Your favorite pizza from a franchise or local pizza house

[cr333]

I'm more of a traditional pizza guy -- meaning tomato sauce and cheese with toppings. My favorite to pick up and bring home is a supreme thin crust from pizza hut with 2x extra cheese.
I'm not much for the pizza places that use different sauces and unusual toppings even though they're supposed to be culinary masterpieces.
I also love a good new York style pizza but they can be hard to find in the south and southeast.
What's your go to?

 

[aranapc33]

Out east here, Haven's Mill Pizza in little washington is great. A little closer to home, probably Cuccinella's. When we lived in Raleigh, we were regulars at Tony's Pizza in N Raleigh off 70. We are usually a 1 cheese 1 pep family.

 

[PINEHEEL]

How are we supposed to take a thread about pizza seriously when the OP starts things off by stating his favorite is a cheese pizza?

It's like starting an ice cream thread by saying the best kind in the world is vanilla.

 

[PINEHEEL]

For franchises, I love Jet's, but that's because I'm a Detroit-style disciple.

- I loved Gino's Pizza in Raleigh off 70 for years.
- Torro in Durham might be the best pizza in NC, but it probably isn't what the OP had in mind for this discussion
- Randy's in Durham is really solid for chain delivery.
- Now that I'm in West Jefferson, I really love the pizza at this local place called Bobby D's, but it's probably not winning any culinary awards. It's damn good pizza, though.

 

[Chamtrain]

Second the Randy's shout out, I love them. Johnny's pizza is decent as well, Rosati's when I'm looking for deep dish.

Jets is the best chain pizza around, really like it as well.

 

[cr333]

How are we supposed to take a thread about pizza seriously when the OP starts things off by stating his favorite is a cheese pizza?

It's like starting an ice cream thread by saying the best kind in the world is vanilla.

Lol.You stopped reading too soon. I said my favorite is the supreme from pizza hut. I live in Wilmington and our franchise pizza here is limited. My true favorite is a Chicago deep dish in Chicago. But I've only been in Chicago twice to enjoy that.

 

[heelblue82]

Pizzettas in leland and Gandolfos also in leland
pepperoni and cheese or sausage and cheese
can do pepperoni and green peppers
really any toppings i’m cool with
Pizza Hut if i can’t get the above
oh and F dominos!!!

 

[roystinkypinky]

napoli in carrboro. end of thread

 

[ronjon]

Tough to find a really good pizza these days. It’s not tough to find an expensive pizza that is better than Domino’s, Pizza Hut etc, but not worth the price.

I’ll be the snooty one that says making a pizza is the way to go. But you need to invest in a good pizza steel and if you want Detroit style, get specialty pans. They aren’t expensive and make all the difference.

There nothing more frustrating than spending 30+ dollars for a “just okay” pizza.

 

[PINEHEEL]

Pizzettas in leland and Gandolfos also in leland
pepperoni and cheese or sausage and cheese
can do pepperoni and green peppers
really any toppings i’m cool with
Pizza Hut if i can’t get the above
oh and F dominos!!!

I read these on my phone last night as Ireland and was surprised to see two great pizza suggestions from Ireland on a local pizza thread lol.

 

[PINEHEEL]

Tough to find a really good pizza these days. It’s not tough to find an expensive pizza that is better than Domino’s, Pizza Hut etc, but not worth the price.

I’ll be the snooty one that says making a pizza is the way to go. But you need to invest in a good pizza steel and if you want Detroit style, get specialty pans. They aren’t expensive and make all the difference.

There nothing more frustrating than spending 30+ dollars for a “just okay” pizza.

I make pizzas on my green egg and enjoy them, but it's a lot of work. I just started following this guy who has blown up on Insta (with help from a Dave Portnoy review) over the last year and makes high-quality pizzas in his oven...

Instagram

Create an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you're into with the people who get you.

www.instagram.com

 

[Mr Winterville]

There's probably some nostalgia at play here but I swear I think I would still like the flavor of the pizza from the Rathskellar if I had it today. I remember the cheese being really good and with the right amount of oregano.

