PIZZA!

It's Friday tomorrow and that usually means pizza in my household. We hold Friday night movie/pizza night and my kids have come to expect it.

What makes the perfect pizza in my mind? It has to be the right combination of crust, sauce, cheese and toppings. When one of those dominates the other your pizza is out of balance with the force and therefore affects ones enjoyment. Have you ever had a pizza with too much sauce? All you can taste is tomato paste and the pizza will be very tangy. Or if there is too much cheese it will slide off taking the toppings with it and then you have to get a fork and who wants to eat pizza with a fork (unless it's deep dish). I do watch out for Greek style pizzas with feta cheese as I feel the feta overpowers a lot of  the other flavors on the pizza. If there is too much crust you can get bloated real quick. Loads of toppings is probably the least offensive of this group as sometimes I feel like a mambo-combo with lots of stuff and sometimes I just feel like pepperoni but a lot of onions can kill your taste buds real quick.

There are so many different types of pizzas and pizza restaurants. Some pizza joints specialize in specialty pizzas like "The California Pizza Kitchen". I've sampled about a dozen of their specialty pizzas on the road as well as locally and have enjoyed them all. There is always a debate which area of the Country has the best pizza. The thin crust specialty pizzas of the west coast, the deep dish pizzas of Chicago, or the fold able pizzas of New York. I don't know what kind of pizza's they eat down south but if I had to pick one style I would probably pick.....all three as I have favorites in all types.

Here is a list of some of my favorite pizzas and pizza joints:

• Pier 49 San Francisco Sourdough Pizza - Barbecue Chicken - One of the first specialty pizzas I ever tried and loved. Great combination of chicken, sauce and onions. The crust is good enough to eat on its own as well.
• Brick Oven Pizza - Italiano Romano - This pizza joint from Provo just recently opened in Layton and has excellent pizza. They truly have pizza pie which is a cross between a regular pizza and Chicago deep dish. Their homemade root beer is excellent. It's fun to check out their menus from the 50's as there was a pizza with tuna fish on it. Yikes! Seafood pizzas are big on the coast and should stay on the coast.
• The Pizza Factory - This is a chain that started in St. George and has moved across the state. There pizza reminds me of Shakey's Pizza that used to be here and is all over the west coast. My kids go for the bread twists and make sure you get the dipping sauces. It's thin crust but has the right balance I look for in a pizza as well as a killer salad bar.
• Pizza Perfect (Centerville, UT.) - This is a very local joint but their crumbled sausage is awesome and they have a yummy chewy crust that holds up well. Their blue cheese dressing for their salad is excellent.  Robintino's (Bountiful, UT.) is another local recommendation.
• Papa John's - Barbecue Chicken Bacon - This is my favorite chain pizza joint as I love their crust that reminds me of a soft pretzel. 
• The Pie Pizzeria - When I want a gut-bomb pizza this is the place. Their 10 pound pizzas are made for hungry college kids but I can usually down at least two...pieces. Get their meat lovers and you will feel your blood pressure rise....in a good way.
• Cinegrill (SLC, UT.) - Nothing too crazy about their pizzas but they just taste homemade if I had an Italian grandmother that made pizzas. Sounds corny but try them. Their house dressing and lasagna is also highly recommended.

So there are a few places and specialty pizzas to try. There are also pizza joints around the country I will mention when I focus on those cities in future entries so stay tuned and have a yummy weekend!

Carson