OT: Best Pizza in CT

[David 76]

Where was Shakey's located? Unfamiliar with that name.

He lives in a van, down by the river.

 

[Chin Diesel]

He lives in a van, down by the river.

The Hockanum??

 

[Husky25]

My favorites outside the New Haven area would be Sassano in south Glastonbury, Rossini's in East Hampton, and Brick and Basil (actually a pizza truck) in Norwich

Rossini's love (by someone other than me) FTW.

 

[Vancat]

The Hockanum??

Grew up near The Hock. Memories.....

 

[HuskyHawk]

Where was Shakey's located? Unfamiliar with that name.

It was just up from Vernon Circle, near the Rockville town line (not sure which side of it). The people wore these outfits, and kids could get those hats too. One of those old school places that were for kids, but were also essentially a bar for the parents.

Picture Vernon: When Pizza Ruled The Circle (msn.com)

 

[Chin Diesel]

It was just up from Vernon Circle, near the Rockville town line (not sure which side of it). The people wore these outfits, and kids could get those hats too. One of those old school places that were for kids, but were also essentially a bar for the parents.

Picture Vernon: When Pizza Ruled The Circle (msn.com)

View attachment 64476

I must have never noticed that as a kid. I certainly rode along Rte 83 enough.

 

[8893]

Looks like we missed out on what would have been good timing for @Deepster ’s Boneyard pizza investment:

Pizza Was the Restaurant Hero of 2020

 

[Deepster]

Looks like we missed out on what would have been good timing for @Deepster ’s Boneyard pizza investment:

Pizza Was the Restaurant Hero of 2020

We could have all been retired at this point.

 

[Kitaman]

Anyone try the Detroit style pizza? I hear Joey Garlic's has it, but don't I don't want to ride all the way to Newington (passing New Haven) just to try it without info. Was in Detroit a couple of years ago and heard nothing about it.

 

[HooperScooper]

Anyone try the Detroit style pizza? I hear Joey Garlic's has it, but don't I don't want to ride all the way to Newington (passing New Haven) just to try it without info. Was in Detroit a couple of years ago and heard nothing about it.

View attachment 64591

Well there must be a Pizza Hut closer to your house. I'd rather starve than eat it but hey knock yourself out if you really want to try Detroit Style Pizza without driving to Joey Garlic's. Or Detroit.

https://www.pizzahut.com/c/content/detroit-style-pizza

 

[Kitaman]

Well there must be a Pizza Hut closer to your house. I'd rather starve than eat it but hey knock yourself out if you really want to try Detroit Style Pizza without driving to Joey Garlic's. Or Detroit.

https://www.pizzahut.com/c/content/detroit-style-pizza

Very insulting brother. IHOP makes pancakes, McDonalds makes hamburgers and Taco Bell's makes Tacos, all okay for a hunger attack but when it comes to Pizza I never eat a chain's pizza. Perhaps if I move out of State and am going through withdrawals, but I rather eat a possum when in CT.

 

[8893]

Very insulting brother. IHOP makes pancakes, McDonalds makes hamburgers and Taco Bell's makes Tacos, all okay for a hunger attack but when it comes to Pizza I never eat a chain's pizza. Perhaps if I move out of State and am going through withdrawals, but I rather eat a possum when in CT.

In fairness, no one out-pizzas the Hut.

 

[Kitaman]

In fairness, no one out-pizzas the Hut.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Looks like we missed out on what would have been good timing for @Deepster ’s Boneyard pizza investment:

Pizza Was the Restaurant Hero of 2020

Very insulting brother. IHOP makes pancakes, McDonalds makes hamburgers and Taco Bell's makes Tacos, all okay for a hunger attack but when it comes to Pizza I never eat a chain's pizza. Perhaps if I move out of State and am going through withdrawals, but I rather eat a possum when in CT.

I live in a near pizza desert. Might have 1 good place and it's 30 minutes away.

Last May our son got a job delivering pizzas for one of the national chains. He was 18 about to graduate HS and wasn't ready for college. He needed a job.

Got his W2 in the mail last week and looked at it. Between salary and tips he made a shade under $27k in 8 months. Extend that out to a full year and it's right about $40k.