 

[PINEHEEL]

There's probably some nostalgia at play here but I swear I think I would still like the flavor of the pizza from the Rathskellar if I had it today. I remember the cheese being really good and with the right amount of oregano.

You went to the Rathskellar...and ordered the pizza?!?

I didn't even know they served pizza and I ate there once a week for a solid two years.

 

[Mr Winterville]

You went to the Rathskellar...and ordered the pizza?!?

I didn't even know they served pizza and I ate there once a week for a solid two years.

Sure did. Considering I was probably between the ages of 5 and 10 years old at the time, I didn't know what else I was missing.

 

[ronjon]

I make pizzas on my green egg and enjoy them, but it's a lot of work. I just started following this guy who has blown up on Insta (with help from a Dave Portnoy review) over the last year and makes high-quality pizzas in his oven...

Instagram

Create an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you're into with the people who get you.

www.instagram.com

I’ll check that guy out and post some of my favorites here. I bet yours are outstanding from the Egg. My dad had an Egg, seems like using it is a chore, especially so for a quick cook like this.

My oven gets to 550 and it works great. I avoid the Neopolitans that want 800 degrees.

I’ll post more when I dig up the links.

 

[ronjon]

I make pizzas on my green egg and enjoy them, but it's a lot of work. I just started following this guy who has blown up on Insta (with help from a Dave Portnoy review) over the last year and makes high-quality pizzas in his oven...

Instagram

Create an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you're into with the people who get you.

www.instagram.com

These are my go to recipes:

Detroit Style: https://www.brianlagerstrom.com/recipes/detroit-pizza
- This guy (Brian) has instructions for lots of different styles. I find him recipes are normally doable without needing too much work.


"New York" Style (Seems like just regular style to me) https://www.joshuaweissman.com/recipes/easy-new-york-style-pizza-at-home-recipe
- This guy (Josh) is entertaining, but most of his recipes are over the top for home cooks that aren't retired. Too much involved. The pizza isn't too difficult and it's great.

Josh had the idea to use a 25% mix of whole wheat flour in his dough. I now do that for the NY style and the Detroit style. It adds a subtle twist in the dough flavor.

Brian has a technique for rolling out a round pizza dough this video: . It's on parchment paper and it works really well so I use it with Josh's NY Style.

So I said it's not a lot of work to do either of these. It does take some calendar and clock time. For both of these, I make the dough at least a day in advance. The long fermentation time adds great flavor. In both cases the dough takes about 30 min to form into balls. That's all in time, getting out the blender, ingredients etc. It then needs to rest for a couple of hours where you only rework the dough a couple of times over those couple of hours. I work from home so I do the dough assembly during lunch and it can sit out for a couple of hours. The dough is then in the fridge for a 1-3 or 4 days when I'm ready to make it.

Making the pizza with the prepped dough is probably another hour-ish tbd on ingredients that may need pre-cooking. I make big batches of sauce that I freeze so that's normally just unthawing them, or taking the 10 min to make them if I'm out.

The oven takes a long time to preheat, so that gives me time to shred cheese, prep ingredients. It's a pretty active 1 hour. I can't recommend enough doing your own food prep. Shred your cheese, get a stick of pepperoni and slice it yourself, get decent quality ingredients. Any one of these small details by itself isn't going to make a difference. Put them all together and you have something that is noticeably better.

So, I think I may have oversold the ease of this. But to me, it's not really difficult, it just takes some time which is spread out. I will caveat that by adding that tools really help this process. A weigh scale for measuing ingredients, a mixer for the dough, a good pizza steel (better than a stone) help this process.

 

[PINEHEEL]

These are my go to recipes:

Detroit Style: https://www.brianlagerstrom.com/recipes/detroit-pizza
- This guy (Brian) has instructions for lots of different styles. I find him recipes are normally doable without needing too much work.


"New York" Style (Seems like just regular style to me) https://www.joshuaweissman.com/recipes/easy-new-york-style-pizza-at-home-recipe
- This guy (Josh) is entertaining, but most of his recipes are over the top for home cooks that aren't retired. Too much involved. The pizza isn't too difficult and it's great.

