Entries tagged with 'Oddities'
Posted by Adam Kuban, May 8, 2007 at 3:57 PM
Because math really does come in handy. From a guy who knows pies and pi, simple geometry reveals that two 8-inch pizzas are not equivalent to one 12-incher:
... the waitress came by with an 8-inch round pizza, explaining that another waitress had mistakenly given our pizza to someone else. She said we could have this 8-inch pizza now, and she’d have the cook throw another 8-inch pizza in the oven for us. She claimed that we’d be getting more total pieces of pizza, so this was a good deal for us.
After doing some quick mental math (area of a circle = pi*radius². Two 8-inch pizzas = 2*pi*(4)² = 32*pi square inches, One 12-inch pizza = pi*(6)² = 36*pi square inches), I told her we’d be missing out on over 12 square inches of pizza, so we’d rather just have the one 12-inch pizza. She complied, and as a nice bonus (probably because she was impressed by my quick geometry skills), she let us have the extra 8-inch pizza anyway. Score one for geometry!
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 5, 2007 at 2:44 PM
Down Under, Domino's mixes the classic Australian meat pie with the pizza pie:
Until now, the most creative makeovers of the humble meat pie have involved stacking things on top of it. This week Domino's stacked it on something else.
The Meat Pie Pizza comes with beef mince, onions, and peas topped with thick pastry and tomato sauce—and it looks about as pretty as a half-gobbled dog's eye.
Crikey!
Related: More fusion pizza on Slice
Posted by Adam Kuban, March 21, 2007 at 6:28 PM
On Serious Eats yesterday, we were talking about food-themed tattoos. How apropos that today I see this pizza tat.
Man has pizza tattooed on head [CBBC Newsround]
Posted by Adam Kuban, March 14, 2007 at 2:30 PM
The folks at Grub Street, New York magazine's foodblog, try a mighty expensive pizza: "Made of crème fraîche, six kinds of caviar (including a sac-load of intense black Russian Royal Sevruga, the same kind used in Norma’s omelette), and shaved slices of fresh lobster, the sample sowed confusion in our proletarian ranks."
Eh. You'd be an idiot to order one of these things. It's a waste of good pizza and good caviar. But, apparently, Bo Dietl purchased one. There's one born every minute.
If you feel like being a sucker, the pizza is available at Nino's Bellissima Pizza, 890 Second Avenue, New York NY 10017 (at 47th Street); 212-355-5540.
We Try a $1,000 Pizza [Grub Street]
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 28, 2007 at 11:49 AM
Holy moly:
Devout churchgoers have begun worshipping a pizza pan - after claiming the Virgin Mary has appeared amid the melted cheese, tomato and pepperoni.
Virgin Mary appears on pizza pan [Metro.co.uk]
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 28, 2007 at 8:00 AM
I've been chronicling the evolution of insane doughnut-bunned fusion burgers over at Slice sister site A Hamburger Today, so it's somehow fitting that my Serious Eats coworker Alaina sent me the link to this Livejournal entry about a marshmallow-topped pizza.
Unfortunately, the pizza itself actually sucked. The marshmallows had a weird effect on the taste of the cheese. It was how I imagine miracle fruit might work, except instead of making sour food taste like sweet food, it made cheese taste like moldy old gym sock. I couldn't taste the marshmallow at all, just rotten cheese. And I know the cheese itself wasn't bad, because I had the other half of the pizza, the part without marshmallows. The cheese tasted fine on that part.
The marshmallows on pizza experiment [mokinbot.livejournal.com; from Alaina via dirtynerdluv]
Posted by Adam Kuban, December 5, 2006 at 12:17 PM
Could you eat an entire 20-inch pizza by yourself? With two toppings? What if it guaranteed you free pizza for a year? Blogger Bear Silber reaches for the eye of the tiger:
The Pizza and Pipes Belly Buster challenge was a success. A few men set out to make history, two became boys while one became a legend. What exactly is the Belly Buster challenge you ask. Simple, it’s a 20” pizza that must be consumed in one hour or less by one individual. To date many have tried but none have been victorious. The Hall of Shame is filled with Polaroids of individuals who’ve attempted to conquer the Belly Buster while the Hall of Fame lay bare.
Did Mr. Silber succeed? You'll have to read his post to find out.
Belly Buster Challenge [Bear Silber]
Photograph from Bear Silber's Flickr photostream
Posted by Adam Kuban, November 13, 2006 at 10:20 PM
A Scottish chef has made what might be the world's most expensive pizza:
The pizza is sprinkled with gold and topped with champagne-soaked caviar and lobster marinated in the finest cognac. Creator Domenico Crolla [right] said it was worth more than $3,700.
Mr. Crolla is tying the pie in to the upcoming James Bond movie by calling it the "Pizza Royale 007" (" 'If any pizza was made to suit 007, this is it,' said Mr Crolla.") and will auction it off on eBay to raise money for a charity, the Fred Hollows Foundation, "which works to prevent curable blindness in developing countries."
Gold-fingered chef to crack pizza record [Sydney Morning Herald, via Foodmall]
Posted by Adam Kuban, November 7, 2006 at 11:58 AM
New Zealand chain Hell Pizza, no stranger to controversy or clever gimmicks, has come up with a new one. For its new "Lust Pizza," a pie for, ahem, meat lovers, the company has been distributing pamphlets containing sex instructions and a condom.
The viral campaign has aroused some criticism, as you'd imagine. From Hawkes Bay Today:
Not only do they have the authority of government policy on their side in raising the profile of HIV-Aids-and-conception-free sex with each mouthful of their product, but they are guaranteed that those calculated to be most irritated immediately become, in spite of themselves, part of their promotion. Adjudication by the Advertising Standards Authority is also factored into the marketing plan.
