OT: Best Pizza Jount in P5 College Towns
From this tweet: https://twitter.com/atl_boomer1990/status/1385611588946833408?s=21
Will admit to have never been to NeoPapali’s, or any other B1G choice (other than Blaze).
Also, check out Alabama. Anyone have thoughts?
April 23rd, 2021 at 12:08 PM ^
THANK YOU
In high school I moved from Jersey to Columbus, and I immediately hated it. Everything about that city, really, but the pizza was something I came close to physical fights over a few times..In NJ, you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a better pizza place than exists in Cbus.
In Columbus, pizza became just like Christmas- a time for disappointment and inner seething.
"Donato's isn't pizza."
"It's cheese, sauce, and toppings on dough. How is it not pizza?"
"Because pizza should be a step up from slathering tomato sauce and cheap plastic cheese on dough that is so bland that it makes Matzo seem tasty. This isn't pizza, this is an abomination, and we can fight about that if you want."
April 23rd, 2021 at 12:19 PM ^
I was going to say I have a hard time seeing any P5 college town beating whatever the pizza is at Boston College and Rutgers. Although Red Knight Express doesn’t instill a lot of confidence by name alone.
OK. "Red Knight Express doesn’t instill a lot of confidence by name alone" made me laugh. Thanks for the chuckle.
i totally agree with you. i now live in columbus proper, grew up sw of columbus in Grove City...i have yet to find a non chain pizza place in columbus that could survive in GC. zamarellis, gardos, joseppis, grandstand, tammys.....miss those days. chain pizza only survives because of sheets of coupons mailed all the time. donatos isnt pizza--totally agree, there was no better way to tell your friends you dont like them than to get donatos or little caesers
IIRC, there was also a deep dish place in GC run by some cranky old dude named Tristano's that was pretty quality. You can kinda get that at Yellow Brick Pizza in Olde Town East, since apparently he gave them his recipe. Main thing though was that deep dish had cheese-stuffed crust, which I personally find gratuitous
Agreed, Donato's is garbage.
Re: Side Rant - ruining food is par for the course in Ohio. Have you seen what they did to the coney hot dog?
st louis already does that style of crappy pizza
Provel is God's cheese.
April 23rd, 2021 at 12:27 PM ^
I lived in Columbus for two years, and I will say that Hounddog's on North High Street has very, very good pizza.
I never touched Donato's and I never even heard of Tommy's, but Hounddog's was very good.
April 23rd, 2021 at 12:54 PM ^
Was the pizza fresh? Or did someone have to hide it in a hollowed out tree stump for you to find?
April 23rd, 2021 at 11:52 AM ^
Even though it hasn't existed for a long time, I will always be a Bells man.
April 23rd, 2021 at 12:45 PM ^
Logged in to upvote, and it's the obvious answer.
April 23rd, 2021 at 12:56 PM ^
It hasn’t existed for a long time? When did it cease? Fuck I’m old
When I was on campus, around 2010. I definitely remember getting it many times when I lived on Greenwood '08-'09.
ordered under the wire many a time...4am.
Truer words have never been spoken...
+1. While I will never claim it to be the best pizza in Ann Arbor, it is the pizza place I will always associate with my Michigan experience. Hell, I still know the phone number off the top of my head and I graduated in ‘98.
Bell's was the Scorekeepers of pizza. Nothing you'd want to experience during daylight hours, but enjoyable after midnight and a few drinks.
April 23rd, 2021 at 11:53 AM ^
Penn State's choice would be "best pizza at 2:15 AM when someone has had a few, but tastes less good anytime else."
Every college town has a place like that. I suspect many of these choices fall into that category.
April 23rd, 2021 at 12:56 PM ^
Back room pizza used to sell you slices that were par cooked. I’m not remotely joking
My mom used to take me to the Back Room from time to time when I was a little kid and she was finishing up her degree. 10+ years later, when I was a student, the pizza was still $1 a slice. It probably still is.
April 23rd, 2021 at 11:54 AM ^
Best Jaunty Show Tune in history?
April 23rd, 2021 at 11:55 AM ^
Best pizza in Tuscaloosa is Chuck E Cheese? This has to be a troll job. Also kinda sad that some of these places are chain stores (Blaze etc.).
Best pizza where I live is FatBob. Motto is "We will never compromise quality ingredients in order to compete with chain prices." They also have a car show in the parking lot every Saturday which is badass.
Russo's phenomenal as well, probably even better, but they're like 45 min away. I ate there twice a week when we lived on that side of the natl park
April 23rd, 2021 at 12:04 PM ^
Imagine all of the Chuck E Cheese tokens it took to bribe that standing in the article.
April 23rd, 2021 at 12:59 PM ^
Bama should have listed Costco, Dominos, or Papa John’s instead.
April 23rd, 2021 at 11:03 PM ^
Agreed. If you are going to list a chain as the best pizza joint in a college town, at least choose a regional one that has some uniqueness to it. Hungry Howie’s comes to mind with their flavored crusts, as does Jet’s that tries to do a facsimile of Detroit-style pies.
