Pete's Pizza Diary

I eat a fair amount of pizza.  I like to keep track of things (see Pete's Media Diary) so I figured I'd keep track and review every pizza I eat.

[petespizzadiary]

December 23rd 2020

Pizza: 1 slice papa John’s green pepper stuffed crust pizza

Temperature: Cold

Thoughts: Green pepper (and onion) is my favorite kind of cold pizza. The snap and crunch that the green peppers give you while eating it cold provide a wonderful respite to the solid mass of bread and cheese that you are eating. And this slice did not disappoint. The pizza itself was fine, it could have used a little more sauce, but this type of thin crust is at it’s best when it is cold. It retains the rigidity while not being too doughy so the bread starts to get chewy. But the big question is “how did the stuffed crust do cold?” And the answer is, better than I thought. Taking away the complaint I have already had about it being too bland and needing a flavor dusting, it held up well. The cheese had a good flavor and was like eating a cheese stick snack wrapped in bread. It wasn’t the best version of this pizza, but it definitely wasn’t bad and not a disappointing way to eat it.

Rating: 7 / 10

[petespizzadiary]

December 22nd 2020

Lunch:

Pizza: 2 slices papa John’s green pepper stuffed crust pizza

Temperature: Reheated in air fryer

Thoughts: I thought ahead using what I have learned over the last year and reheated these two slices for 5 minutes. The first slice was a little crispy because of the thin body of the slice. But had a good cheese pull and the green pepper still had a crisp crunch to it so the body of the slice was good. The crust was a good temperature but by the time I finished the first slice it was getting cold. The cheese in the crust never got really melty but much longer in the air fryer would have started to have had diminishing returns with the main parts of the pizza. It definitely wasn’t bad, but not as good as last night. I also used the garlic dipping butter on the crusts as well and I was a little worried about using that versus traditional marinara, and I don’t think it was the ideal choice but it worked better than I anticipated.

Rating: 7.5 /10

Dinner:

Pizza: 2 slices papa John’s green pepper stuffed crust pizza

Temperature: Reheated in air fryer

Thoughts: These slices were a little smaller than the slices I ate at lunch, so the five minutes in the air fryer treated them a little better. The body of the pizza was the same, but the crust was just a smidge better. The cheese was a little bit warmer and not just a cheese stick in the crust. Otherwise no real difference but it does deserve a better rating.

Rating: 7.75 / 10

[petespizzadiary]

December 21st 2020

Pizza: 3 slices papa John’s green pepper stuffed crust pizza

Temperature: Carry out

Thoughts: This was the first day that stuffed crust pizza was offered at papa John’s. After my last experience I kept it simple and my expectations low. But this was pretty good. I was impressed by how much cheese there was in the stuffed crust, and it was very fluffy and doughy which was really good. But the crust was a little bland. It could have used a little of the Parmesan dust that many of these chains are using recently. But it certainly wasn’t bad. The body of the pizza was fine. A little thin for my liking. And they were very sparing with the green peppers for the topping. But overall it was solid. I think the Pizza Hut stuffed crust is better, but just barely and this pizza didn’t leave my hand or face greasy like Pizza Hut always does, so that’s a definite plus for the Papa John’s. It’s not enough to make me become a regular at papa John’s, but it is the best thing on their menu now. That and their pan pizza’s are the only things to get.

Rating: 8 / 10

[petespizzadiary]

December 17th 2020

Pizza: 4 slices Caulipower Margherita pizza

Temperature: Fresh from oven

Thoughts: My first thought when taking it out of the package was, “there’s not enough cheese on this pizza”. I was right, but too much more would have been overwhelming. This was a pretty good cracker crust. The crust was a little bland but worked well. The tomatoes worked really well with this pizza. It was sparingly sauced but the tomatoes on top helped give the impression that it had more sauce on it. Overall this was pretty good. No major complaints. Certainly could have been both better and worse.

Rating: 6.75 / 10

[petespizzadiary]

December 16th 2020

Pizza: 4 slices Dr. Oetker Virtuoso Vegetable Medley thin crust pizza

Temperature: Fresh from oven

Thoughts: I like this pizza but it’s also weird. There isn’t a lot of cheese on it, which disappoints me. And a weird thing happens with the crust where it’s very crispy on the bottom, but there is so much sauce that when I bite into it I think that it’s going to be softer than it is. The pizza still has a cracker like crunch to it but because of the toppings and layer of sauce hitting the roof of my mouth and the top teeth that when I bite into the crust I’m always surprised at the crunch. The sauce is really good. I’m about 10 minutes from finishing it as I write this and I still have a zesty aftertaste in my mouth. I remember thinking that with the spinach pizza that was a little incongruous, but with this veggie pizza it works really well. For a cheap, single serving pizza it’s really a good one.