Pizza company's condom campaign [NYCity]
Editorial: Hell, you're doing them a service [Hawkes Bay Today]
Posted by Adam Kuban, September 15, 2006 at 10:28 AM
New York Times science reporter Kenneth Chang answers reader questions about his recent story "Pluto's Exotic Playmates":
Q: The article on the Kuiper Belt objects mentioned the solar system’s ecliptic plane, to which most planetary orbits seem to conform. I have seldom found any explanation as to why the essentially two-dimensional structure prevails in three-dimensional space. The influence of gas giants on the orbit of other objects in the system, as mentioned in your article, hints at a possible answer, especially if their orbits did, in fact, expand from a more compact form. It does not, however, explain why these massive planets share the same orbital plane to start with. Could you shed some light on this subject? — M. Viegas
A: Think pizza dough. A pizza maker shapes the dough by tossing it and spinning it, and the spinning creates a flat round shape. The ball of gas and dust that collapsed into the solar system started with a certain amount of spinning. As it collapsed, the spinning became faster (conservation of angular momentum), and the result was the Sun and a pizza dough-like disk of leftover dust and gas orbiting around the Sun. The dust and gas then coalesced into planets, and these were largely in the same plane as the original disk.
Questions About the Kuiper Belt [New York Times]
Posted by Adam Kuban, July 31, 2006 at 10:19 AM
From the Associated Press:
TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered government and cultural bodies to use modified Persian words to replace foreign words that have crept into the language, such as "pizzas" which will now be known as "elastic loaves," state media reported Saturday.
I guess that would make us "Slice: America's Favorite Elastic Loaf Weblog!"
Update: On a whim, Slice decided to register "elasticloaves.com" as a joke, but someone has beaten us to the punch. According to a WHOIS query, the domain was registered on July 29, the day this story appeared. Is there an Iranian pizza blog in the works? Only time will tell...
Iranian Leader: 'Pizza' to Be Called 'Elastic Loaves' in Foreign Word Ban [AP, via Fox News]
Posted by Adam Kuban, June 29, 2006 at 1:37 AM
Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central's "Colbert Report," HATES bears. Until recently, it was a quirk Slice never quite understood. But witness:
FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. -- A frequent diner at a Flagler County pizza place has worn out its welcome. The bear has made a habit of visiting the dumpster behind the Domino's Pizza on Highway 100 and I-95.
Bears, Slice is giving you a tip of the hat for causing trouble at Domino's, but we're going to give you a wag of the finger for liking Domino's enough to visit repeatedly. You're on notice.
Bear Cub Making Habit Of Visiting Pizza Shop's Dumpster [WFTV.com ]
Posted by Adam Kuban, June 21, 2006 at 12:58 PM
Brave new world, eh? Witness:
Edible, lab-grown ground chuck that smells and tastes just like the real thing might take a place next to Quorn at supermarkets in just a few years, thanks to some determined meat researchers. Scientists routinely grow small quantities of muscle cells in petri dishes for experiments, but now for the first time a concentrated effort is under way to mass-produce meat in this manner.
Henk Haagsman, a professor of meat sciences at Utrecht University, and his Dutch colleagues are working on growing artificial pork meat out of pig stem cells. They hope to grow a form of minced meat suitable for burgers, sausages and pizza toppings within the next few years.
Emphasis added.
Test Tube Meat Nears Dinner Table [Wired]
Posted by Adam Kuban, June 15, 2006 at 3:27 PM
From Craigslist:
At work we have this gentleman's agreement. If you show up late for work, you must buy lunch for the entire office. A guy in here showed up late yesterday(and he lives 4 blocks from the office!) and refused to buy lunch. Today, another co-worker showed up late, coming from Westchester, and bought about 12 pizza's. The scumbag who didn't pay yesterday had the f**king nerve to actually eat the pizza today. I hope he gets a stomach virus.
CHEAP PIECE OF GARBAGE WITH NO ETIQUETTE [Craigslist]
Posted by Adam Kuban, June 15, 2006 at 10:34 AM
Candler resident Lori Hancock, 29, said she bought three pepperoni Hot-n-Ready pizzas at the restaurant Saturday afternoon for her son’s outdoor birthday party at a friend’s home.
A few hours later, the homeowner noticed something unusual on the last pizza, Hancock said. “They looked like tiny bits of rice clumped together,” she said.
Hancock took the remainder of the pizza to her home, where later that evening she saw what she said were live maggots underneath the cheese.
You know, I watch a lot of CSI, and I think I heard it mentioned on there that maggots are primarily found in rotting organic matter.
Woman says she found larvae on pizza slice [citizen-times.com]
Posted by Adam Kuban, June 14, 2006 at 12:00 PM
The pizza is made from a base layer of crust covered in sauce, then topped with smaller english muffin pizzas that are topped with corn chip tortilla pizzas.
[
link]
Posted by Adam Kuban, June 14, 2006 at 1:34 AM
In a strange turn of events, a Des Moines, Iowa, radio personality reportedly has invented no-dough pizzas, an idea spawned from a lawn-mowing accident.
The Des Moines Register said WHO's Van Harden came up with the idea of making his pizza crusts from a cheese base after losing his desire for bread.
Mmm, cheese. You could conceivably make it a trifecta if you used a cheese-based sauce. Way to go, Van!
Lawn-mowing accident leads to new pizza [UPI]
Van invents a 100% cheese crust pizza [VanHarden.com]
Posted by Adam Kuban, May 23, 2006 at 5:24 PM
Not available for Mac :(
Talk about a cheesy game. It's your job to deliver pizzas around town in a timely manner. The better you do, the more tips you'll get. Use the mouse to match the pizza order with the correct restaurant, and to place the toppings in the right order on the pizza.
