Del Popolo

Del Popolo is a food truck here in San Francisco. We greeted it with open arms at one of the Off the Grid events, where the food trucks line up and charge extra to drunken patrons. We walked up, with no line to be seen. We waited for the women in the purple jacket shown to help us... and we waited. She looked at myself and Handsome, who is you dont know is 6'8" and hard to miss and went back it.. staring at her shoes? She hollard a name, and no one came forward. So she looked around, pointed at a gentleman and said "You had a combo right? here, take this one, Im tired of waitin" and went back to... staring at her shoes? the chefs were working away. A woman came up and said she heard her name, and the gal in purple said "Your to late, itll be 10 minutes" and still hadnt even said hi to us. I said to handsome very loudly "Well their to busy for us, should we look for something else?" When she turned to us saying "What do you want?" To order pizza. But handsome did the order knowing i was about ready to slap her, We stood by the truck while she managed to skip around the line because she didnt want to wait... and finally got our pizza.

We got the $14 combo, then added the $2 pork salami.2 of which blew off int he wind and across the grass almost immediately. BUT, this was a damned good pizza.

Del Popolo chefs know what their doing. the crust is fluffy and crisp, the meats are flavorful and fresh, real mozzarella and basil. I dont know if it was $16 worth of pizza as you can see based on Handsomes thumb there it was pretty small, but very tasty. Also the Cashier was one of the worst cashiers I have seen in a long time. shame on you maam, it wasnt even busy. I have worked retail and customer service for 14+ years and even if your job sucks you dont take it out on people who are trying to give you money. 

Avalinos Revisited

If you have read the other posts, Cafe Avalinos used to be the best slice I just about ever had, and it was consistent. But the owner sold the place, and the new guys just didnt care. They changed the dough, the sauce, and on two occasions they were to drunk to properly cook a pizza and I recieved poor service and burnt sadness.

We were walking by and saw one of the old cooks behind the counter. therefor we were willing to give them a try once more. We were met with some joy! Its not what it was, but the pizza is much much better. The sauce is well seasoned and the crust actually has flavor. Most importantly the pizza wasnt burnt.

They have gotten rid of the beer, and most of the pizza options in favor of salads and bagels. and I wont go in again without an old cook behind the counter, but good to know theres a good slice walking distance from Handsomes House

Costco Whole Pizza

So if you are a Costco member you know about their lovely cheap pizza. If not, they have lovely cheap pizza. This giant beast we were able to pick up for $9.99. Giant ass pizza for under $10.This is the combo, but they also have a vegi, cheese, and pepperoni.

Our order took longer then I have had to wait ever, Usually they are very on top of it, but this time we waited about 1/2 hour, which isnt so bad for a pizza but it usually takes 10 minutes and your just standing in a warehouse holding frozen strawberries staring at a frustrated underpaid worker. But then we got it home.

This is a darn good pizza. Its not worlds best, but It is much better then you think it will be. The sauce is flavorful and tomatoey. The meats are well spiced and not to greasy, vegis properly cooked.The crust has a good crunch to it and is fluffy so its thickness isnt an issue.

Did i mention their is a TON of it? Ya. so much pizza goodness.

New Cafe Avalinos, more burnt disappointment

So Avalinos has changed owners... It's still ok, but the sauce is more tomatoey and tinny, and the new guys burnt the snacks out of my pizza. I had to return it... :( 

On the other hand they offer siscillian style now... In the mornings.. On weekdays... An apology? :/   

Little Star :( sigh

I have to preface this post with I REAAAALLY have been wanting to eat here. Reaallllllyyy badly... Little Star gets great reviews everywhere, write ups in national columns, the whole nine yards. Maybe I over built it?