Rating: 8/10

[petespizzadiary]

December 13th 2020

Pizza: 1 slice Cumberland farms cheese

Temperature: Reheated in air fryer

Thoughts: This is what I wanted from leftover Cumberland farms. I put it in the air fryer for 5 minutes and that did the trick. The body of the slice was great, it was light and pillowy. The sauce was disappeared a little bit and was light, but still had good flavor, and the crust was just as good as it is fresh (maybe even a little better because it had the crispy edges I like). But the cheese wasn’t as good as it is fresh. When it’s fresh it’s the perfect level of greasy. It’s oily but not soaked. But today the reheating process melted it, but it didn’t have the same level of elasticity or consistency that I like about Cumberland Farms pizza. The crust and the cheese and the bursts of sauce are my favorite three things and only the crust lived up to what I like about this pizza. It was still the second best I had of this whole pizza though.

Rating: 7/10

[petespizzadiary]

December 12th 2020

Pizza: 2 slices Cumberland Farms cheese

Temperature: Reheated in air fryer

Thoughts: I don’t know how but I goofed this one up. I cooked two slices in the air fryer for the normal 4 minute reheat time and it wasn’t enough and I ate them anyway. So these slices were barely above room temperature. They weren’t bad and it was still better than it was cold (all around). The crust was way better this way then it was yesterday. But the slice was just not as enjoyable experience as I wanted. I still have one slice left and I was going to microwave that, but I think I’ll air fry that one too for longer and give my favorite method of reheating another attempt because I want this pizza to go out on a high note.

Rating: 6.25/10

[petespizzadiary]

December 11th 2020

Pizza: 2 slices Cumberland Farms cheese

Temperature: Cold

Thoughts: This was my first try eating Cumberland farms pizza not immediately after purchasing it, so I was really curious how it held up. The answer is both well and not well. Let’s start with what I liked. The body of the pizza held up pretty well. The dough was good and solid but not too dense. The sauce had congealed nicely and was exactly how I like my cold sauce to be. Some bites with a lot and some bites with less, kind of like a gushers fruit snack, when you bite into it you get a little burst of sauce and that’s fun. The cheese was good and overall the slice was fine. Not as good as it was fresh, but not a bad experience. But then I got to the crust, which I have said is one of the things that I like the most about Cumberland Farms pizza. But cold it does not translate at all. It was hard in a way that I’ve never experienced before. It was tough but not in the way crust usually gets tough where you have to work to chew it like a baguette. It was hard but still chewy. It was weird and I didn’t care for it at all. It really hurt my feeling that I would ever buy a whole Cumberland Farms pizza again since the crust is so disappointing, which is too bad because the body of the slice held up pretty well.

Rating: 5.75/10

[petespizzadiary]

December 10th 2020

Pizza: 3 slices Cumberland farms cheese

Temperature: Fresh

Thoughts: The Cumberland farms app had a coupon for get a whole pizza fresh for $4.99. And since I’ve been a champion of their individual slices I figured I’d get a whole pizza and put it through the gamut of tests. Also this way it was guaranteed to be fresh rather than risking how long it had been in the warmer. I devoured three slices immediately upon receiving it and discovered, I think I prefer it from the warmer. It was still good, but I’ve previously said that I think that Cumberland Farms has a great sauce to cheese ratio and this pizza was a little too saucy. I think if it had sit under the warmer for a little bit the sauce would have thickened up a little bit. Otherwise this was as solid as it ever was. Not great, but it does the job and at a great value.

Rating: 7.25/10

[petespizzadiary]

December 8th 2020

Pizza: 1 slice of OTTO three cheese tortellini and roasted garlic

Temperature: Reheated in air fryer

Thoughts: This was unsurprising the best it’s been since fresh. Although still not as good as fresh, but as close as we’re going to get. The crust was still tough but better than it has been since immediately eating it and the tortellini was the best it has ever been (including fresh). There were no gritty bites and the whole thing was just enjoyable. Still too floppy and not my favorite kind of pizza, but this place is decent and I’ll continue to go here for slices after shows if it’s the only thing available.