Pizza Frenzy [Shockwave.com]
Posted by Adam Kuban, May 22, 2006 at 12:10 PM
I kinda don't get it, but I kinda like it:
1. How can I order from you?
Ye can't. Pirate Pizza doesn't make the pizza. We just deliver it. So there ain't nothin' te order from us. Ye just place an order from another pizza delivery place. Then Pirate Pizza's pirates intercept their car, keelhaul the delivery person, and finish the delivery.
2. How much does this cost me?
How much ye got? What say we shows up, and we just takes what we want? Yer wife looks kinda pretty, for starters.
3. So how exactly do I know whether or not you'll show up?
Ye don't.
4. Let me put that a different way. How can I keep you away from my house?
Arrrr. Ye can't! Excepts if ye don't order no pizza. But ye better!
Pirate Pizza: Arrrrrrrr! [PiratePizza.com]
Posted by Adam Kuban, May 22, 2006 at 12:55 AM
How you eat your pizza says a lot about you, a study reveals. Among others, "The Crust Leaver who just eats the tasty centre was a rebellious child and is impulsive by nature," and, of particular interest to many New Yorkers, "the Folder who eats it like a sandwich is impatient, likely to be single and hates queues."
Crust Me, I'm a Doc [The Daily Record]
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 30, 2006 at 11:35 PM
When a door closes, a window opens, and so Chuck Klosterman, recently liberated from his job at Spin, must have had some time to turn his attention to pizza. In a piece in the New York Times Magazine, he writes:
Canisters of red pepper have many small holes cut into their lid; this is how the pepper is dispensed upon the pizza. Certainly, this is no great mystery of science. But — for reasons that remain unclear — I momentarily assumed I was living in an alternative reality where this was not the case. In this alternative reality, patrons were expected to unscrew and remove the cap of the red-pepper container, because (in this reality) the little sprinkling holes are situated beneath the cylindrical cap. But in our reality, there is not a collection of little holes underneath the cap of such containers; there is nothing but spice. Which is why I proceeded to dump the totality of the red pepper directly onto the middle of my pizza, where it congregated in a mound vaguely resembling Mount St. Helens.
Worse yet, he decides to eat it. Is unemployment driving him mad? I didn't really get whether there was anything deeply significant about his actions, but, hey, I'm not that deep of a guy.
One Slice With Extra Meaning [New York Times Magazine]
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 27, 2006 at 3:39 PM
They're coming to get you, Barbara. And they're wearing Domino's uniforms. From the Smoking Gun:
According to a police report ... when officers began taking an inventory of the station wagon, they noticed a stretcher in the rear of the vehicle (along with rubbish and wet clothing) where "pizzas were sitting to be delivered." Asked about the items, [William] Bethel explained that when he finished delivering Domino's pizzas, "he transports deceased bodies in the same vehicle for a funeral home."
Thanks to Matt P. in New Brunswick for the link!
Stiffs And Slices: Domino's delivery man transported pizza, corpses in same car [The Smoking Gun]
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 27, 2006 at 9:10 AM
From NYC Nosh: "According to Mr. Penguin, he had gotten some ugly looks from the delivery person as he signed the receipt, and thought he probably ought to make sure the man left the building. “I thought–at the very worst– that the guy might throw some garbage in the hall. But I didn’t expect that.” But through the peephole, Mr. Penguin watched as the Fat Sal’s employee looked around to make sure nobody was watching, set his insulated pizza bag and coat down in the hallway, and then ambled into the corner and unzipped."
When Pizza Delivery Goes Wrong–Horribly, Horribly Wrong [NYC Nosh]
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 25, 2006 at 3:03 PM
A former New Hampshire corrections officer, just hours after being indicted on charges of raping inmates he was in charge of guarding, violates his parole by delivering pizza to a prison:
"Pretty stupid, huh?" said [bail enforcement agent Lance] Wilkinson. "I told him, 'If Jesus Christ told me to deliver those pizzas, I would have said no.' "
Pizza proves indicted guard's downfall [New Hampshire Union Leader]
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 18, 2006 at 11:38 PM
The New York Daily News reports on the results of a study on speed dating:
One of the most successful openers, the study found? "What is your favorite pizza topping?"
Um, speaking from experience, the whole pizza thing has never been a huge dating asset for Slice editors.
So much for taking it slow [The New York Daily News]
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 14, 2006 at 1:28 PM
Photo by Peter Kaminski
I was just going through my favorite photos from Flickr and came across the one above. It was taken by Peter Kaminski at a hotel in San Diego.
Maybe I should start a clandestine pizzeria — if only I had a garage to work out of.
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 14, 2006 at 10:35 AM
From yesterday's "Weird But True" in the New York Daily News:
The Brazilian aviation authority has been ordered to pay $17,500 and a slice of pizza to a worker who said he was humiliated when his boss labeled him a "trash picker" for retrieving a slice of pizza from a trash can.
Weird But True [New York Daily News]
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 11, 2006 at 4:17 PM
The P'EatZZa.
Am I laughing or crying? It's kinda hard to tell with all this computer gadgetry that separates us, innit?
It brings together a combination of pizza, deli meats and flavorful fixings into one delicious sandwich that tastes great for lunch or any time of day. 7-Eleven designed the new sandwich and packaging so it's easy to eat on the go -- there's no need to heat it, just grab one and enjoy.
Two varieties debut April 18 and a third crash lands May 22.