Might not be able to do that in New Haven, but there are plenty of places where a bunch of $7.99 pizzas fills up a family, soccer team or whatever else is buying.

 

[storrsroars]

Anyone try the Detroit style pizza? I hear Joey Garlic's has it, but don't I don't want to ride all the way to Newington (passing New Haven) just to try it without info. Was in Detroit a couple of years ago and heard nothing about it.

View attachment 64591

In Detroit, it's just "pizza".

Here in Pgh we have one outlet of a chain called Jet's that serves it. Also two chef-owned startups that do interesting things with the style (there's a ricotta/lemon zest Detroit slice I love). I kinda like it. It's got the charred cheese edges of a pan pie, but the airiness of something much lighter than a Sicilian (a style I never took to). It's not heavy like a Greek pizza, although that's kind of it's lineage. It's different. It's not going to make you like NH style any less, it's simply another different thing called pizza.

 

[HooperScooper]

Very insulting brother. IHOP makes pancakes, McDonalds makes hamburgers and Taco Bell's makes Tacos, all okay for a hunger attack but when it comes to Pizza I never eat a chain's pizza. Perhaps if I move out of State and am going through withdrawals, but I rather eat a possum when in CT.

Obviously my post was tongue-in-cheek. I don't really get the Detroit pizza thing. And I definitely don't get the Pizza Hut thing. Yuck.

 

[Waquoit]

Detroit pizza looks like what they gave us in middle school.

 

[storrsroars]

Detroit pizza looks like what they gave us in middle school.

Looks can be deceiving.

I have no love for most square cut pizza, whether Sicilian, Greek, grandma, Ohio Valley or "party". Detroit style is none of the above. You may end up not caring for it, but I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand.

Not sure what school you went to, but ours served stuff more like Ellio's or Stouffer's.

 

[superjohn]

In Detroit, it's just "pizza".

Here in Pgh we have one outlet of a chain called Jet's that serves it. Also two chef-owned startups that do interesting things with the style (there's a ricotta/lemon zest Detroit slice I love). I kinda like it. It's got the charred cheese edges of a pan pie, but the airiness of something much lighter than a Sicilian (a style I never took to). It's not heavy like a Greek pizza, although that's kind of it's lineage. It's different. It's not going to make you like NH style any less, it's simply another different thing called pizza.

I like Detroit Style pizza, Pequod's in Chicago which is the best in the city is similar to Detroit Style. It's circular but cooked in a similar pan and has the caramelized crust Detroit style has while being light and airy compared to the deep dish pizzas.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

In fairness, no one out-pizzas the Hut.

I used to eat Pizza Hut a lot in middle school and high school (pre-car) because it right in between when I lived and the high school. It was a habit that I picked-up in the Valley when I was even younger and could walk to Roseland, though obviously Pizza Hut is a heck of a downgrade. Once I got a car and could get myself to Rossini's or fib to my parents and drive to New Have (my Mom was always afraid of the big, bad city, LOL) never went back. Since leaving for college, I think I have the Hut twice in the last 25 years. The last time I had it was in Cooperstown NY in 2019 and would not shed a tear if I never go back.

I spent abut 6 years going to Michigan for work maybe 20 years ago. Detroit Pizza is different, say Sicilian though lighter. I like it better than deep dish in Chicago, though. Neither can compare to a New Haven pie, though.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

i like pizza hut, mostly. i also like most pizzas. epic tragedy that they closed down the saybrook one. at least, there is little chance that their pies will have dijon mustard (or any mustard), lemon zest, roasted pears, maple syrup, or other such inhumane toppings on them. beyond gross. i get it that taste is personal, but honey on salami pizza's? no wonder so many here spend a lot of time at the doc. their innards are all messed up from eating garbage like that. balance is the key to internal harmony. i mean, it's not like most cultures haven't had cognoscenti foodies writing tomes about food pairings, both appropriate and inappropriate, for millenia, and as a key to good health. don't think so? here, have some rocks to snack on. kinda funny that aboot 20% of us are genetically predisposed to be revolted at the taste and smell of cilantro. and then there's that 'lacto' thing...
pizza hut-at least they know what they're doing.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I recently had Domenick & Pia in Waterbury. It was superb. Easy to see why it's busy all day long.

