Pizza Pizza

It all started innocently with a call to The Food Show. A favorite caller was excited about the re-emergence of Godfather’s Pizza here. I remember it being a favorite of mine many years ago, and I wondered if I would like it now.

We went to Goidfather’s on a lark when some other plan we had fell through. I remembered wanting to try it, and on the spur of the moment, we went.

Godfather’s Pizza in Kenner had been opened merely a week, and it was packed, with customers and employees. We waited a while for the pizza, but I think that was opening week pains. It was orderly and friendly.

We got a pepperoni pizza and drove around with it on the dashboard. I was underwhelmed by the sight of it. The crust was too doughy for my taste. I prefer a New York-style thin crust 

This was so soft and doughy it seemed underdone. And then I tasted it. I have no recollection of Godfather’s from long ago, but I see what the fuss is. The sauce is unique and delicious. There was a lot of cheap pizza chain pepperoni and a lot of cheese. But this was the best-tasting chain pizza I’ve picked up in a long time. I resolved to go back and have one with a thin crust.

And then I thought it might be fun to compare this very tasty pie with others in the fast-food pizza realm. It wasn’t long before I ordered a Domino’s thin crust pepperoni from the shop near my house, which we have visited countless times. I was never serious about paying attention to details.

The first thing I noticed in “working” mode was that the place looked good inside, and the crew was competent, efficient, friendly, and welcoming.  

From the dashboard buffet, I discovered that the Domino’s thin crust is more like a cracker, and because of that it is sliced oddly. It is cut into small squares, a feature I find annoying. I also discovered a detail I had heretofore missed - the sauce is sweet. There was certainly enough pepperoni on this pie, but the cracker crust, cut, and sweetness of the sauce made it all rather unappealing to me. Another curious detail was the pricing. A large thin crust was $4 cheaper than a medium. The large was $9.99.

Driving away I thought if I had a family to feed this would be a great easy way to do it. I didn’t remember Domino’s as well as I thought. The sweetness of the sauce surprised me, the thinness of the crust was cracker-like and unexpected, and I liked this pizza a lot less than I remembered. I did love the very generous amount of pepperoni.

I had the opposite feeling about Papa John’s, which is closer to my home and completely ignored by us for many years. I always found this sauce way too sweet for my taste and the entire product very ordinary. All these years later, I finally went into the place and found it squeaky clean and efficiently run, with employees I am happy to interact with. The pricing was in line with expectations. A large pizza cost more, and the price was $16.99. It was thin crust as well and topped with pepperoni.

There was slightly less pepperoni and less cheese. In fact, less everything than Domino’s. This cracker crust pie was not as flaky and more like flatbread, but it had no discernable flavor at all. This was not objectionable, just surprising. Maybe they didn’t bother to put much sauce on it because the crust was so thin. It was just a thing to eat. I’m not sure if closing your eyes would allow you to recognize it as pizza. But the slices were triangles. This was actually fine, but not worth the extra $5.

We went next to Pizza Hut, where the biggest surprise was. I fondly remember evenings after high school football games at Pizza Hut. It was a sit-down restaurant with a nice dining room  And then I remember pizza buffets there and picking up personal pan pizzas for the kids when they were growing up,

I don’t know when they downgraded to just another pick-up joint like the other two, but they aren’t nearly as good at it. Both Pizza Hut outlets encountered for this piece left a bad impression. The first was so unappealing in look and staff that I decided I didn’t want a pizza from there. The second was only marginally better. That may be a franchisee thing but I am curious enough to ask siblings in other places to see if they experience this as well.

The pizza itself was better than the others. The crackerlike crust wasn’t as thin as the other two, and it wasn’t as dry. The sauce was good and there was more of it here than the others, with an adequate amount of pepperoni and cheese. It was $14.88 for a large.

Little Caesar’s Pizza is included in this mix mainly because they are on my radar from all the advertising they do. The cracker crust made an audible snap when bitten, and the sauce was more obvious here, maybe because it had more flavor. It was a bit spicy. The cheese and pepperoni were a tad greasy which I don't find objectionable, but it was noticeable. I liked it anyway. It came in on the lower end in pricing at $9.

We made it back to Godfather’s for the thin crust pie and found it to be another dry cracker crust that snapped when eaten, and the superior sauce almost missing from this pie, with the pepperoni slightly overcooked.

I don’t plan to make a habit of eating pizza fast food, but in this brief and highly unscientific personal survey, it pains me to admit that the Pizza Hut slogan does not appear to be an idle boast. It seems that indeed, nobody out-pizzas the Hut.