SOME 7-ELEVEN LOCATIONS IN NYC
107 East 23rd Street (b/n Fifth and Sixth)
1453 Third Ave. (at 82nd Street)
31-31 Thomson Ave., Long Island City
301 65th Street (at Third Ave.), Brooklyn (Bay Ridge)
6501 New Utrecht Ave. (Dyker Heights)
8813 Fourth Ave. (at 88th Street), Brooklyn (Bay Ridge)
What Is New? P'EatZZa Sandwich [7-Eleven.com; via Eat, Drink, One Woman]
Posted by Adam Kuban, March 29, 2006 at 9:52 PM
"It's been keeping us from ordering pizza all the time," Ms. Robbins said. "And you still feel like you're cooking." [New York Times, via Eat, Drink, One Woman]
Posted by Adam Kuban, March 22, 2006 at 8:56 AM
Mama Lena's Pizza House is vying for a spot in the Guinness World Records as the planet's largest commercially available pizza. ...
"It's 20 pounds of dough, it's a gallon of sauce, 15 pounds of cheese and a lot of tender love and care," [the pizzeria owner's husband Rob] Carrabbia said Monday. "We cook the old fashion way, stone and cornmeal."
Mama Lena's is in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania. Do I see a Slice field trip coming up?
$99 pizza hopes to make Guinness book [Houston Chronicle]
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 18, 2006 at 12:06 AM
From the New York Daily News:
ED KOCH'S FRESHDIRECT SHOPPING LIST:
Fresh lemon-dill salmon with asparagus and fingerling potatoes $9.99
Grilled thin-crust fresh mozzarella pizza (frozen) $7.99
North Fork sweet potato chips $2.49
Chocolate souffle (two-pack) $9.99
New York cheesecake $10.99
Bone-in rib chop (per pound) $15.99
How'm I chewin'? [New York Daily News]
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 14, 2006 at 3:35 PM
Earlier today we brought you a
heart-shaped pizza. In keeping with the novelty pies, we now bring you a cat-face pizza, made by
Flickr user
Hale Popoki.
The recipe for this pie and other cute, crusty critters can be found in the book Pizza Fun by Judy Bastyra.
From the Slice Archives: Star Wars–themed pizzas
Pizza Mau [Hale Popoki, Flickr]
Pizza Fun [Amazon]
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 14, 2006 at 11:59 AM
Meanwhile, in the world of competitive dog grooming:
One owner asked for a red carpet at the entrance. ("You see a dog come in on the red carpet," Grymek said, "and other dogs say, uh-oh.") Another asked for seven McDonald's cheeseburgers without onions; another wanted pizza. Some ask for cases of specific brands of bottled water, others for extra cots and pillows.
At This Hotel, Just Bark for Service [New York Times]
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 14, 2006 at 10:22 AM
Fresh from the Another Useless Study Dept.:
A new survey by the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation and Domino's Pizza suggested the pizza toppings people prefer signal the types of people who they are most compatible with romantically.
For example, those who prefer more non-traditional topping combinations, such as pineapple and onion, are most romantically compatible with people who prefer similar non-traditional toppings.
Our own unscientific research here at the Slice Institute for Pizza Research suggests that if your dearest doesn't like pizza at all, you should consider relationship exit strategies.
Are You Compatible? Order a Pizza Together [KHBS/KHOG-TV, Arkansas]
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 30, 2006 at 10:07 PM
Our erstwhile
Queens correspondent traveled to D.C. a couple weeks ago to visit the International Spy Museum for a story on
AmericanHeritage.com.
Ever the sleuth, she uncovered the following pizza-related fact:
The International Spy Museum claims that 10,000 members of the intelligence community work within a block of its Washington location. The number seems a little high to me; it would probably implicate everyone from bored security guards to the employees of the local pizzeria. But since the museum also reveals that 40,000 pounds of shredded documents from the National Security Agency are recycled into pizza boxes at a time, maybe we should all be more suspicious of seemingly innocent bystanders and their packages.
The nonpizza-related material is fascinating as well, so click through (link below) and investigate thoroughly.
This post will now self-destruct ...
Travel: The Museum of Spies [American Heritage]
International Spy Museum [Official Website]
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 30, 2006 at 1:26 PM
My sister just sent me this link: What's Your Pizza Personality?
Find out what kind of pizza you are by answering questions such as "What's the most important part of a pizza?" and "What goes best with pizza?"
For the record, I'm a cheese pizza: "Traditional and comforting. You focus on living a quality life. You're not easily impressed with novelty. Yet, you easily impress others."
What's Your Pizza Personality? [BlogThings.com]
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 9, 2006 at 10:44 AM
From InsideBayArea.com:
HARD to believe, but Nome has just gotten its first pizza delivery business, a joint that brings gourmet pies to people's doors and even flies special orders to Bush villages hundreds of miles away.
For free.
It may not arrive hot, but it's all the rage in this Northwest Alaska region where Nome, with its 3,500 residents, had no food delivery options until Airport Pizza launched.
You buy and they fly in Alaska [InsideBayArea.com, via
Tien Mao]
Posted by Adam Kuban, December 21, 2005 at 1:42 AM
What started with a car theft turned into an escape and resulting chase that ended with the male fugitive being caught hiding out in a woman's restroom by an officer who received a ride from a pizza deliveryman.
Chase involving pizza deliveryman ends in ladies' room [7online.com]
Posted by Adam Kuban, December 19, 2005 at 3:25 PM
Pizza the Hut would be proud.
Pizzas and photographs by Christine Castro, from her Flickr photostream.
Posted by Adam Kuban, December 13, 2005 at 12:25 PM
When I posted about breakfast pizza a few days ago, some of you seemed to think I was totally opposed to the idea. That's not the case. I'm sure something tasty can be pulled from the twisted collision of my favorite food and the morning meal.
