The Great Pizza Adventure #13 - Raimondos

Raimondo's is one of those local pizza places that constantly makes "best of" lists so a few years back I decided to give them a try.  Wowee mama!  It was good stuff, and cheap too!  They aren't exactly close to my home or work but they're close enough that once or twice a year I find myself handing over my credit card in their store*.  For $7.99 you get a large 14" generously loaded with toppings.  Good toppings.  And good cheese.  Lots of it.

Okay, enough raving about past Raimondo's experiences**.  The pizza was ready right on time and was piping hot, though oddly not "burn your mouth" hot.  So maybe it wasn't right out of the oven, like it only took ten minutes to cook but they told me 15 minutes.  Are they liars?  Perhaps. 

But before I dig in,  here's the obligatory measurement pic.  As you can see, they are true to their word, offering up a full 14 inches of pizza goodness.  

And now the first bite.  Yum!  Again I'm reminded of the quality and quantity of cheese they put on.  It almost has a bit of a snap or bite to it, but that's a good thing.  The crumbled sausage is hidden under the thick quilt of cheese and seems to be a bit less copious than in the past.  The flavor is good, though, but it's definitely overpowered by the cheese, playing second fiddle.  Did I mention that there is a lot of cheese?  Especially for an eight dollar pizza.

The pie is a bit on the salt size, which I don't mind.  The crust is good as well, definitely having some character and a bit of flavor of its own, though not a lot of flavor of it's own.  It was also both crispy and chewy, like a baguette***.  The sauce is also of a sufficient amount and of a complimentary but not over powering flavor.  Due to the quality of the rest of the pizza I'd be interested in getting a cup of the sauce for dipping next time to see if I can get a better taste.  

Some pizzas are dry and need a dipping sauce but this one is just a step under what would be called "greazy".  Okay, I'm biased.  It's greazy and you want to make sure if you're eating this in your vehicle that you have a napkin handy and on your lap so you don't drip.

Aside from hitting the 14" mark it also weighs in at a respectable 33.9 ounces, most of that probably cheese-heft.

Weight: 33.9 oz

Diameter: 14" 

Cost: $8.41

Service: 8

Crust: 8

Sauce: 8

Toppings: 9 (quantity) + 7 (flavor) / 2 = 8

Value: 10 (24.8 cents per ounce) / 5.5 cents per square inch

                  Overall Score: 8.2

                  Flavor Score: 7.7

An 8.2... this is why Raimondos consistently gets mentioned on "best of" lists... plus it's cheap, which is a very strong appeal for penny pinchers like me.  24.8 cents an ounce is Little Caesers territory!  It's not the best tasting pizza in Fort Wayne but it's up there with pizzas that cost twice as much.  Congratulations Raimondos... I'll see you in about four months!

* But not today... I left my drivers license and credit card at home.  Not that I was planning on eating there... I was just there in October!

** Except that I'm writing about a past experience... I went to Raimondos two months ago but am only now getting around to writing about it.

 *** I'm just making things up.  I've never had a baguette and didn't even know how to spell it.  Thanks spell check!

The Great Pizza Adventure #12 - Pizza Hut

People in Fort Wayne say there's something special about our Pizza Hut pizza, that it sparkles in your mouth, and that Pizza Hut pizza from, say, Battle Creek, Michigan just isn't as good.  At least they used to before Dick Freeland died and all the Pizza Huts went downhill.  Or at least that's what they say.  

Who's Dick Freeland?  Only the local Pizza Hut magnate who built a THIRTY MILLION DOLLAR HOUSE before he died.

Until this recent Great Pizza Adventure, and before covid, the majority of Pizza Hut pizzas that went into my belly did so via their glorious buffet.  Now those are gone, never to return.  And my life is definitely more empty because of it, and so is my belly.  Was Pizza Hut the best pizza in town?  No, but it was pretty stinkin' good.  Definitely top tier quality.  And to be able to shovel as much into your pie hole as you were physically able to for seven or eight bucks was an amazing deal!

But again, all that is over.  "No Pizza Hut buffet" is the new normal.  And I blame Fauci.

Anyway, so this was my first pizza from the Hut in about two years and I was hoping it would be good.  After the semi-disappointing Papa John pizza and the Ziffles and and and I was really needing a pick-me-up.  Normally I would go to the original-in-Fort-Wayne place about two miles away but since I'm trying to keep these reviews from places in and around the 46815 area code, I chose to go to the one on Stellhorn.  And here, for you dear reader, I took a major risk.  About five years ago I knew a guy who installed Comcast cable in all the Pizza Huts and he said he would never eat at the Stellhorn location from the things he saw in the kitchen, and he lived right by the place.  But for you I'll risk a night on the throne.

I went to their web site and found a special... $9.99 for a large three topping.  Yumbly!  With tax it came to $10.80,  or 1080p.  Ordering was easy and it was truly ready in 15-20 minutes, like they said.  Here's the online picture of what my pizza would look like.  Let's see... 32 pepperonis* and, er, I'm not going to count all the sausages.  Or the tiny bacons.

Here's what I got.  It kinda looks like the same pizza, but one that got hit by an ugly stick.  And only 26 pepperonis, although lots more sausage** and certainly no lack of toppings.  We'll call it even.  The bacon amount was negligible, just barely enough to know it's there.

