Cee's Pizzeria right at the edge of Little Italy. Unlike all the other places, there wasn't any smooth talking waiters, trying to lure us inside. All we saw was little checkered tables filled with people and the menu painted on the walls. It looked like a laid back place to have dinner, so we decided to give it a try.

There were all kinds of pasta, pizzas, sandwiches and Italian entrees available at very affordable prices. I later found out that this place used to be called Pizzeria Cee's and it used to be a market. Their pizza was so good and popular, that they decided to expand, put in tables and chairs and make it into a restaurant. The pizza seems to be a crowd favorite, with a steady stream of pizza pies coming out from the kitchen while we were there.

Check out all the condiments on the tables. You know you are in Little Italy when you can find so many herbs, cheeses and oil on your table :P Also, I just love the location our table. We could just sit back, relax and watch the world go by. Sitting there with our drinks, just people watching, makes me feel like we were in Europe and not in the heart of NYC! Must be due to the influx of sidewalk cafes/restaurants in that small area and the smell of fresh pizza, baking in the oven!

They had quite an extensive drinks menu, with all kinds of sodas, sparkling water, fruit juices, wine and beer. Kevin had a Sam Adams (which is part of his dinner set) and I had an Orangina ($2.50). Boy, it's been a while since I had an Orangina....so that was goooood! :D For those of you who have not tried Orangina before, you have to try it. It's sparkling orange juice with pulp! Yummmy yummy stuff!

Kevin ordered their pizza special. You get an extra large slice of pizza (either plain cheese or pepperoni) and a bottle of domestic beer/ glass of wine for $6. Not too bad of a deal actually. Kevin said that the pizza was really good, with just the right amount of sauce and cheese. The thin crust was also very yummy.

I ordered the Ham Calzone ($5). This calzone was sooooooo good. I cannot believe the amount of cheese they had in there. I have always said that there is no such thing as "too much cheese" but really, there was just too much cheese in there! In a good way, of course! :P The moment I cut the calzone into half, the cheese just started to ooze out! I bet they just stuffed the whole block of cheese in there..lol! The dough was super yummy and baked just right. Very very nice. Also, I just love the marinara sauce that came with the calzone. Really flavorful with big chunks of tomatoes...definitely not the watery stuff that we usually get from the other pizza places. The calzone was so huge, I couldn't even finish it. Next time, we will just order one to share!

So, what was the total bill for all this food? Only $14.70 (and that's including tax)!!! What a good deal! This is even less than what we would pay if we were to get dinner from McDonalds! The only downside is that they do not accept credit/debit cards. Everything is cash only. They do however have an ATM inside the shop if you didn't bring along enough cash.
Overall, we had a great dinner. Awesome food, really friendly staff, affordable prices and a perfect view of Mulberry Street. What more could a person ask for? I would definitely recommend Frankie Cee's Pizzeria if you are looking for a no frills restaurant in Little Italy that serves awesome and authentic Italian food at really affordable prices.

Frankie Cee's Pizzeria - Little Italy, NYC,
186 Grand St.
New York, NY 10013
Tel: (212) 9252954
Fax: (212) 2269046

Any Large Papa Johns Pizza for $10!!

We wanted to order in some pizza for the England vs. USA match last weekend, so I went online to see what are some of the latest pizza specials. With this on going 'pizza wars' among all the big pizza delivery companies, who knows what deals I might find.

Remember me blogging about the promotion Pizza Hut is having? Yeah, $10 for any pizza. Well, almost any pizza. If you wanted a stuffed crust, then you would have to add on another $2 for it. Guess what? Papa Johns is now doing that too! You can get any large Papa Johns pizza for 10 bucks! Unlike Pizza Hut, there are no exceptions. All large pizzas means all large pizzas. This includes all of their speciality pizzas as well as the create your owns. With the create your owns, you can add up to 7 toppings per pizza. Now, THAT'S a good deal!