Again, this startles me, and sets me to thinking I now need a third visit.

As with Joe's in NYC, I get that it's a popular slice location, but not why it's widely and highly praised. And I mean that as neither a criticism of you or (I think) SJ who is a fan, or even the slices I've gotten. To the contrary, I'm curious and will return.

In Detroit, it's just "pizza".

Here in Pgh we have one outlet of a chain called Jet's that serves it. Also two chef-owned startups that do interesting things with the style (there's a ricotta/lemon zest Detroit slice I love). I kinda like it. It's got the charred cheese edges of a pan pie, but the airiness of something much lighter than a Sicilian (a style I never took to). It's not heavy like a Greek pizza, although that's kind of it's lineage. It's different. It's not going to make you like NH style any less, it's simply another different thing called pizza.

It would be dishonest or simple withholding for me not to acknowledge that yesterday I saw the Pizza Hut commercials for Detroit Style and thought, "So that's what it is? Hmmm, I could see myself liking something like that if it were done well."

That would, of course, first require some confirmation that the Pizza Hut depiction is an accurate enough representation of the overall concept.

Is it?
@superjohn too

If someone further weighed in with," And Pizza Hut's version isn't bad," I'd give it a try. Or, here's where a coupon could even push me over the top.

The last time a fast food ad during TV sports piqued my curiosity, it was for Popeye's chicken sandwich, and my investigation resulted in my getting into somewhat of a habit before it outstripped their capacity by being so popular. And only the pandemic has created a drop-off. Tbh, the $4.28 price tag and drive-through access at late hours has helped, but still it remains an option that I know is always there under those same terms.

None of the above negates anything else I've written throughout this thread. It just acknowledges that a crispy, caramelized, possibly 'buttery' bread (with even a hot-soft interior) could hit a bunch of mouth-feel & flavor notes, complemented by melted cheese, a meat topping, and a thick tomato-y sauce. And I could additional imagination that it might not be that hard to make, so that PH food engineers could pull it off.

 

[methodology]

My buddy from Chicago (lived there his whole life) says deep dish isn't something people from Chicago even eat regularly. It's a once in while thing. He usually eats whatever you would call regular pizza/ thin crust in Chicago

 

[j66kicker]

Pizza Hut. When I was in grad school I took a finance course called New Ventures. The whole class was your project to start your own business. I had been making pizza at home and got pretty good at it, and I wanted to open a pizza restaurant. I did a lot of research. Not only how much are rents, utilities, used pizza dough refrigerators, wood fired ovens, etc, etc, but also market research. My concept was make the absolute best pizza. Great crust, freshest ingredients (traditional, no BBQ chicken wing pizza, etc). And sell it at premium prices to my affluent Avon / Simsbury / Farmington neighbors.

What I learned with my market research is even if you're a lawyer making $750,000 a year, or you own Micro-Ban and you're worth $25 million, you're very likely to value these 2 things in pizza: Price & Delivery. Just like college kids. Unfortunately the posters on this great thread are a very small minority of all "pizza lovers."

I ended up not opening my restaurant, 1) not wanting to lower my standards, and 2) recognizing the reality that - although if you pass the break even point (# off pies) early enough in the month, all the rest of the month you're buying BMW's and putting your kids through the very best colleges - everybody that opens a restaurant thinks they're going to get "x%" market share. When you add all the x's up it totals about 900%, so most new restaurants have very short lives.

Anyway - love this thread. I will never eat at Pizza Hut again. Life is too short

 

[superjohn]

My buddy from Chicago (lived there his whole life) says deep dish isn't something people from Chicago even eat regularly. It's a once in while thing. He usually eats whatever you would call regular pizza/ thin crust in Chicago

I would say that's true for many/most people, the thin crust pizza sucks out here though. It's tavern style cracker thin pizza at most places and I won't eat it. I eat pizza rarely because I think most places are pretty lousy, I probably eat equal amounts Peqouds and the couple of places that do New Haven and NY style. When I'm back in CT. I eat pizza several times a week.