Has anyone else noticed pizza quality has hit rock bottom?

[mmntech]

There's one small chain I usually go to called Toppers. Their crust is really good. I usually make my own pizza though. Pick up some dough, Italian style sauce, the proper pepperoni, mozzarella cheese. Top it with whatever's in the fridge. Good.

 

[TallBill]

We have pretty awesome pizza here...

 

[techs]

Anyone remember the great "Imitation Cheese" war?

I'm showing my age. It's gotta be 30 years ago, but frozen pizza makers, and others, tried to get the public to accept "imitation cheese" a nasty compound of casein and a bunch of stuff with 42 different letters in their names.

 

[Freejack2]

After reading this thread we are so going to the local pizza restaurant tomorrow night. The place is a bit run down but their pizza is divine. Extra cheese, sausage, mushroom, anchovies on my half, olives on the wives half. *drool*

 

[OutHouse]

Anyone remember the great "Imitation Cheese" war?

I'm showing my age. It's gotta be 30 years ago, but frozen pizza makers, and others, tried to get the public to accept "imitation cheese" a nasty compound of casein and a bunch of stuff with 42 different letters in their names.

i barely do, but i do remember about 10 years ago i accidently grabbing a bag of imitation cheese from the store for taco night. good god! that shit was nasty. i thought it was molded.

 

[FelixDeCat]

i barely do, but i do remember about 10 years ago i accidently grabbing a bag of imitation cheese from the store for taco night. good god! that shit was nasty. i thought it was molded.

You think thats bad, about 15 years ago the marketing geniuses at Kraft came up with something called "Queso Cheese" which was basically jalapeno cheese. Why would you name something twice like that? Anytime I want to make people laugh I ask them if they want some "Queso Cheese". Any Mexican knows there is no such thing as "Queso Cheese". Thats like calling something Agua Water or Frijole Beans. Stupid.

The marketing campaign was quiety dropped.

 

[bfdd]

I have become a pizza snob over the last 5 years after travelling on business and eating some of the best pizza in the country. I can't stand the chain stuff anymore (Well, except for Little Caesars---something about a $5 lg pizza that is edible is appealing heh).

Fortunately there's a small pizzeria in the middle of our small town that makes decent stuff, and we have a couple of awesome places within 15 miles. I've gotten to the point where I can tell what region and style a pizza is taking after, and what they put in their crust

Even for 5 dollars Little Caesars isn't edible. You're not a pizza snob, you're an idiot.

 

[ElFenix]

You think thats bad, about 15 years ago the marketing geniuses at Kraft came up with something called "Queso Cheese" which was basically jalapeno cheese. Why would you name something twice like that? Anytime I want to make people laugh I ask them if they want some "Queso Cheese". Any Mexican knows there is no such thing as "Queso Cheese". Thats like calling something Agua Water or Frijole Beans. Stupid.

The marketing campaign was quiety dropped.

eh, i could see if it was velveeta with the peppers and seasoning already in it for a bowl of queso dip. just melt in the microwave and serve.

 

[vi edit]

You think thats bad, about 15 years ago the marketing geniuses at Kraft came up with something called "Queso Cheese" which was basically jalapeno cheese. Why would you name something twice like that? Anytime I want to make people laugh I ask them if they want some "Queso Cheese". Any Mexican knows there is no such thing as "Queso Cheese". Thats like calling something Agua Water or Frijole Beans. Stupid.

The marketing campaign was quiety dropped.

Same thing for "Chai Tea". In many other places of the world Chai is tea. They don't say Tea Tea. Just chai.

And naan bread. Naan is bread. Asking for naan bread is asking for bread bread.

 

[Bateluer]

Has anyone else noticed the sheer amount of people who bitch about pizza on these forums?

Pizza is an essential food group for the Internet, forum crawlers.

 

[40sTheme]

Papa Johns is great.
Pizza Hut is OK, Domino's is OK.
Everything else is awful as far as chains go.

 

[jiggahertz]

Remember when you were a kid and you got one of those Book-It certificates and your parents would take you to Pizza Hut? You'd get that little personal pan pizza. You had that shit eating grin on your face the whole day. Those were the days.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Anyone remember the great "Imitation Cheese" war?

I'm showing my age. It's gotta be 30 years ago, but frozen pizza makers, and others, tried to get the public to accept "imitation cheese" a nasty compound of casein and a bunch of stuff with 42 different letters in their names.

I do vaguely remember that in the early 80s. Terrible!

 

[FallenHero]

Local pizza place by my condo has FANTASTIC pizza.

 

[IronWing]

I blame upward mobility. Used to be ethnic foods were prepared by the associated ethnics. Due to our great melting pot nonsense all the ethnics went on to become bankers, and lawyers, and such and the quality of ethnic foods have suffered horribly as they are now being prepared by random zit faced teenagers under direction of corporate cardboard thousands of miles away.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

New Haven Pizzas regularly beat out everyone else in national pizza competitions

this

 

[Squisher]

We got a pizza a couple of months ago from a new place and when we got it I thought well, we didn't get many toppings, but when we started to eat it, it was heaven. It was obvious all the toppings had been hand cut fresh for our pizza and that was why it looked rather spartan. +++ Will buy again.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Same thing for "Chai Tea". In many other places of the world Chai is tea. They don't say Tea Tea. Just chai.