What I meant to convey was the suspicion that whatever the major chains come up with in this area will be bad. Given their track record with with lunch and dinner fare, it's a fair assumption.
Anyway, breakfast pizza recommendations have been trickling in. Among them, Eric Cohen of pizza-box advertisers Mangia Media: "Saw your post on the breakfast pizza. Foody's in Water Mill NY (The Hamptons) makes an amazing breakfast pizza with and egg, sausage, green peppers from their wood fired oven. A new favorite."
Given his line of work, I'm gonna bet Eric knows his stuff.
Posted by Adam Kuban, December 9, 2005 at 1:17 PM
Breakfast pizza. No, not the kind you eat cold from the box when you're hungover. We're talking freshly made "omelette pizza," topped with eggs and cheese. Papa John's is experimenting with it in certain markets, and a regional chain in Iowa is steps away from putting it on its morning menu. If it's successful, we're sure Pizza Hut, Domino's, and all the others will follow suit.
The most important meal of the day? Not if those eggheads get their hands on it.
Photograph by Greybread
Posted by Adam Kuban, June 7, 2005 at 11:17 AM
Now this is dedication to your job:
TAMPA, Fla. — It'll apparently take more than being shot to keep Thomas Stefanelli from making his rounds as a pizza delivery man.
He suffered a gunshot wound to his leg Saturday, but the 37-year-old continued to make four more deliveries in Tampa.
He said he was shot by a man in a Halloween mask who was demanding money.
Stefanelli said his cell phone wasn't working, so he drove to his next delivery address to call his boss. He then made three more deliveries before being taken to a hospital.
Bullet Wound Doesn't Stop Man from Delivering Pizzas [ChannelCincinnati.com]
[Thanks to Thomas for the tip!]
Posted by seltzerboy, May 18, 2005 at 3:58 PM
You know Slice is asleep at the bandwidth, or that the pieman who spearheads this fine service has been moonlighting for another, when we miss some important pizza news breaking from our nation’s capital.
As first reported in last week’s edition of the Onion, the senior circuit of Washington’s bicameral legislature cajoled its members to an after-hours session by fronting the bill for burning the midnight olive oil.
Senators Lured Back To Emergency Session By Promise Of Free Pizza
WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. senators from both parties, tired and eager to go home to their families after a hard day of legislation, were enticed back into the Senate chamber for an emergency budget session Tuesday by the promise of Little Caesars. "I know it's been a long day, but if you stay late, there's gonna be pizza," said Majority Whip Mitch McConnell at 9:30 p.m. "Don't tell [Senate Majority Leader Bill] Frist, but stick around, and I'll make sure you all get an extra order of Crazy Bread with sauce." The senators only relented when McConnell promised that if they hammered out the budget by 1 a.m., they could rent Glengarry Glen Ross and watch it in the hearing room.
Far be it from us to discourage our leaders from indulging on our favorite food. But if Little Caesars is the "pizza" of choice, this undistinguished gentleman from New York might have to mount a filibuster—or stage a Capitol Hill news conference deploring this wasteful use of the taxpayers' money, which amounts to nothing more than logrolling for the chain-pizza industry. We wonder if Senator Robert Byrd knows of some obscure Senate rule forbidding chain pizza from the hallowed chamber’s halls. On second thought, Mr. Byrd would probably be in bed by the time the sauce hit the gavel.
If our esteemed representatives would like to chow on some pie while in session, they should head over to Macomb Street in the Northwest quadrant of the capital. In Ed Levine’s fine new book A Slice Of Heaven—a long-awaited Slice review is coming soon—he speaks highly of the pie at D.C.'s 2 Amys. We can’t speak first-hand of this business, which many readers based in the District have told us to check out if we're ever down D.C. way, but it boasts of a wood-burning oven, San Marzano tomatoes, and two types of fresh mozzarella (including buffalo mozzarella).
That’s our idea of bipartisan legislation.
Posted by Adam Kuban, May 9, 2005 at 2:15 PM
Well, there was a riot goin' on Down Under until pizza was brought in to end a prison hostage situation.
Inmates at Risdon Prison Complex in Hobart, complaining about objectionable prison conditions, took a guard and some other prisoners hostage Saturday but released them after bogging in to some pizza.
The BBC reported that, during the 40-hour standoff, the inmates "laid waste to the area, destroying computers and files."
The network also says, "Initially, the prisoners had drawn up a list of 24 demands, which reportedly included offering more job opportunities to inmates and increased pay for that work."
From such lofty goals to a few measly slices. That sure must be some good pizza.
Breaking: The Mercury is now reporting on the pizzeria that cooked the pies.
PIZZA-shop proprietor Mario Di Ienno was ecstatic yesterday when he realised Risdon Prison inmates had traded their key hostage for 15 of his pizzas....
"Oh my God, I can't believe this. I'm so happy. I'm rapt. My pizza might have helped save a man's life," said Mr Di Ienno, who owns La Bella Pizza & Pasta takeaways in Sandy Bay and Hobart....
It is not the first time police have used Mr Di Ienno's pizza in a siege situation.
The pizza-shop proprietor's burgeoning empire includes Mario's Express Pizza at New Norfolk.
During a siege at New Norfolk in March that also ended peacefully, Mario's made more than 70 pizzas for police, Mr Di Ienno said.
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 25, 2005 at 3:13 PM
Some of our readers more in tune with the music of the blogospheres will have seen this photo from blogger
KDunk already—if not on her own site, then perhaps on
Curbed and
Kottke.org. It's a great photo with a great story behind it. As Curbed recounts:
KDunk: Hey, what’s going on here might I ask?