Rating: 6.75 / 10

[petespizzadiary]

December 7th 2020

Lunch:

Pizza: 1 slice of OTTO three cheese tortellini and roasted garlic

Temperature: Microwaved

Thoughts: Microwaving the slice brought back the floppy nature of the slice. It no longer had any structural integrity and toppings fell off as soon as I picked it up off of the plate. Having it warm again was nice, and overall this was not a nightmare microwave situation. It was certainly edible and enjoyable this way. Still not good though. To use a word from The Great British Bake Off that I don’t know it’s proper usage, this slice was stodgy. Or at least how I imagine stodgy is. The textures all blended together into one kind of goopy mess while I chewed it. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the ideal slice of pizza. There was once again a little bit of grit in the bite of sauce that I don’t understand, and the crust was nearly inedible. It was so tough and chewy and I really had to work to rip bites off of the slice.

Rating: 6 / 10

Dinner:

Pizza: 2 slices of OTTO three cheese tortellini and roasted garlic

Temperature: Reheated in oven

Thoughts: So far the only method for non-floppy Otto pizza is cold. Even reheated in the oven at 350 for 5 minutes the pizza is just too thin to have any sort of structural integrity. This was the best the pizza has been since fresh though. The crust was still too tough but I haven’t said that it has really good flavor and is seasoned very well. So while it is a chore to eat it does taste good. And the rest of the pizza tasted good too. This was the best that the tortellini has been too. Overall it was good. But the crust still can’t let it be as good as it was fresh.

Rating: 6.5 / 10

[petespizzadiary]

December 6th 2020

Pizza: 2 slices of OTTO three cheese tortellini and roasted garlic

Temperature: Cold

Thoughts: As usual, eating the slice solved some problems while introducing new ones. The slice was no longer floppy which was a plus, but it was too tough and very chewy. And the crust at the end was very difficult and crunchy. It had good flavor, but I gave my jaw a workout finishing the slice. Adding the garlic to the slice was a very good idea. I think if I didn’t do that the pizza would have not been nearly as flavorful cold. The bites that had the sauce dollop had something gritty in it that I didn’t enjoy. Overall less enjoyable then fresh, but still not bad.

Rating: 6.25 / 10

[petespizzadiary]

December 5th 2020

Pizza: 2 slices of OTTO three cheese tortellini and roasted garlic

Temperature: Carry out

Thoughts: Otto has been hit or miss from me in the past, but I’ve never ordered a whole pizza from them before, just gotten slices. Today I got a whole large pizza and a side of garlic cheesy breadsticks. The pizza is too thin. It was too droopy underneath the weight of the cheese and it wasn’t even that heavy of a pizza. The tortellini were spread out fairly well so it’s not like the pizza was overloaded with toppings. And there was too much crust and it was too crispy. The toppings and cheese should have gotten a little closer to the edge. The taste of the slice however was excellent. The tortellini was a little dry and the slices overall could have used a little more sauce. This pizza used the dollops of sauce technique instead of the base of sauce. But the oven dried out the tortellini a little too much. Overall it was disappointing but not unenjoyable.

Rating: 7/10

[petespizzadiary]

December 1st 2020

Pizza: 3 slices Corvino’s big beef pizza (American cheese, onion bulky roll, roast beef, bbq sauce drizzle)

Temperature: 2 reheated in air fryer (two left slices) 1 cold (slice on the right)

Thoughts: I never had this pizza fresh last time and that may have been the right call, as both reheated and cold was better than fresh. Well, cold may not have been overall better, but the creaminess issue that I had with it last night was much better in both versions tonight.

I ate the two reheated slices first and they were still creamy, but it wasn’t overpowering. It was a fine level. But the reheating process gave the beef a could crisp to it which was nice and the onion bulky roll too. The crust wasn’t as good as it was last night, but that is a price I am willing to pay to solve the issue I had with the pizza being too creamy.