And naan bread. Naan is bread. Asking for naan bread is asking for bread bread.

Oh man do I feel stupid now. Everytime I went to a restuarant I always ordered a bowl of Queso Cheese and Frijole Beans with Naan bread and glass of sweet Chai Tea.

No wonder the waitresses always walked off laughing. :hmm:

 

[mchammer187]

I've had all sorts of pizza all over the world, and at least with respect to chain pizzas, I can't think of one that I couldn't eat and be relatively happy. Are there better pizzas? Sure, but I love pizza so much that just about any chain pizza will suffice in a pinch.

Seriously, these pizza threads (actually, any chain restaurant thread) make me laugh. It is cool to hate on the big restaurants/chains around here and that's all there is to it. I suppose I shouldn't laugh too much, because I AM a beer snob and cringe when I see people drinking any Coors product, for example.

I don't eat fast food or chains because the quality of the food.

It is heavily processed and a lot of the menu is just boiled out of frozen plastic bags or microwaved

its not the way food was meant to be and it shows in the product

Sure it is acceptable food but there is a clear difference between a place that uses a lot of stuff that is frozen, canned or microwaveable and a place that uses all fresh ingredients.

I don't hate chain places because they are chains but because of the practices they all seem to follow. I happen to eat a chipotle regularly even. They actually cook their food and use high quality ingredients though.

 

[QueBert]

Do you think Chipotle uses "high quality ingredients" because they make it right in front of you? In that case Subway should be high on your list. Chipotle is tasty, but it's BAD for you and their ingredients aren't any better quality then a Del Taco. But for some reason people tend to believe that Chipotle's worlds better because, well I really don't know why.

 

[mchammer187]

Do you think Chipotle uses "high quality ingredients" because they make it right in front of you? In that case Subway should be high on your list. Chipotle is tasty, but it's BAD for you and their ingredients aren't any better quality then a Del Taco. But for some reason people tend to believe that Chipotle's worlds better because, well I really don't know why.

from wiki:
In 2001, Chipotle released a mission statement called Food With Integrity, which highlighted Chipotle's efforts to increase their use of naturally raised meat, organic produce, and dairy without added hormones.[3] All of Chipotle's pork is naturally raised – defined by the company as open-range, antibiotic free, and with a vegetarian diet – as well as 80% of its chicken and 85% of the beef (100% of the barabacoa served is from naturally-raised beef). The company formerly served 100% natural chicken, but demand exceeded supply.[48] Approximately 40% of the beans are organically grown.[49] In 2009, Chipotle planned to serve over 60 million pounds (27 million kilograms) of naturally raised meat, more than any other restaurant company,[50] and plans to use 75 million pounds in 2010.[48] The company pledges to use more local produce when possible,[51][52] using "35 percent of at least one of its produce items for every restaurant sourced from small and midsize local farms throughout the growing season" in 2009,[3] and increasing to 50% in 2010.[53] Chipotle advertises its support of family farms, such as Niman Ranch, a California "natural" meat producer that contracts with farms in the Midwest to raise pork and other livestock.[54] All of the cheese and sour cream comes from cows that do not receive recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), and 30% of the dairy comes from open pasture cows.[55] Founder Steve Ells has testified before Congress in support of the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act, which aims to reduce the amount of hormones given to farm animals.[56][25]




Chipotle is probably not for those trying to lose weight but I would consider it healthy the same way that roast beef I make at my house with mashed potatoes from scratch is. It is a perfectly healthy food. My definition of healthy is free of preservatives and processing.

Subway uses cold cuts from who knows where. The obviously don't cook their chicken on premises They do not make their meatballs (other than heat) on premises either. Their bread and veggies are probably fine. How is that the same as chipotle? That said I would eat their tuna because tuna is tuna.

I am not really familiar with Del Taco but if they are like Taco Bell than I doubt it.

 

[OutHouse]

Do you think Chipotle uses "high quality ingredients"

Yup they do.

 

[disappoint]

Anothera newa englandera talkinga abouta howa onlya dea besta pizza piesa madea ina Newa Yorka.

FTFY

 

[LookBehindYou]

Just got a 14 inch Big Wick from wicks last night with a veggie salad. We get two meals out of this. 34 dollars plus a 6 dollar tip makes 40 bucks for pizza.

But absolutely worth it. If you want quality, then pay for it.

Ahh, Wicks is the bomb. Mighty Meaty for the fucking win! Nothing better than a big pizza with about 4 dead animals on it.

 

[Fritzo]

Even for 5 dollars Little Caesars isn't edible. You're not a pizza snob, you're an idiot.

Aww....someone's having a problem finding the right words again.