Pizza Guy: That’s Rosie. She sends a bag down every night at closing and we give her the leftovers.
KDunk: That’s great! Do you mind if I take a picture?
Pizza Guy: Sure! Why not? Hey, not a slice wasted!
Top that, Domino's.
[Thanks to Janelle and Jill for giving us the heads up.]
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 22, 2005 at 2:25 PM
Take a spin: Artist Frankie Flood's pizza cutters take inspiration from chopper motorcycles and fringe culture. Clockwise from top left: Mantis (2003), Psycho Pizza Cadillac (2003), Easy Rider (2001), Pizza for Life (2002), and Phatboy (2003).
Some of you might have caught these pizza cutters yesterday on gadget blog Gizmodo.
If you didn't see them there, behold them here. Artist Frankie Flood creates "machined pizza cutters [that] draw inspiration from chopper motorcycles and attempt to reclaim the mythology and economic usefulness of the American worker as patriarch; translating machine or functional object into flesh and blood."
Mr. Flood grew up around toolmakers and now seeks to highlight the artistic merit in their techniques, which he says goes overlooked by those wielding it. While these pizza cutters are by nature overly meticulous and "flamboyant" in their design, they are at once practical. As such, they embody the same dichotomy Mr. Flood feels he represents as an artist who makes functional objects. (As opposed to, say, most of the loft-dwelling roustabouts in Williamsburg who turn out utterly useless pieces of pabulum.)
Like Gizmodo, I took my fair share of art history courses in college, so I understand Mr. Flood's artist's statement. One thing I don't get, however, is that, out of all things practical the artist could have manufactured, why pizza cutters?
And: Does he use them on New York or deep-dish pies?
[Thanks to Shana, Matty, and Jeff G. for alerting us to these cool cutters.]
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 21, 2005 at 1:00 AM
GOOGLE BUYS GEEKS PIES
Silicon and Slices: Computer-science majors at the University of Maryland enjoy pizza courtesy of Google. The web company buys smart and stressed students pizza as part of a recruitment program.
Pop-quiz:
I am ...
A. a computer-science or engineering student
B. a pizza lover
C. stressed out
D. all of the above
Time's up. Put down your pencils. If your answer was D and you go to the right school, Google would like to buy you some slices.
They say there's no such thing as a free lunch, and this program is no exception. Google hopes that its small investment pays off later in the form of talented grads flocking to the company on the strength of its gesture. That's why it has given University of Maryland grad student Scott Sherwood (that's him at left, with take-out menus in hand; photo from Baltimore Sun) a blank check to buy his fellow geeks* a meal while they're working on deadline. Says the Baltimore Sun:
And when you chow down, please try and use plates and napkins with the Google logo and take a picture to post on the Web.
Those conditions are just a slight inconvenience for free food, most students say, and beat other recruiting giveaways that are so common this time of year, such as mouse pads, rulers, pens. "We have plenty of pens," Sherwood said. "You can't eat one."
Paying for pizza was the brainchild of some Google engineers about three years ago, according to company officials, who answered questions only by e-mail and wouldn't disclose how much the program costs.
Student ambassadors say they get $500 at the start of each school year and are sent more when that runs out. They have never been told to watch costs, they say. Nearly 100 ambassadors are on campuses nationwide, Google officials said.
No matter how much pizza students can scarf down, it's doubtful it would make much of a dent in Google's finances. Last year, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company made almost $3.2 billion.
Take a picture to post to the Web? After, uh, Googling Google pizza program, Slice found the photos of the Maryland students at top. The following are from the Stony Brook program:
We also found Google Pizza Across America programs in place at North Carolina State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Rutgers.
How can Slice not love this story? We use Google extensively, for searches, news feeds, and the company's cool new maps feature. It figures that a company whose motto is "Don't be evil" would pick up the tab for bunches of college kids. We love Google even more for it.
But, hey, Google: The Slice staff is stressed out and sorta, minorly tech-savvy. How's about buying us lunch?
Seriously, though: We searched for a central page on the Google corporate site that might list all the programs at different schools. Couldn't find it. Is there such a page? Slice would like to link to it. And for any participants in the Google Pizza Across America program, send Slice your photos. We'd like to highlight them.
Maryland Vision Group pizza party video
'Free: pizza to stressed techies,' Baltimore Sun
* When we say geeks, we say it with love. After all, we blog about pizza. How geeky is that?
Posted by Adam Kuban, March 30, 2005 at 4:45 PM
Some slice shenanigans involving former Sex and the City star and current Gap-commercial ingenue (at least until the Joss Stone ads start airing) Sarah Jessica Parker were reported in yesterday's New York Post. Her limo driver clipped some pizza-eating dude on the street and dude got angry:
The bizarre showdown captured in these exclusive photographs [see scan, above] occurred last Thursday morning when Parker was being driven through Midtown in a chauffeured Lincoln Town Car that had picked the 40-year-old actress up outside her home.
The Town Car was turning east from Sixth Avenue and accelerating when its side mirror clipped the hands of a man who was crossing the street carrying a couple of slices of pizza, said Philip Vaughan, a photographer who witnessed the incident.
"At which point, the guy carrying the pizza threw it on the back of the car," Vaughan said. "He was annoyed. He was shocked."
Then Parker's driver jumped out of the limo, began yelling at the pizza-pitcher and started making a call on his cell phone, Vaughan said.
The men yelled back and forth at each other as angry motorists backed up behind the Town Car honking their horns, and passers-by gawked at the scene. Parker cowered in the back seat of the limo as the confrontation escalated.
