Better racism, less pizza, Papa Johns

Too bad Fountains of Wayne is gone. You could have gone there.

 

This is a pretty common misconception - that all restaurant food here is more expensive.

It certainly can be, but the truth is New York City has more and better cheap, chowhound food than any other place in America.

And thanks to the internet, it's easier than ever to find.

In the old days it took a copy of the Village Voice and Timeout New York and a cast iron gut to find it.

Now you just Yelp it.

 

I regularly do takeout at Outback, mainly because it takes 20 minutes and the golf course I play after work is exactly 20 minutes from that Outback, which is five minutes from my house. They actually don’t make a bad sirloin for the cost.

 

Never know who you might run into.

 

I'm dating myself here but, about 30-35 years ago, Pizza Hut made a pretty good pizza.

But I imagine it cheapened its ingredients and cut prices as frozen pizza, Domino's and Little Caesars started to ding the market. Now it's...yuck.

And Papa John's is worse! Perhaps the worst! (Haven't had Domino's in many years, used to be trash.)

Where I live, my favorite local pizza joint makes a 16-inch one topping for $17. I'll take it any day.

 

The chain started in Wichita, and growing up in Kansas 20-25 years ago, you could taste a difference between shops that were among the first 30 or so locations and newer restaurants that opened up. I don't know exactly what it was, but I suspect some of the old franchise owners in tiny little towns didn't always follow directives from corporate headquarters if they thought it would hurt the quality.

 

Pizza Hut has had some outstanding ideas over the years, but often they don't stick with them.

About 15 years ago, they had a stuffed-type pizza called a Priazzo. I think there were four versions, and one was a spinach-and-feta mix. It was excellent.

More recently, they had the choose-your-own dough flavor and taste swirl, which really kicked up their pizzas. And they gave that up after a year or so.

 

I hate to say it, but it was probably more like 30 years ago. My dad has written multiple letters asking Pizza Hut to bring back the Milano Priazzo (basically the meat lover's version). I know he's been upset about it at least since I was in Kindergarten.

 

33. It was 1985.

 

Arrrrgh!

 

I have an abiding philosophy in life:

If Pizza Hut is the best pizza where you live, MOVE