#thrilladelphia

[phillystrega]

Philly. I love you. But what the FUCK.

[robotmango]

shoutout to the eagles fans downtown right now, all proudly wearing jerseys with one (1) long-sleeve t-shirt underneath. it's thirty-four degrees outside and pissing frozen rain but you guys enjoy yourselves. when the first responders are chipping you out of the sidewalk ice in front of misconduct tavern tonight, make sure they find all your fingers

[thatssocheezy]

Maxi's Pizza, Subs, and Bar - Templetown in Philadelphia, PA

I was in Thrilladelphia over the weekend to see about a girl (a wonderful lady named Alyssa with an exceptional eye for pizza, you can see her forearms in the picture above!) and was taken to Maxi's Pizza, Subs, and Bar, a pizzeria on Temple's Campus. I'm sure most of you have at least one of the following thoughts running through your head right now: 1) "Are you kidding? You got pizza in Philadelphia? Why are you wasting your time?" 2)"Are you kidding? You got pizza on a college campus? Why are you wasting your time?" Well, fortunately for me, this pizza was most definitely not a waste of time, and not only because of the good company I was in. Maxi's makes a solid slice of 'za. They had a slew of options at the counter, some that looked promising and others that looked a little weird that I would steer clear of in any pizzeria. On Alyssa's recommendation, we both got a buffalo chicken and a penne alla vodka, two slices that when made properly are a serious threat to the well-being of my stomach. Anyway, the slices came out quickly and we commenced the ritual of eating pizza.

I opened with the buffalo chicken and was pretty surprised at how good of a job Maxi's had done. I think this is my first pizza experience in Philly and it was definitely a slice worthy of my inauguration. The hot sauce and ranch proportions were perfect. Unfortunately, the rest of the slice didn't fare quite as well. Maxi's uses ground chicken instead of grilled chicken (supposedly because it's cheaper) and it gave the slice a weird consistency. I like when the chicken stands out on a slice like this, but it kinda blended in with everything that was underneath it. A real shame honestly, because if they used grilled chicken, this slice would have had some serious potential. And I don't know what kinda bs it is that ground up chicken makes it cheaper. The slices were all at least $3 each (probably $3.25) and for that price I would hope for some legit chicken. Oh well, you can't win them all. One other thing I wasn't crazy about with either slice either was the crust. It was a bit bland and forgettable.

On to my second slice, the penne alla vodka. Once again, this slice had some serious potential, but Maxi's needs to do a little refining. I was a fan of both the sauce and pasta they used. However, they skimped out on both of them, which just left me wanting more the whole time I was eating the slice. Usually when you have a good penne alla vodka, you are so full after you finish it that you regret it if you got a second slice. I finished both of these no problem and my stomach probably could have handled a third with minimum discomfort, which can only mean something was missing. Once again, too bad, because Maxi's could have been a major point in an argument about the worthiness of pizza in Philly!

Though I'm not very well-versed (yet!) in Philly's pizza game, I will say that Maxi's is a solid place to start. I will have to go back and try a plain because, as we all know, the sauce can be the make or break for a pizzeria. Stay tuned for updates!!

-Tom