Vaughn said the driver "grabbed the pieces of pizza and threw it at the guy."
Then, he said, the two adversaries "started laughing at each other in a strange fashion."
Heh. Sounds like the men simultaneously realized how ridiculous the situation was. Good thing the incident ended in laughter rather than tears or bruises or bloodshed. As good as pizza is, it's not worth dukin' it out over—unless you've got a deep-dish fan mouthin' off.
Anyway, sounds like Ms. Parker did not enjoy being a girl in the back of that town car.
Posted by Adam Kuban, March 16, 2005 at 10:22 AM
It says something when pizza is the only thing more appealing to Michael Jackson jurors than the amusing antics of Wacko Jacko himself.
On Tuesday, the jury, of its own volition, tacked on 15 additional minutes to its 10-minute-long snack break. From the Scotsman:
Judge Rodney Melville has been running an unusually rigid schedule with no lunch hour, just three quick snack breaks during six hours of testimony – a hunger-inducing regimen he calls “the Melville diet.”
When jurors took an extra 15 minutes getting back into their seats Tuesday, he offered an explanation.
“The Olive Garden heard a CNN report that the jurors were starving to death,” he announced. “So they sent over a bunch of pizzas.”
He said the jury “sent out an attack squadron” with word that they wanted time to eat their pizzas. “So now they’re full, and they can thank CNN,” he said.
Olive Garden? Any port in a storm, I suppose.
Slice on earlier Jacko-and-pizza wackiness.
Posted by Adam Kuban, March 2, 2005 at 9:02 AM
PICK IT UP: Bowling and pizza just seem to go together. I mean, both the balls used in the sport (above left) and pizza (below) are round. "Lo Karb" (above right), after getting two strikes in a row.
This reporter and this website's city editor, Seltzerboy, left work yesterday with no intention of seeking slices. No, we were off to Leisure Time Lanes, in the Port Authority Bus Terminal, with some coworkers, to bowl a few frames.
But alas, though pizza is our raison d'être, it is also our albatross, so we weren't surprised when the stuff reared its head last night. We were caught off guard, though, at the sight of the doughy disks sitting laneside on a banquet table moodily lit by a sleek, modernistic candelabra (above and left). (We think it might have been some part of a radio-station event.)
This reporter, bowling under the nom de lanes Lo Karb, can't vouch for the taste or merit of these pies, though consensus among us, coworkers included, was that it didn't look all that great, covered with thick, congealed blankets of mozzarella. (Hey: Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover.) Not only that, but the bowlers who were feasting on this spread were all but ignoring the pies sitting just a few feet behind them—yet more circumstantial evidence that points to these pies being the pizzaworld equivalent to a gutter ball.
We're scheduling another such after-work outing to the lanes next month; at that time we will give the pies a fair shake and report back. For now, we're doing our part to let Slice-reading bowling fans know that their favorite food is available at Leisure Time, should you choose to roll some frames there. (And we highly recommend it; there's something slightly off-kilter and fun about a bowling alley located in a bus terminal.)
LEISURE TIME LANES
Location: Port Authority Bus Terminal, 2nd FL
Phone: 212-268-6909
Payment: Cash and credit; $8 per game per person or $45/hour; shoe rental, $5
Winners' Circle: The bowlers eating from the pizza buffet (above left) may—or may not—have been rewarded by its taste. Adam K. and Slice downtown editor (and teammate) Honey P.—bowling as "Tha Zone"—both won t-shirts (above right; photo by Slice nightlife editor Trixie) from Mix 102.7; the station was there doing some type of promo.
[Shouts out to the other members of my team, Ms. Atkinzz and South Biatch, who, along with me and Tha Zone, make up the bowltastic four known as "MMM Good." Props, too, to our opposing team, which we soundly trounced and which was too lame to even name itself: Tayzer, Trixie, Seltzer, Lola, and Deezel.]
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 18, 2005 at 12:22 PM
Pizza and video games seem to go hand in hand. Think Showbiz Pizza and Chuck E. Cheese. Think of all the times on The O.C. when the guys do some male bonding over pizza and PlayStation ("The Secret" and "The Ex-Factor" come to mind).
Well, now you can order pizza from inside a video game:
You're in luck - pizza is just a few key strokes away! While playing EverQuest II just type /pizza and a web browser will launch the online ordering section of pizzahut.com. Fill in your info and just kick back until fresh pizza is delivered straight to your door.
A couple of readers have sent us this link (thanks Cyrus and Tien!), and it's been mentioned on boingboing. We think it's worth noting for novelty's sake, but really, we already have a high-tech device that allows us to order pizza in "just a few key strokes"!
It's called a telephone.
[Oh, and a note to the Everquest II website's copywriter: It's hunger pangs not hunger pains. Being word nerds and frequent sufferers of pizza pangs, we know our gustatory vocab.]
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 17, 2005 at 9:30 AM
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 14, 2005 at 7:46 AM
As is the case with many restaurants frequented by stars, La Pizzeria in Napanee, Ontario, was eager to boast of its most notable patron, hometown grrrl Avril Lavigne.
This pizzeria, however, made mention of the fact that the now-vegetarian Ms. Lavigne's favorite pizza there was an olive, mushroom, and pepperoni concoction.
According to the teen music queen, that preference is so yesterday:
She reveals, "It was green olives, pepperoni and mushrooms but I don't eat mushrooms or pepperoni anymore. Mushrooms aren't good for you and meat's not too great for you... I eat healthier than that now."
But, Lavigne is more than happy to endorse La Pizzeria because she spent many happy hours there as a teenager and still thinks the parlour's pizzas are the best.