Josh had the idea to use a 25% mix of whole wheat flour in his dough. I now do that for the NY style and the Detroit style. It adds a subtle twist in the dough flavor.

Brian has a technique for rolling out a round pizza dough this video: . It's on parchment paper and it works really well so I use it with Josh's NY Style.

So I said it's not a lot of work to do either of these. It does take some calendar and clock time. For both of these, I make the dough at least a day in advance. The long fermentation time adds great flavor. In both cases the dough takes about 30 min to form into balls. That's all in time, getting out the blender, ingredients etc. It then needs to rest for a couple of hours where you only rework the dough a couple of times over those couple of hours. I work from home so I do the dough assembly during lunch and it can sit out for a couple of hours. The dough is then in the fridge for a 1-3 or 4 days when I'm ready to make it.

Making the pizza with the prepped dough is probably another hour-ish tbd on ingredients that may need pre-cooking. I make big batches of sauce that I freeze so that's normally just unthawing them, or taking the 10 min to make them if I'm out.

The oven takes a long time to preheat, so that gives me time to shred cheese, prep ingredients. It's a pretty active 1 hour. I can't recommend enough doing your own food prep. Shred your cheese, get a stick of pepperoni and slice it yourself, get decent quality ingredients. Any one of these small details by itself isn't going to make a difference. Put them all together and you have something that is noticeably better.

So, I think I may have oversold the ease of this. But to me, it's not really difficult, it just takes some time which is spread out. I will caveat that by adding that tools really help this process. A weigh scale for measuing ingredients, a mixer for the dough, a good pizza steel (better than a stone) help this process.

Man, awesome stuff. Thanks for sharing! Never tried Detroit-style at home before so that looks like a fun project. We've got a 1 and a 3 year-old so making some of these in the years ahead will be a fun activity they can "help" with as well.

 

[ronjon]

Man, awesome stuff. Thanks for sharing! Never tried Detroit-style at home before so that looks like a fun project. We've got a 1 and a 3 year-old so making some of these in the years ahead will be a fun activity they can "help" with as well.

I think the Detroit style is a bit easier with the pan, a lot easier to get it into the oven. I also like the crispy edges where the cheese melts down the sides of the crust. Great call getting your kids involved early with the cooking! I wish I'd done more of it when I was younger. I'm having a great time finding and trying new recipes.

 

[Heelfiend]

I think the Detroit style is a bit easier with the pan, a lot easier to get it into the oven. I also like the crispy edges where the cheese melts down the sides of the crust. Great call getting your kids involved early with the cooking! I wish I'd done more of it when I was younger. I'm having a great time finding and trying new recipes.

I read through the Detroit style one. Why would you need a pizza stone UNDER the pan? I thought the pizza stone was useful if the dough was directly on it, but didn't think it would matter if the pizza is already in a pan.

 

[Reddfoxx00]

Ledo's in maryland and n myrtle.its a chain so its not like local pizza place but good for a chain.


You can walk into a pizza place and the smell pizza smell will tell you if the place is legit.

 

[AndyHeel]

IP3 in Chapel Hill is the best I have seen in the area. Patronies at Holden Beach is ok but nothing to write home about.

 

[2forheels]

Really liked the original Pepper's Pizza on Franklin Street before it moved then it fizzled out. Original location was excellent.

 

[ronjon]

I read through the Detroit style one. Why would you need a pizza stone UNDER the pan? I thought the pizza stone was useful if the dough was directly on it, but didn't think it would matter if the pizza is already in a pan.

Idea is to preheat the steel to get it scorching hot. It’ll transfer the heat to the bottom of the pizza better than heated air. With the oil in the pan it fry’s the crust.

 

[Heel1988]

Slices by Tony on Tate St in Greensboro has excellent pizza.

 

[mpaer]

For franchises, I love Jet's, but that's because I'm a Detroit-style disciple.

- I loved Gino's Pizza in Raleigh off 70 for years.
- Torro in Durham might be the best pizza in NC, but it probably isn't what the OP had in mind for this discussion
- Randy's in Durham is really solid for chain delivery.
- Now that I'm in West Jefferson, I really love the pizza at this local place called Bobby D's, but it's probably not winning any culinary awards. It's damn good pizza, though.