At any rate, their service SUCKS. Gentleman Friend and I went there to meet up with friends from SacTown, and it seemed like a great excuse to check out this place I've heard so much about. GF and I arrived first to find friends were caught in traffic, no worries. We went in to save a table, in the empty restaurant, and were seated promptly. You have to ask for water, they say because of the draught, but I'm pretty sure it's to help the bar tenders out. Our friends arrived shortly, and we places our orders (about 3:40) and had some drinks. The place started to fill up with after World Cup drunks, and one group was insanely loud... As in I could and did scream and was barely heard over them. Ok, this is THAT place. Well our pizzas didnt come till 4:30, and no mention from our server except if we wanted more drinks. Oh, so we got 2 small pizzas, a deep dish and a thin crust, and 3 tables sat after us got their pizzas first. :/ boo. Well, the pizza was meh.. I mean it's ok, but I was starving by then and it was still alright...

 Sorry no deep dish Picts, as it still had to wait another 10 mins, and by then I was just trying to hear our conversation. I DO NOT recommend this one... Sadly..

Golden Boy Pizza

Hello all! It's been to long. Don't worry, much pizza has been consumed :3 recently Gentleman Friend took me to Golden Boy Pizza in Northbeach, the Italian part of town. 

They serve slices, so we dove in with some combo, a vegi combo and a garlic and pesto. This is Sicilian style, so square with a deeper, spongy crust. It's deeeelightful!! I haven't had a good Sicilian slice since I left Detroit of all places, but this hit the spot. Awesome, and fun atmosphere. It's small and hot but much like a good bar or rock show, good people and great refreshments!

Mountain Mikes- The Everest

 Mountain Mikes, I haven't eaten at one in years. To be fair, Im not sure their around the bay area really, but my Handsome Man and I were in the neighborhood of San Mateo and I declared this is what we were eating. Mikes is California style pizza, like Straw Hat, and Round Table.This means a pan pizza, so spongy crust, and toppings all the way to the edge. this is the pizza i grew up on. the pizza i truly crave in my soul...

So here is the Everest. Its essentially a combo, with pepperoni, linguica, sausage, ground beef, mushrooms, olives, green peppers, onions, and prolly more. The bottom was crisp and light, with appropriate cheese and that lovely spiced sauce. Just looking at the pictures of this post is making my hungry. Over all, a childhood favorite, so go eat some. NOW. Even if you have to get on a plane.

Princess Cruises Pizza

So while on Cruise in Alaska (I am not over this yet :3 ) there was a pizzeria on board, with two hard working guys who stand there for 14 hours a day watching fat tourists getting fatter... Including me. Anywho, the pizza was actually pretty good! I started with the Princess Pepperoni, crispy, tasty and delightful. Everyday they had a special... And I was strong and didnt eat it everyday. Just most of them. 

Red peppers, tomatoes

 Fontina and ham, Buffalo mozzarella and fontina

Glacier special 

Artichoke hearts, green pepper, and red pepper

Pizzeria Roma- Juneau Alaska

 So for those who follow my main blog, you may know that I just got back from Alaska! And what did I do in Alaska other then watch whales and shoot Bald Eagles with Canons? (cameras that is) Well, I ate a metric ton of pizza. So first up we have Pizzeria Roma, a lovely little place right on the pier. The day we ate here I was a little under the weather, but on the mend.

We started our meal off with some brews from Alaskan Brewing, which is right up the road from here. I had the White, and Handsome Gentleman Friend had their Amber. mmmmm Beer.... I just have to say that beer thats as close to the source as possible, is as good as it gets. your local brewery will be the best beer youve ever had in your life. I promise. We ordered the BBQ chicken pizza, which is a delightful meal with BBQ sauce instead of red sauce, a thin and crispy crust and awesome toppings. As you can see from my picture, chucks of chicken, red onions and green bell peppers are the stars here. Over all, eat here. After getting off a cruise ship and seeing whales and glaciers.

Giorgio's- Inner Richmond

Yesterday, as in I'm actually doing a timely updat and the day before the date of this lovely post, Handsome Gentleman Friend and I went to Giorgios! It's a lovely little place in the inner Richmond district of SF. Poor GF was feeling ill so we grabbed some slices to go, and headed back to his place for a movie marathon.