At 35.8 ounces it's about in the middle of the pack.  Way to go average, Pizza Hut.  

13.5 inches... not quite the 14 inches as promised.  I bet Dick Freeland wouldn't have let this kind of shoddy quality control go unpunished.

The sauce had a good flavor and was plentiful, just the way I like it!  The crust had a solid crunch where it's supposed to crunch, chew where it's supposed to chew, not soggy, decent flavor.  No complaints about the amount, flavor or quality of the cheese and the savory meats.  Kudos!  You made a solid pie!  I have no idea why people are saying you've gone down in quality in the past few years.  

And the best thing is... no food poisoning!

Weight: 35.8 oz

Diameter: 13.5" 

Cost: $10.80

Service: 8

Crust: 8

Sauce: 8

Toppings: 8 (quantity) + 8 (flavor) / 2 = 8

Value: 8 (30.17 cents per ounce) / 7.5 cents per square inch

                  Overall Score: 8

                  Flavor Score: 8.0   (I'm seeing a trend here)

Well I did NOT see that coming.  Maybe it was lowered expectations or coming after two mis-fires but surprisingly Pizza Hut is currently on the top of the heap!

* It's a good thing there weren't 33 pepperonis or I'd suspect Masonic involvement.

** Okay, I did count them.  52, give or take.

The Great Pizza Adventure #1 - Pizza King

Yeah, it's about that time again... time that I find another series with which to occupy my time and give me a reason to write, no matter how triffling.  And so, being sent permanently home to work (they closed my physical office) I decided to see if I could find the best pizza in my zip code.  It turns out there were only a couple in my zip code so I expanded it to the immediate area, just because I'm nice that way.

As with the Great Gravy Adventure (post-named) I need to come up with some criteria, which shall become apparent as I ramble on.  Plus I'm sure it will change as I think of more things.  In fact, I've already had regrets on my first pie.  Well, the very first regret was the pizza place itself.  Pizza King.  Next to Little Caesars, this is the place I most dread.  I've only been to Pizza King a few times in my life and I've been disappointed every time.  But for you, dear reader, I shall soldier on.

Why start low?  Now there's (almost) no place to go but up! Plus I had a coupon!  Yes, part of my criteria is to get the cheapest pizza they have on special and see how they all stack up.  Pizza King had an 8" PIZZA FEAST for $7.09 (plus tax, of course).  If possible my intent is to get a small size pizza from each place with half pepperoni and half sausage but apparently the Pizza Feast is a supreme.  No biggie... I've liked supreme pizzas ever since I started paying on a mortgage.  For the record, a small (10") one topping pizza would have been $8.69.

I ordered at 12:20 and was put "on hold" for three minutes, meaning the guy set the phone down and took care of someone in the store.  The order was then taken and it was indeed ready 15-20 minutes later.  I think he was the only employee working.  Did I mention that this particular Pizza King is half of a gas station so it's small?  I mean, uck from the outside but inside the place was actually very nice and you wouldn't know you were sharing a roof with a petrol dispensery.<

When he brought my pizza at first I thought it was a joke.  I mean, I knew it was 8" but it seemed much smaller than that.  

Of course I had my handy dandy l'il scale.  Press the Tare button, later subtract the weight of the packaging, and you have a pizza weight of 11.3 ounces.  Just... 11.3 ounces... for seven bucks.  A Tombstone pizza is $3 and it's durned near 21 ounces... but it's just a frozen pizza.  However a Freschetta, on sale for $5, is 26 ounces and I KNOW that's good.  Alright, Pizza King, show me what you've got. 

Looks like what you've got comes up a little short.  I was hard pressed to find a measurement of 8" so once again, disappointment reigns at Pizza King.

In my shock I forgot to take an unobscured picture of the pizza so this, and the next photo, will have to do.  So let's talk about this pizza... the crust was crunchy, though it did have some chewy bits.  Honestly it was like a Jeno Party Pizza.  The sauce was underwhelming, like it wanted to have flavor but just didn't know how.   The amount of toppings was quite good and they kept up to their motto of "good to the edge", or at least they had toppings to the edge.  But this also gave it a Party Pizza vibe... not a good thing.  As for the flavor of the toppings, well, like everything about this pizza it just seemed to fall a bit short.  Maybe it I had put some garlic powder on top or parmesan cheese or even some salt it would have fared better.  'Tis a pity.

As for the "Feast", I ate the entire thing on my short drive home and immediately made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  If I spend $7.66 on lunch I'd better be blown away by the flavor or I'd better be very full.  It's probably a good thing I didn't end up with a larger pizza because then I'd have made myself eat the entire unsatisfactory thing, which would have led to further regret.

 

 

So how about those stats?

Weight: 11.3 oz

Diameter: 7.75" 

Cost: $7.66

Service:2

Crust:3

Sauce:3

Toppings: 6 (quantity) + 4 (flavor) / 2 = 5

Value: 1 (68 cents per ounce) / 16.2 cents per square inch

Overall Score: 2.8

Flavor Score: 3.3

Pizza King, I hereby dub thee THE KING OF DISAPPOINTMENT!  I wouldn't be surprised if even Little Ceasers scores better.