For franchises, I love Jet's, but that's because I'm a Detroit-style disciple.

- I loved Gino's Pizza in Raleigh off 70 for years.
- Torro in Durham might be the best pizza in NC, but it probably isn't what the OP had in mind for this discussion
- Randy's in Durham is really solid for chain delivery.
- Now that I'm in West Jefferson, I really love the pizza at this local place called Bobby D's, but it's probably not winning any culinary awards. It's damn good pizza, though.

West Jefferson
Where everyone is high
Tshirt of mine

 

[mpaer]

napoli in carrboro. end of thread

50 bucks right?
My mom use to love it when I would bring one over

 

[PINEHEEL]

West Jefferson
Where everyone is high
Tshirt of mine

Gonna need you to sell me that t-shirt!

 

[Icthyphile]

Fav franchise, Marcos. The crunchy edges of the little pepperonis…..damnit son!

 

[TarHeelDad]

This may be terrible to admit, but I like Hunt Brothers pizzas about as good as any. Plus they don’t cost an arm and a leg to get all the toppings you want.

 

[cr333]

This may be terrible to admit, but I like Hunt Brothers pizzas about as good as any. Plus they don’t cost an arm and a leg to get all the toppings you want.

Hunt Brothers does make a really good pizza. Like others, around here they're not easy to find.

 

[Heelfiend]

Slices by Tony on Tate St in Greensboro has excellent pizza.

Is that the Marios sister co?

 

[op2]

I remember Pepper's on Franklin St back in the day. I actually can't remember if the pizza was great or not but for whatever reason it was a place that everybody went, which makes me wonder why they eventually went out of business.

 

[op2]

IP3 in Chapel Hill is the best I have seen in the area. Patronies at Holden Beach is ok but nothing to write home about.

If I'm thinking of the same place, IP3 was on the 500 block of West Franklin, on the north side of the road. When I was there it was owned by Italian guys that had soccer on the TVs a lot. It was a couple doors down from the North Carolina Original Sports Bar, whose address I think was 504 West Franklin. I spent a lot of time there. In fact I lived close to there for a few years. Eventually it closed and an Indian food restaurant opened there.

 

[AndyHeel]

If I'm thinking of the same place, IP3 was on the 500 block of West Franklin, on the north side of the road. When I was there it was owned by Italian guys that had soccer on the TVs a lot. It was a couple doors down from the North Carolina Original Sports Bar, whose address I think was 504 West Franklin. I spent a lot of time there. In fact I lived close to there for a few years. Eventually it closed and an Indian food restaurant opened there.

It is still there and owned by Vinnie and Angelo, two guys from Italy.

 

[2forheels]

I remember Pepper's on Franklin St back in the day. I actually can't remember if the pizza was great or not but for whatever reason it was a place that everybody went, which makes me wonder why they eventually went out of business.

The owner of the building pushed them out and the new location never took hold. Remember the Gargoyles over the door? lol

 

[Heel1988]

@Heelfiend Honestly, not sure.

 

[ronjon]

The owner of the building pushed them out and the new location never took hold. Remember the Gargoyles over the door? lol

I assumed it was because the new place was cleaner and thus the product was less flavorful. It's more likely they had to cut back on ingredient quality to make up for increased rent.

It really was a shocking difference to me, at least that's how I remember it.

 

[cr333]

Had a pie from Brooklyn pizza in Wilmington this afternoon. New York style and it was awesome. Will be my new goto from now on.

 

[Heel Alum]

Second the Randy's shout out, I love them. Johnny's pizza is decent as well, Rosati's when I'm looking for deep dish.

Jets is the best chain pizza around, really like it as well.

just had one slice of cheeese special with salad at Randy's Morrisville and very solid

 

[kik84]

When I worked in Manhattan, there was a group of like 4-5 guys who would order from Domino's once a week. These guys were all native New Yorkers, and while they also liked the tons of great local joints, they just also loved Domino's.