The slices are huge here, as in we needed a XL box for 4. Here I got the pepperoni (with 5 kinds of pepperoni) and I had them add some jalepeno for a kick. The crust is nice and thin, with enough strength to hold up the monster size of the thing. It has decent flavor as well. The sauce is good, and excellent cheese. As for the 5 kinds of pepperoni... I couldn't tell... But it was all a little spicy and not overly salty. Over all an excellent slice! I recommend! And at $3.50 for essentially a meal who can refuse? 

What is this?

While browsing facebook i discovered this beast. Now as most can tell from the blog I am not a deep dish gal.. usually... but this... monstrosity is a possiblility from some Canadian company (im not in Canada at this moment so I dont care) and I think i may have to build one... I'll keep you all posted....

Pizza Orgazmica Embarcadero

Anyone who's been to San Francisco and eaten has prolly heard of, or been told they must have Pizza Orgazmica. Their a small chain around who are famous for their pizza and as of recently their own beer. So today's review is for the shop in the Embarcadero Center.

I lucked out and got a lunch special. A jumbo slice, salad, and beverage for $7. Not to shabby. They had a bunch of assorted slices up, but for science and comparison, I went with an old standby, pepperoni and olive. The crust is well flavored, and not to salty, plenty of cheese and toppings, over a very good slice! The one thing was the crust was a little tough, so ill have to go back and see if this is a policy or just a dough batch! So not extraordinary, but worth a trip. Don't let it get over hyped for ya. 

Jupiter

Jupiter is a bar, brewery and retreat in Berkeley, right downtown. I have been hearing about them or months now, especially the pizza and brews! So we went over for a treat.

We ordered the Eutropia. It involved fennel sausage, pepperoni, veggies and some meat. I forget a little as it was a few days ago. We also ordered a honey hefe and a quasar, aka their red and some beer and cheese fondue. The beers were delightful. Full bodied an flavorful. The fondue showed up next and was Swiss based which was surprising to me, but very good as well! With sourdough and fucacha breads. Last the pizza arrived.

The shape was "rustic". Honestly looked like a new chef in the kitchen. Besides its look the taste was quite nice. The crust was flavorful and crisp, and the toppings were tasty and well balanced. Sadly the sauce tasted like chef boyardi... To bad! Over all I would order pizza here again, but the beers are the stars 

Subway Pizza?

Say what?? Subway has launched Flatizza's... It's a flatbread pizza (I could argue all pizzas are on flat bread but this is starting to feel to philosophical for this blog) with all the subway fixings. Well, not all. I ordered 2, at $2.50 each or 2 for $5.... Their lingo... I figured what the heck. I got the Spicy Italian and a Pepperoni. To my disappointment, the spicy italian was just 2 pieces of salami and 3 pieces of pepperoni and sauce and cheese... Pepperoni was 4 slices of pepperoni. They guy made themreally quickly   which was nice, and thy come hot out of the toaster. Also the flatbread wasn't frozen but fresh which is refreshing pardon my pun. Over all t the price I can't complain, they were better then I thought they would be. And 6" by 6". But over the taste was lacking and the stinginess with the toppings made my face sad. So a good deal and ok but honestly for cheap pizza I would go to 7-11... Scary eh? And not gunna lie, the yoga Matt chemicals in their doughs make me nervous.

Uncle Vitos Revisited

Hello all! The first time I was at Uncle Vito's Pizza I was less impressed with the pizza then other places around. The handsome man of man had some friends in town who reaaaally wanted to try it so we went back.

This time was a much better pizza! I think it's that the first time I ha a personal and those have to much dough. This time we got a large and it was delightful. We got half Red Eye- red bell pepper, pepperoni and red onion. And half pepperoni. It was wonderful!! Get it! Just not a personal. 