I was ready to order when I found out that you can "Papa Size" your large pizza to an XL pizza for an additional $2. That's not bad at all. This means you can get a 30% bigger pizza for only $2 more. I cannot remember ever getting an XL 16" pizza for $12! We chose to "Papa Size" our pizza and created our own heavenly pie. We piled on spicy Italian sausages,ham,bacon,pepperoni, extra cheese, onions and half with green peppers and the other half with mushrooms. Yummy yummy yummy! As usual, the pizza arrived piping hot, in about half an hour. Looks like Papa Johns hit a home run this time around with this promotion. Boy, Dominos better come up with something good soon, or else, they will be left behind in this crazy 'pizza wars'!

Pizza Hut: Any Pizza for $10!!

Man, you gotta love the pizza wars that started between all the pizza chains late last year. In their effort to out do each other, we the consumers can only sit back, smile and continue to watch the prices of delivery pizza go down lower and lower. I know that this is not exactly a new promotion but I just never got around to blogging about it. In fact, I believe Pizza Hut started this $10 for any pizza deal sometime in Nov last year.

We were out grocery shopping a few weeks back and decided to order carryout from Pizza Hut (which was just next to the grocery store). This is our usual order and we have ordered this same line up countless times, since the promotion started in Nov. However, I only gotten around to take some pictures and blog about it this time around. :P

First up is the "Any Pizza for $10" deal. Firstly, let me point out that is it not exactly 'ANY' pizza for $10. If you want a stuffed crust pizza, you have to pay an additional $2. You know something? The stuffed crust is sooooooo yummy, it's definitely worth that $2. Apart from that, any other pizza (any size, any topping, any crust) is $10. We ordered a large Meat Lovers Stuffed Crust Pizza for only $12.

We also ordered a portion of Stuffed Pizza Rollers. Trust me, they are so so good! 4 pieces of super cheesy pepperoni rolls, with a choice of either marinara or ranch sauce. Guess what? They are only $5! You can also order their P'zone Pizza (it's basically a calzone) for only $5 too.

I just love Pizza Hut's Baked Wings. They are so large and juicy, it really puts all the other pizza delivery company's wings to shame. Here we have an order of 14 mild buffalo wings for $7. It comes with a free tub of Blue Cheese. Pizza Hut is definitely my favorite when it comes to delivery pizza but we rarely order from them because they used to be the most expensive. Now, with all this new deals, it looks as though they are on level playing field with the rest. I'm sorry Dominos and Papa Johns, looks like we will be getting our pizzas from Pizza Hut from now on (unless somebody comes up with an even better deal!).

Simple Pita Bread Pizza

I know it's been a while since I last shared any new recipes on this blog. Quite a number of you have asked me what's happening and why isn't there any more new recipes. Well, I've been pretty busy lately and haven't really had a chance to test out new recipes. However, I managed to try out a few really simple ones over the weekend. I'll start off with this. I made this simple pita bread pizza as a little midnight snack on Friday night but it will be good as a light lunch or afternoon snack too. It's really yummy and easy to make. Check it out.

Start off by heating the pita bread up in the oven or microwave. You can pretty much use any type of pita bread. I used garlic pita bread just cos that's what I had in my pantry. Once the pita bread is heated up, press it down to make sure that it's totally flat and place it on a baking sheet.

Next, spread some pizza sauce on the pita. Again, you can pretty much use any type of pizza sauce that you like. Just make sure that you do not spread on too much sauce. We do not want a soggy pizza! :P

Then, sprinkle on some shredded cheese onto the pita. I used a combination of mozzarella and provolone.

Now, this is the fun part! Time to put on the toppings! What you put on is entirely up to you. I used some chopped up franks, Virginia ham, green peppers and onions.

Sprinkle on more cheese. I added some freshly cracked black pepper on top of the cheese but that's optional.

Pop the baking sheet into a preheated 425F oven for about 8-10 minutes.

There you go! Doesn't it look yummy? It sure taste good! Not only does it taste good, but it's also so simple to make. Go ahead and try it. This recipe is a keeper!

