I'm about to invoke that old cliché "you can't go home again". The catalyst: Original Pizza in Oak Park Mall, long regarded as "the mall" in this part of Johnson County, Kansas. More

Captain Ahab had Moby Dick, giving birth to the notion of "the white whale" as a goal to be chased to the ends of the earth, self-destruction be damned. Herman Melville was able to spin one version of the Great American Novel out of that tale. My white whale, over the course of several Christmases in the Kansas City area, has been Stonewall Inn Pizza. Kansas City is land-locked, of course, which makes this tale less tragic, thank goodness, and unlike Melville, I'm only able to spin a short blog post out of it. More

Another week, another great state in our ongoing 50-plus-part series The United States of Pizza. This time, I'm proud to take you on a cheesy tour of my home state, the Sunflower State, Kansas. So slip off your ruby slippers,* relax, and come along. More

Madness lies ahead, at Eat Me Daily. Kansas City, I love you. I spent my formative years in your metro area. But this nonsense is why we had to break up. You will forever be synonymous with barbecue and pretty little women, but you will never be known as a pizza town. How could you, with this crazy-ass Tater Tot–Chili Pizza at Grinders? The Eat Me Daily weblog has video of the monstrosity. Grinders 417 East 18th Street, Kansas City MO 64108 (b/n Oak and Locust streets; map) 816-472-5454... More

Clicking in to the Slice inbox today, we've got ... Saw this stupid thing in the paper this morning and had to send it to you. Sorry about the cheap-o scan. Hope you dudes are doin good, Andy... More

Editor's note: This is the first of two reports today about pizza in a cone. Check out the second report here: Pizza in a Cone: Crispycones It’s not often that Kansas City gets to be at the forefront of international cuisine. But even a Midwesterners are sometimes lucky enough to find a new, innovative pizza concept in their local mall food court once in a while. Kornet Pizza, the international sellers of the pizza cone, opened its first U.S. location at Oak Park Mall in Overland Park, Kansas, four weeks ago. My wife accompanied me recently to the food court... More

I just got this email from my mom, and, boy, did I freak out. Adam, Saw this article [below right] in the KC Star on January 6. Looked interesting. Too bad we didn't see this while you were in town. We might try this, but not anytime soon, as you left us with so much pizza in the freezer. Hope the pictures get to you. We had problems trying to figure out the attachment part. Let me know if you get the pictures or not. --Mom You don't know how much this hurts, ladies and gents.... More

A good friend of mine, Andy G., who lives in Kansas City and who I've known since college days, emailed me last Friday: "I'm going to my friend Dan's place for pizza tomorrow. He built his own backyard oven." So earlier this week, Andy emails me a link to some photos of Dan's oven, along with this info: It was amazing. Some of the best pizza I have ever had. He used a good dough recipe and made a great sauce from scratch. But the oven:He used EIGHT different types of brick.It took him over SEVEN months to build.I... More