Nizario's

This weekend Handsome and I hit up Nizarios on Geary. After getting Uncle Vito's just a few days ago for a second try (review to come, blogger keeps eating it), you'd think we'd be tired of pizza- NAY! We agreed we can both eat pizza like 3 days a week. Anywho, it was the first real rain we'd had in months, and while refreshing, I was freeeeezing as we walked into the shop. They had just opened, so we waited a bit for our slices but well worth it!!

Regular combo and hawaiian for me!!

Special combo an California chicken pesto for him! 

This is a deeeelightful pizza. Crispy thicker crush, I guess a California style, which hold up all the toppings nicely.  The pesto was drizzled on top of a red sauce pizza and gives a wonderful flavor profile. The regular combo is close to my favorite, with pepperoni, salami and mushrooms. We will be back!!

La Val's of Albany

So this is another place that I have been trying to visit for a while, but they remodeled, changed owners, and generally had hours that were in workable... Until now :3 that handsome man of mine and I went there as a victory, for my first week of school and a shitty work day. We ordered a Berkley Special, which involved hamburger, pepperoni, linguisa, sausage, ham and bacon.  Ya we're not vegitarian's. How was it? Delightful!! Crust was flavorful, with a little garlic butter around the edges that wasn't just salt and oil. With many toppings balance is important and shined through here. Cheese was appropriate and flavorful. Over all I'm totally eating here again!!

Russian River Brewing Company- Flatbread Bites

 Russian River Brewing Company, which we visited for brewing research (Check out Terrible Lizard Brewing for my home brew adventures) makes some of the greatest beers in the land. In fact their double IPA Pliney the Elder is considered the pinicle of double IPAs. They also are crazy busy, and as far as I can tell understaffed all of the time. So after being seated, and ordering some drinks at the bar, and finishing some drinks from the bar our server brought us a menu. We had planned on just getting the delightfully drinktastic 18 brew sampler for a mear $15, and after being told it would be another 1/2 hour, we decided food would be in order as well, which would also take about 1/2 an hour. To my delight they has an assortment of think crust pizza's on the list, and after a brief discussion (for fear our server may never return) we settled on the flat bread bites. A beer fromt he bar later our treats were delivered, and did not dissapoint! The flat bread bits Im going to call pizza.We got the pepperoni, garlic and peppercinni bites with a side of marinara. OMG. Maybe it was the beverages I partook in, perhaps the wait smelling the wonderful things in the kitchen but these little bites tasted like HEAVEN! Ok, maybe thats over kill but they were really good.

Crispy, with all of the ingrediants well cooked, not soggy at all, and there was a ton of them. the picture looks like there isnt to much food there, but thats not your usual 2 oz marinara tub, I didnt check the size but there was enough sauce and bites for me and my giant to share and be stuffed! Plus our 18 beers... Which were also amazing.

Conclusion? GO! But have a snack before... and try to go on a tuesday at noon... and wait... :3

Domino's- Hand Made Pan Pizza

My first chain pizza I think! they were on sale, and that Handsome Gentleman Friend of mine Dr. Mookie Love of the blog was buying ;3 Anywho, we got a medium 5 topping for 5.99. I got to pick so I went with pepperoni, mushroom, olive, sausage and banana peppers. How was it? Honestly Im not a big fan of pan or deep dish, but this is fairly thin for a pan. the crust is much like that of a flat bread pizza but fluffier, which i enjoyed throughly. cooked right, and crispy. It was able to hold up to all the toppings, which can be tough with loads of moist things like vegi's. For a cheap pizza definently worth the price of admission- when its on sale.

On a side note, I love to add bacon to pizza, but don't get the dominos bacon.its obviosly fake tasting, with to much liquid smoke, and just salty bits of weirdness. sad but true. but the sausage and the slices sausage are nice, and some have artichokes, which i am a fan of if your going vegi...

On a side note someone get me one of these??