This pizza was a last minute decision that I made with my roommate. It was roommie night and we had planned on cooking but decided it was just too much effort. She pulled out the ipad and began to order delivery from the Sisson Ave Pizza House.
Pizza Basics
There was cheese. There was crust. There was nothing special about either.
The Pizza
This is, verbatim, what the menu promised:
BBQ chicken, bacon, blue cheese
The Chicken
Chunks of white meat that seemed to have been soaked in brine. It was very, very salty.
The Sauce
There was no BBQ sauce on this pizza. There may have been some trivial amount, but it was not something you could taste over the saltiness of the chicken.
The Toppings
There was bacon, which was also very salty. There was no blue cheese.
Overall
I can't really give a rating to this pizza. It was so fucking salty that it was barely edible. Moreover, there was no fucking blue cheese. The menu said there would be blue cheese (I'm glad there was not, it was already the saltiest pizza I had ever eaten), the menu lied. Liars get no respect from me, they flunk BBQ Pizza 101 and are suspended for academic dishonesty.
Showing posts with label Connecticut. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Connecticut. Show all posts
Monday, August 26, 2013
Monday, August 19, 2013
The Fireplace (B+)
Connecticut is a strange place to go hiking. I grew up in Maine, so I'm used to well marked, well maintained trails that scale mountains. Connecticut has many state parks with many hiking trails...but many of them are poorly marked, poorly maintained and some are downright dangerous. Not only that, but CT doesn't have many mountains and the hikes are treacherous scramblings up hills. Having said that, there are many beautiful vistas at the top of CT hills that let you see for miles and miles.
Another difference between Maine hiking and CT hiking is that Mainers usually have to drive long distances to reach the trails they want to climb--they are far from civilization. Most Connecticut parks are right inside of towns. So what did I do after hiking last week? I got a barbecue chicken pizza, of course!
The Location
The Fireplace is a cute pizzeria and pub located in downtown Southington, CT. The atmosphere is quiet and dark, the tone is hip and young. Their website boasts of their many awards and positive reviews.
The Basics
The Fireplace makes all their food in a wood fueled oven, but I would not call this brick oven pizza. In reality, it's New Haven style pizza. I have to admit that the rest of this review will be biased. I just do not like New Haven pizza. Since moving to Connecticut, I've discovered that it's a thing for people here to love New Haven Pizza. I feel like I am keeping some kind of dirty secret because I don't love the same pizza as my local friends and coworkers--and I don't dare tell them.
I guess it's not a secret anymore.
New Haven pizzas are thin and have a chewy, crispy crust. That sounds appealing, but it's terribly unpleasant. The crust requires so much chewing and mashing that my jaw actually gets tired after the second piece. It's like eating a tough, overcooked steak...that occasionally jabs you in the gums. I like New York pizza with its soft, chewy crust, I like Chicago deep dish pizza with its flaky, fatty crust and I like brick oven pizzas with their floury, melt-in-your-mouth crusts. I do not like this New Haven bullshit. I think Tony Stark could have made his Iron Man suit out of New Haven Pizzas.
The Pizza
The Fireplace calls their barbecue chicken pizza the 'Honey Barbecue' and it is described as 'chicken, bacon, mozzarella cheese over honey barbecue sauce.' Sounds great, right? It looked great, too.
The Chicken
Chunks of breast meat that were still moist. Yum!
The Sauce
Ok, I'm going to pause here and say that this honey barbecue sauce was absolutely amazing. It had just the right balance of sweet and tangy. It was full of seasonings and flavors that were subtle and powerful at the same time. The Fireplace may have the best barbecue sauces I've ever had. You can bet that I will be going back to try their wings.
The Toppings
I should point out, here, that the bacon on this pizza was freshly cooked and was laid across the pizza in complete strips. They were a little crispy, a little chewy and added just the right amount of salt to the pizza.
Overall
The flavor of this pizza came together in a really beautiful way. It had just the right balance of salty, sweet and tangy. I was blown away. Unfortunately, I just can't get past the particle-board crust. I am giving this pizza a B+. If you like New Haven style pizza, dear reader, you would probably give this pizza an A.
