Teri's Digs - ithacans have bad taste in pizza. «

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Mood: disgusted/dyspeptic

Posted in Uncategorized on 2007.10.05 @ 22:36

For the zillionth year running, Ithaca has once again voted local pizzeria Pizza Aroma as the best pizza place in town.

I don’t get it.

Pizza Aroma pizza is gritty, doughy, and boring. The cheese tastes more like milk than cheese. The tomato sauce is overpowering in its marinara-y blandness. After one and a half slices, you feel like you’re eating vomit.

New York style pizza, it isn’t.

Imagine my surprise when, after I complained to a co-worker about Pizza Aroma’s laudations in the face of execrable taste he disagreed. And when I offered up Gino’s (Ithaca’s only NY style pizzeria, ironically, as Ithaca is in NY) as my favorite local pizza place he went so far as to say the crap pizza in the mall’s food court was better. As he’s generally an okay sort of guy, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, and even subjected happicow and Peter to a Pizza Aroma dinner taste test, in case all previous experiences with them (all two!) were flukes.

And we all came to the same conclusion: BLEAAARGH. Ithaca, what is wrong with you? Why must you continue to encourage the perpetuation of such terrible food?

Happicow calls it hippy pizza. Maybe it tastes good while stoned? Maybe the secret ingredient is hemp?

Anyway, I think the local bad taste is because we all hail from the only part of the U.S. that actually makes good pizza, and Ithaca is just far enough away from there to think that their bland pizza is good, and to disdain the flavorful stuff for it’s lack of bland (“The spices! They add flavors! They buuuuurrrrrrn!”) :)

I think I’m taking this all way too seriously, but stuff like this makes me wish I lived in a real city. Sure, all non-NY pizza is terrible, but at least in, say, Chicago, they have the decency to make distinctive terrible pizza; as opposed to pizza that is mostly terrible for it’s lack of distinctness. I can respect that. I don’t agree with it, but I don’t think people who prefer Chicago-style pizza are crazy- just wrong.

Ithacans on the other hand…

Tags: food, ithaca, rants

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7 comments on Ithacans have bad taste in pizza.

Posted by Mitch on 2007.10.05 at 23:37

I think that the mall place “Sicilian Delight” makes pretty good pizza. The sauce is good, and the crust is thin and crispy, just how I like it. Of course I don’t usually go in for all the “fancy” sort of slices. I usually just stick to the basics, and find it quite acceptable. I also think that Gino’s is good too, provided the slices are just out of the oven, and haven’t been sitting around for jeebus knows how long.

As an aside, I’ve visited New York City a few times, and while there I experienced both bad pizza and bad bagels. /shrug

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Posted by Teri on 2007.10.06 at 01:48

To be honest, most of the pizza I’ve had while in NYC has been pretty terrible, but I think I’ve only gotten it there as a last minute Port Authority lunch/snack (or the like).

By the way, “New York Style” doesn’t actually mean it had to come from New York- it just means the crust is kinda thin and crispy (but not thin-crust), and that the pizza is light on the sauce and only has mozzarella cheese. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York-style_pizza
Although the Wikipedia article doesn’t mention it, I think the difference between good NY pizza and crummy NY pizza (as is sold in the Port Authority and Pizza Aroma) is that the good stuff has seasonings that give it more of a flavor than just tomatoes and cheese, and is pretty light on the tomatoes. Also, if the slice is so gooey and floppy that you are unable to pick it up at the crust end in such a way as to prevent it from folding over and losing all of its cheese, then it is probably very bad pizza. The crust should not be crisp enough to actually crack or crunch, but should be firm enough to maintain structural integrity.

Other places in Ithaca with good NY style pizza are Collegetown Pizzeria and Mama T’s in Collegetown (though Gino’s is still much better). For something that isn’t NY style but is nonetheless very good, Papa John’s is the next best pizza I’ve had in town (it’s a bit sweet, but it is also quite tasty!).

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Posted by Peter on 2007.10.06 at 01:54

Pizza Aroma is only good for garlic knots and indigestion. Not necessarily in that order. GINO’S is the place to eat if you’re in the mood to order great pizza.

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Posted by Kevin Mark on 2007.10.06 at 13:43

As someone who lived in upstate new york(oswego) and brooklyn, the upstate pizza we ate was composed of white, uncooked bottoms and was cooked in a square pan. Ugh! New york pizza has a reasonably cooked bottom, a reasonably amount of hot, bubbly mozzarella, thin crust, can withstand being eaten folded, has a nice visible sprinkling of olive oil on top, is crispy and has a somewhat zesty sauce. Maybe you should have them fedex a pizza and do a taste test? Or maybe they like their hometown bland pies?!

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Posted by Mitch on 2007.10.07 at 10:36

The pizza shop on the corner in Collegetown has exceedingly good garlick knots, and the pizza is good too.

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Posted by Teri on 2007.10.07 at 13:51

Yep, that’s Collegetown Pizzeria. Their stuff is good, but Gino’s is still far better.

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Posted by beth on 2007.10.12 at 00:08

I believe there is a fundamental disconnect between the Pizza Aroma fans and the Gino’s fans. Here it is: Gino’s makes the better cheese pizza, hands-down. BUT, Pizza Aroma’s toppings are unlike anything else around, and they are delicious. (Try their black bean/feta/basil/avocado slices, which they always have on hand – amazing!) For many, this makes up for the fact that their basic cheese pizza tastes like poop.

Pizza Aroma also is the only pizzeria serving soy cheese, so they get 100% of the vegan vote.

As for non-NY pizza, I’ve never had a “chicago style” pizza I liked except for when I was actually in Chicago. It was deep-dish, with spinach and tomatoes, and it was juicy and succulent and flavorful. I consider it the best pizza-eating experience of my life to date (and I usually don’t even like deep-dish pizza).

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