The cold slice also solved the creamy issue, but almost everything else was not as good. The beef was like eating deli shavings of roast beef on top of a pizza, which isn’t necessarily bad, but it’s also not a texture or feeling one wants to experience biting into a slice of pizza. The onion bulky roll was a similar experience. The crust was a little too tough cold as well. But again, I would rather all of those negatives then the amount of creamy texture that this pizza has when fresh. I think if I get this pizza again I will get something else to eat fresh and have this pizza as leftovers or order it if I have something else to eat that meal (if my roommates are ordering from the place) but don’t have anything planned for the next day.

Rating: Reheated: 7.5 / 10 Cold: 7 / 10

[petespizzadiary]

November 30th 2020

Pizza: 3 slices Corvino’s big beef pizza (American cheese, onion bulky roll, roast beef, bbq sauce drizzle)

Temperature: Fresh from carry out

Thoughts: Last time I got this it had a mayonnaise drizzle on it and I thought it was good but would have been better without the drizzle. This time it did not have the drizzle, but it still wasn’t as good as I want it to be. They piled on the roast beef, and every slice has a least one large hunk of bulky roll, but there isn’t enough of a bbq sauce drizzle because the American cheese is overwhelmingly creamy at the bottom. And creamy is one of my least favorite textures/flavors. I need something more acidic to help cut through the cream. The crust of the pizza is really good though. Better than I remember it being. It’s very thick and doughy but not overly chewy. The perfect blend of thick but fluffy. So it was a joy to be able to cleanse my palate of the cream with a nice big hunk of dough after each slice.

Rating: 6.75 / 10

[petespizzadiary]

November 27th 2020

Pizza: 3 slices Dominos cheese (only 2 pictured because I was so hungry I forgot this even existed for a time)

Temperature: Cold

Thoughts: Someone at my part time occasional retail job bought this for the employees for Black Friday. I don’t know how long it had been sitting out for, but I was starving, so I ate one slice midway through my shift and took two for the drive home. They were all really good. The dust that Domino’s uses on the crust makes the old crust so much more edible and enjoyable. And the sauce was at that perfect congealed point too, where it wasn’t quite cold, but it was starting to solidify and so I had bites that were super saucy. It was exactly what I needed. It wasn’t the best pizza I’ve ever had, but at the moment when I needed food it was there and it met the need and was enjoyable.

Rating: 7/10

[petespizzadiary]

November 18th 2020

Lunch:

Pizza: 2 slices Whole Foods frozen hummus & kale pizza (also had tomatoes and eggplant)

Temperature: 1 reheated in air fryer 1 cold

Thoughts: This reheated surprisingly well. The eggplant was good, the hummus maintained through the cooling and reheating process. It was a solid slice. It did not dip in quality. And the crust really is the Star. It maintains the water from all the other toppings and stays solid and crisp. I will say that by the end of the slice my jaw was starting to get tired from the chewing, as it did lose some of the fluffiness from last night. But it still tasted good. It did make me afraid of how the cold slice would fair though.

But the cold slice while the worst of the three temperatures still wasn’t terrible. It was the wettest of the temperatures though. Heating up the slices took away some of the excess water and caused it to not be so wet as I took bites. It was just barely on the cusp of being okay. My fears did come true with the cold crust.  It was just dense and tough, but it did maintain the wetness from the toppings though, so it did prevent the contents of my mouth from just turning into a wet slop. The cold wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good. And the eggplant cold was also the worst version of it as well, but still better than I would have thought before having the good experience from last night. It was closer to my previous experiences with eggplant though, wet and oddly tough and chewy.

Ratings: Reheated: 6.5 / 10 Cold: 5.5 / 10

Dinner:

Pizza: 2 slices Brookside pizza Cheese

Temperature: Fresh from spinning warmer

Thoughts: I’ve driven by this place countless times and never stopped. But I’m on vacation this week and was driving by so I decided to come in and get two slices. It’s the Greek style of pizza with the thicker base and the thinner crust which isn’t my favorite. But except the end crust this was really good. The dough was soft and the sauce had a perfect ratio to it. It could have used a little more seasoning, but it wasn’t too sweet. The cheese was good too. There was a lot of it. It didn’t have a good pull or anything fancy like that but everything on the pizza was the exact right proportion of bread to sauce to cheese. The one downside to the slice was it was way too greasy. As I was finishing the first slice I noticed the hand holding the slice had grease running down it. And then when I finished the second slice I had to take a napkin to my whole mouth and chin area because it was so damp with grease. It wasn’t pleasant. But otherwise a perfectly good slice of pizza.

Rating: 6.5/10