Star Pizza - TriBeCa, NYC

We were in the city a few weeks ago for the TriBeCa Film Festivals Street Fair (will blog about that later on). By the time we were done checking out most of the stuff at the fair, it was already almost dinner time. Most of the food stalls/food trucks at the street fair were already packing up so we decided to walk towards the WTC PATH station (that's where we will ride the train back to Jersey City) and see if we could find something to eat along the way.

Most of the restaurants were closed (I think they cater mostly to the working crowd on weekdays) and we were contemplating if we should just take the subway to the Times Square area or head back to Jersey for dinner. Then we saw Star Pizza. It's located at the corner of Church St and Murray St. We figured you can never go wrong with NY style pizza, so we decided to give it a try. Oh, how wrong we were.

It looked pretty much like any other pizza place when we walked in. A long counter with a few pizza pies, calzones, pizza rolls, salads, pastas and sandwiches on display. We then noticed that the restaurant was empty! Well, almost empty. There was a lady waiting for her falafel to go. That was kind of weird, considering that it was one of the few places opened at that time.

Anyways, we placed our orders and waited for them to heat up our food. Kevin ordered a slice of Pepperoni Pizza ($3.75). You usually can't go wrong with pepperoni pizza, right? Wrong! The pizza was sooooooooo greasy, it was practically swimming in oil! Look at the pools of oil on the pizza slice. Kevin had to use 3 napkins to dab away the oil before eating it. How horrible. Also, there were only like 6 tiny and extra thin pieces of pepperoni on that huge slice of pizza. Boy, they must be really skimping on the meat.

I ordered the Sausage Calzone ($6). As you can see from the oil stains on the paper plate, it wasn't exactly grease free either. Of course it wasn't as bad as Kevin's pizza, but it was pretty bad too. The calzone didn't taste that great and the crust wasn't good at all. Oh and should I mention the marinara sauce? What marina sauce? You mean the red looking liquid that came with the calzone? The marina sauce was sooooo diluted, the consistency looked like water mixed with a little tomato sauce. Looks like the only decent thing that we had that evening was our sodas ($1.35 each). I feel that the food in Star Pizza is way below average and it is not exactly cheap either. I would not return, no matter what. Also, after I got back home, I googled that restaurant and found out that when they were inspected sometime last year, they had a few violation codes slapped on them. How gross. That makes me not want to return even more.

Star Pizza - TriBeCa, NYC
26 Murray Street,
New York, NY 10007
Tel: (212) 285 0031

Whole Wheat Pepperoni & Sausage Stromboli

We found some fresh whole wheat pizza dough on sale at our local grocery store not too long ago and we bought a few packs. Instead of making a pizza or calzone (which we always make), we decided to try something a little different. We made a stromboli instead! It turned out to be pretty yummy, so here is the recipe for it.

You start off by sprinkling some corn meal on a lightly greased baking sheet.

Then, press out the pizza dough evenly into a rectangular shape. Sprinkle on some garlic salt and Italian herbs.

Place a generous amount of shredded cheese (I used mozzarella) right down the middle of the dough.

Next, place some crumbled Italian Hot Sausage on top of the cheese. You can pretty much use any type of sausage that you like.

The next thing to go on are the caramelized onions. You can use fresh onions if you like but I find caramelized onions to be way tastier.

Then, arrange some pepperoni slices on top of the onions. The pile might look as though its getting really high, but don't worry about it. We need to pile it on high because it will all reduce when it's in the oven.

Lastly, sprinkle on more shredded cheese and some fresh basil leaves. Remember to tear the basil leaves into smaller pieces, it will just release the most amazing flavor when baking.

Brush on some eggwash all around the sides of the pizza dough and then you can roll it all up. After rolling, tuck the sides of the dough in well, so that the filling doesn't spill out when baking.

Make little cuts at the top of the stromboli to allow the steam to escape when baking.

Brush on more eggwash on the top (this is to help give it color - it will turn a nice golden brown when it's done) and it's ready to go into the oven.

Pop it into a 375F oven for about half an hour.

There you go! It's done! A nice looking yummy golden brown stromboli. Just allow it to cool down for a little, then you can either cut it into half or slice it into slices before serving. I sliced our stromboli and served it with a large side salad. Yuumyy yummy yum yum!