I think that Connecticut pizza is a lot like Connecticut hiking--beautiful, convenient and a pain in the ass.
Another difference between Maine hiking and CT hiking is that Mainers usually have to drive long distances to reach the trails they want to climb--they are far from civilization. Most Connecticut parks are right inside of towns. So what did I do after hiking last week? I got a barbecue chicken pizza, of course!
The Location
The Fireplace is a cute pizzeria and pub located in downtown Southington, CT. The atmosphere is quiet and dark, the tone is hip and young. Their website boasts of their many awards and positive reviews.
The Basics
The Fireplace makes all their food in a wood fueled oven, but I would not call this brick oven pizza. In reality, it's New Haven style pizza. I have to admit that the rest of this review will be biased. I just do not like New Haven pizza. Since moving to Connecticut, I've discovered that it's a thing for people here to love New Haven Pizza. I feel like I am keeping some kind of dirty secret because I don't love the same pizza as my local friends and coworkers--and I don't dare tell them.
I guess it's not a secret anymore.
New Haven pizzas are thin and have a chewy, crispy crust. That sounds appealing, but it's terribly unpleasant. The crust requires so much chewing and mashing that my jaw actually gets tired after the second piece. It's like eating a tough, overcooked steak...that occasionally jabs you in the gums. I like New York pizza with its soft, chewy crust, I like Chicago deep dish pizza with its flaky, fatty crust and I like brick oven pizzas with their floury, melt-in-your-mouth crusts. I do not like this New Haven bullshit. I think Tony Stark could have made his Iron Man suit out of New Haven Pizzas.
 |
| "I knew I should have gone with something tougher." |
The Pizza
The Fireplace calls their barbecue chicken pizza the 'Honey Barbecue' and it is described as 'chicken, bacon, mozzarella cheese over honey barbecue sauce.' Sounds great, right? It looked great, too.
 |
| Delicious in the middle, dangerous around the edge. |
The Chicken
Chunks of breast meat that were still moist. Yum!
The Sauce
Ok, I'm going to pause here and say that this honey barbecue sauce was absolutely amazing. It had just the right balance of sweet and tangy. It was full of seasonings and flavors that were subtle and powerful at the same time. The Fireplace may have the best barbecue sauces I've ever had. You can bet that I will be going back to try their wings.
The Toppings
I should point out, here, that the bacon on this pizza was freshly cooked and was laid across the pizza in complete strips. They were a little crispy, a little chewy and added just the right amount of salt to the pizza.
Overall
The flavor of this pizza came together in a really beautiful way. It had just the right balance of salty, sweet and tangy. I was blown away. Unfortunately, I just can't get past the particle-board crust. I am giving this pizza a B+. If you like New Haven style pizza, dear reader, you would probably give this pizza an A.
I think that Connecticut pizza is a lot like Connecticut hiking--beautiful, convenient and a pain in the ass.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Midway Pizza (B-)
Location
Kiley warned me that in Pawcatuck, CT and Westery, RI there is not a lot of food to be found at night. I insisted that there must be a pizza joint open, since it was only 830. She shook her head, but opened her laptop and began to investigate. We settled for Midway Pizza which was located just over the river in Westerly. When we arrived at 8:50, the woman behind the counter asked (half yelling) "Did you order two small pizzas?" "Yes." "Good! I wanna get out of here." We purchased our pizzas and they shut the door behind us.
Just for the record, this was a Saturday night.
The Pizza
I decided to order the buffalo chicken pizza with bleu cheese. Midway makes thick crust pizzas, heaped with bread and cheese. The crust was tasty, as was the cheese.
The Chicken
Generic chicken chunks, but not too chewy. Decent.
The Flavor and the Taste
I think that they used a generic buffalo sauce, but I cannot complain. It was delicious. There wasn't a lot of bleu cheese on the pizza--just enough to give it a rich, salty taste. What this pizza was lacking was vegetables. It could have used onions or broccoli or...something, I don't know.
Overall
I wasn't wowwed by this pizza, but it was tasty and I would definitely eat it again.