April 23rd, 2021 at 11:59 AM ^
Went to Alabama. Chuck e chz is accurate. There is no good pizza
April 23rd, 2021 at 12:23 PM ^
I guess there's millions to be made in Tuscaloosa by slinging pizza ... there are plenty of frozen pizza brands that are better than Chuck E Cheese
I’d go so far as to say most frozen pizza brands.
and yes, the first thing that came to mind was dollar signs. Too bad I don’t want to do anything nice for the citizens of Alabama, even if it means missing out on a million dollar business venture
April 23rd, 2021 at 12:03 PM ^
It's not a list of g5 towns but if they ever make one I vote for Tower Inn to represent Ypsi.
April 23rd, 2021 at 12:07 PM ^
BACKROOM DIDN'T WIN?!?
April 23rd, 2021 at 12:11 PM ^
When I was a student in the early 90s, the best pizza in AA was this place called Anthony's (?), and it was I recall attached to a gas station off campus, toward Briarwood Mall direction, and was like a four inch thick pie, and would take an hour and a half for delivery... Was the best. Is it still there ?
April 23rd, 2021 at 12:26 PM ^
yes, there are 2 now and neither is really that close to campus
April 23rd, 2021 at 12:27 PM ^
Not only still in town, but there are 2-3 of them. You can feast for a week on one of those pizzas! Delicious, and a totally different pizza experience than your typical Cottage Inn, Domino's, Pizza House, etc.
April 23rd, 2021 at 12:48 PM ^
Thats great to know that now one is close to campus. Back then it was too far and needed to be delivered... I could eat only two slices. Loved it.
Yep! My younger brother swore by Anthony’s up and down, to the extent of eating it at least once a week and this was not your average college diet type kid either, he did Paleo for a good while his freshman year. Anthony’s is way underrated and not enough people are talking about it
April 23rd, 2021 at 10:15 PM ^
Also early 90s alum i recall having it delivered to mojo freshman year if we all chipped in as it was rather costly ... and dense ...and full of meat . Pie weighed like 15 lbs. I used to split one with a buddy, at my current age/metabolism that amount might last me a couple days ... and yes it certainly was connected to a gas station -Great memory !
April 23rd, 2021 at 12:33 PM ^
Lived in College Station, TX. Not a whole lot of good pizza choices, but Double Dave's should be at the top of the list only because of their Pepperoni Rolls. My mouth is watering now just thinking about those things.
In Baton Rouge, Schlittz and Giggles is good, but my go-to is Red Zeppelin. The Al-Freddie Mercury is the real deal. Whole roasted cloves of garlic, genoa salami, roasted red peppers, and alfredo sauce.
Looks like I'll be eating pizza tonight.
The only answer for where to eat in College Station is Freebirds. Yes, a burrito starts out round and flat just like a pizza.
Dude, you're killing me. Now I'm gonna have to make a trip to Texas for Freebirds and pepperoni rolls.
April 23rd, 2021 at 12:34 PM ^
Momo's is no more than credible pizza in Tallahassee, which has five or six good pizza joints: Decent; Gaines Street Pies and their spin-offs; Daves; and Napoli; even Little Italy's Four Seasons pie beats anything at Momo's.
Momo's features enormous slices and lies within a stone's throw of campus. Otherwise. . . pfft.
April 23rd, 2021 at 12:38 PM ^
Two Boots? I don't remember them from my college days, though the sign says "since 1987."
I know a lot of Mizzou folks like Shakespeare's, but I wasn't one of them.
I assume they chose Mesa for Minneapolis because of its Dinkytown location, but there are at least a half-dozen better pizza options in the Twin Cities.
I'm still puzzled about the Minnesota choice. I didn't even think of Mesa before I scanned the list. Punch, Black Sheep & Italian Pie Shop are my starting list.
They did get Austin right at least. Home Slice is the real deal.
I think Shakespeare's has the best quality pizza in Columbia (Mizzou), though as a drunken college student, I regularly ordered Gumbys at midnight
Fair, but from a college student perspective, there's something to be said for a big ass pizza by the slice shop that's open til 2. NYPD in A2 is the same (and Backroom).
But from a civilized, salary-earning, college grad perspective... Black Sheep, Red Wagon, Lola, Young Joni, Hello Pizza...
Putin, you are from Nashville?
I'm thinking of moving my family to the Nashville area. What's your opinion of the place?
Not from there but went to Vandy. But that was the late 90s, and from what I've been told, I wouldn't recognize the area anymore.
April 23rd, 2021 at 12:39 PM ^
I used to deliver for Geppetto's in the late 80s, right next to Mr. Spots. We believed, at the time, that we had some of the best pizza in town. I allow myself to retain that belief.
April 23rd, 2021 at 12:50 PM ^
Blondie's at Cal Berkley was ok.