Kiley warned me that in Pawcatuck, CT and Westery, RI there is not a lot of food to be found at night. I insisted that there must be a pizza joint open, since it was only 830. She shook her head, but opened her laptop and began to investigate. We settled for Midway Pizza which was located just over the river in Westerly. When we arrived at 8:50, the woman behind the counter asked (half yelling) "Did you order two small pizzas?" "Yes." "Good! I wanna get out of here." We purchased our pizzas and they shut the door behind us.
Just for the record, this was a Saturday night.
The Pizza
I decided to order the buffalo chicken pizza with bleu cheese. Midway makes thick crust pizzas, heaped with bread and cheese. The crust was tasty, as was the cheese.
The Chicken
Generic chicken chunks, but not too chewy. Decent.
The Flavor and the Taste
I think that they used a generic buffalo sauce, but I cannot complain. It was delicious. There wasn't a lot of bleu cheese on the pizza--just enough to give it a rich, salty taste. What this pizza was lacking was vegetables. It could have used onions or broccoli or...something, I don't know.
Overall
I wasn't wowwed by this pizza, but it was tasty and I would definitely eat it again.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Pizza Place (B-)
The Lovely Kiley recently moved to an apartment in Stonington, CT. For those of you who are far away, Stonington is on the coast, right on the Rhode Island border. Kiley's apartment is within walking distance of Westerly, Rhode Island. We walked into Westerly and spent an afternoon in their downtown. It was quintessential New England at its most...well, just at its most, that's what quintessential means. It could not have been more New England.
The Location
The restaurant is actually called Pizza Place, which is clever and quaint and classy. The atmosphere inside was big and open and friendly. Two large groups, a family and some sort of middle school sports team were eating in the main dining room...and I could totally see why. Pizza Place has a decent selection of beers and several chicken pizzas.
The Pizza
The crust was reasonably good, the cheese was decent. Overall the pizza was quality. I ordered the buffalo chicken pizza, this time, which came with bleu cheese and an assortment of bell peppers.
The Chicken
The pieces of chicken were ok. They seemed to be cubes cut from leftover chicken breasts, which is not my favorite, but not bad either. They were leftover, it seems, but not too chewy.
The Sauce and the Taste
Here is where the rubber meets the road, as they say. The buffalo sauce was excellent and the bleu cheese was really salty and sumptuous and enjoyable. The weakness of this pizza was the choice to add bell peppers to the toppings. I don't mind pepper on pizzas but it just didn't fit with the buffalo sauce. You need something that contrasts with the salty heat. Onions usually do the trick.
Overall
I liked this pizza, I ate way too much of it. Nothing about it was amazing, but it worked ok. I think B- is a fair judgment for a decent pizza with ok meat, good sauce and a weak topping.
The Location
The restaurant is actually called Pizza Place, which is clever and quaint and classy. The atmosphere inside was big and open and friendly. Two large groups, a family and some sort of middle school sports team were eating in the main dining room...and I could totally see why. Pizza Place has a decent selection of beers and several chicken pizzas.
The Pizza
The crust was reasonably good, the cheese was decent. Overall the pizza was quality. I ordered the buffalo chicken pizza, this time, which came with bleu cheese and an assortment of bell peppers.
 |
| It does kind of look like someone got murdered, but I assure you all that blood is delicious. |
The pieces of chicken were ok. They seemed to be cubes cut from leftover chicken breasts, which is not my favorite, but not bad either. They were leftover, it seems, but not too chewy.
The Sauce and the Taste
Here is where the rubber meets the road, as they say. The buffalo sauce was excellent and the bleu cheese was really salty and sumptuous and enjoyable. The weakness of this pizza was the choice to add bell peppers to the toppings. I don't mind pepper on pizzas but it just didn't fit with the buffalo sauce. You need something that contrasts with the salty heat. Onions usually do the trick.
Overall
I liked this pizza, I ate way too much of it. Nothing about it was amazing, but it worked ok. I think B- is a fair judgment for a decent pizza with ok meat, good sauce and a weak topping.
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