She adds, "I think it was in ROLLING STONE magazine, they asked what I missed about Napanee and I said La Pizzeria and now, like, their business has like skyrocketed.
"They have a fan book in La Pizzeria and a bunch of fans go there from like all over the world and they all, like, write me letters and every once in a while the owners give me the book."
Like, we're just glad Avril hasn't gone, like, vegan on us. That would be, like, so not cool.
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 9, 2005 at 12:03 AM
Flight Cool: Not only was the Bell 47D-1 a workhorse of a helicopter, its design, by Bell Helicopter's Arthur Young, is a perfect marriage of form and function. So much so that the Museum of Modern Art includes one in its permanent collection (above). Photograph courtesy of Geoff Stearns.
Photograph by GEOFF STEARNS .::. There's been some weird news in terms of pizza delivery over the last couple of days. Most recent is word out of the UK that an Army lieutenant used his helicopter to fly a pizza to his girlfriend, a British Army cadet stationed at a different base. The flight was part of a routine training mission, but when the pilot noticed that he was scheduled to fly over his honey's place, he thought it'd be sweet to deliver her a pie from on high. From the Telegraph:
Captain Chris Gladwell, the spokesman for 16th Air Assault Brigade, said that the pilot - who had never been in trouble before - had been performing a routine exercise designed to refresh his skills.
"This was clearly a gross error of judgment on the pilot's part. And he was particularly unlucky because General Ritchie and other senior officers from Sandhurst were making a surprise inspection on their officer cadets.
"It's true that he deviated from the designated landing site slightly, and that's what caused the problem. But ultimately he was scheduled to land at Thetford, so it's not as if he made the trip especially to deliver the pizza."
The lieutenant was reprimanded and received extra weekend duties for his flight of fancy.
We at Slice have been known to go to great lengths for our girls, too, and we also know how much an unexpected present of pizza can mean, so we're happy that the lovestruck lieutenant wasn't demoted or sacked outright. Maybe next time he should just have a nearby pizzeria deliver a pie to his bird.
Just a day or two before this 'copter incident, an Australian firefighter used his firehouse's pumper truck on a pizza run. Trouble was that an alarm came in while he was out. Australia's Daily Telegraph quotes a letter of complaint from a fellow smoke eater:
This is about the public being able to be confident that an emergency service such as a fire brigade is able to respond to save lives and property ... as a priority over pizzas."
When pressed, Slice would agree that putting out fires and saving lives does take precedence over pizza. But you'd really have to press us.
[Thanks to E-Rock, Graham, and Nichelle for spotting and alerting us to these stories.]
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 7, 2005 at 6:07 PM
We never thought we'd have occasion to mention Fashion Week on these rather unfashionable pages. You see, if Slice existed in print form, it'd best be described as "grease-stained pizza pulp."
That's why we were surprised to receive, in print form, The Daily Front Row, the magazine that materializes twice a year (spring and fall) along with the haute couture extravaganza in Bryant Park. In Sunday's edition: Fashion designer Vera Wang cooking pizza! I mean, what the hell!? But, as you can see from Sunday's cover (above) and the spread (below), we are not making this up. Ms. Wang is apparently a studied pizza aficionado, so The Daily Front Row took her to Joe's to craft some pies.
We couldn't find this item online, so we were forced to scan it for your reading pleasure. And then we realized our scans were illegible, more or less, even if enlarged. So we'll excerpt the relevant pizza info here:
DFR: What's the Vera–pizza connection?
Vera Wang: I used to go to school in the Lower East Side and get pizza after school. That habit and tradition has gone on for the last 50 years [she's 55]. Pizza's a part of my life. I just love it. Aside from the fact that it's tasty, it's also nutritious. It gives me energy and it's comforting.
There was one point in your life where you ate nothing but pizza...
Well, when I was design director at Ralph Lauren and I was getting married, I wanted to lose a few pounds. So for about six weeks, I went on a pizza diet and I lost about five pounds on it—the reason being, if you just keep it to one slice and it isn't too oily—which Joe's slice isn't—it's very filling and you don't snack or do other things and it really works. In New York, you can almost be anywhere to eat it. I mean, they aren't all as good as Joe's, but you can get average-joe pizza quickly.
The author then asks Joe's owner, Joe Pozuolli, what he thought of Ms. Wang's slice skills:
What did you know about Vera Wang before today?
Joe Pozzuoli: I didn't know much.
But you knew her name?
Yes, of course, I knew her name. But I didn't know what she did.
What was your first impression?
Very nice, very polite, very social.
Does she have pizza potential?
Oh yes. She could do it. She tries. With a little time, she could do it. I could teach her.
If you were to pick a topping for her, what would you pick?
Pepperoni, because the first thing she grabbed was pepperoni and she seemed to really like it. Pepperoni is a little spicy; it's our biggest seller by far.
Describe her in 1 word, in Italian:
Educada. (She seems very educated.)
[Thanks to our supremely fashionable Queens correspondent Claire L. for bringing us a copy of Sunday's Fashion Week magazine. ]
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 1, 2005 at 2:19 PM
From Norway's Aftenposten:
Striker Bård Erik Olsen, 32, has eight years experience with Norwegian second division club Sprint-Jeløy, and a stint with former top division club Moss, but had decided it was time to phase out sport and spend more time with his daughter.
But fifth division club Tronvik was looking for a power striker, and thought they might tempt Olsen to beef up and delay retirement, newspaper Moss Avis reports.
It started as a joke, but in the end the promise of a pizza a week convinced the striker to say yes.
"I can't just completely cut out football all of a sudden, so I am glad that Tronvik want me," Olsen told Moss Avis.
"For a few years we've tempted Bård Erik to Tronvik and said he could eat as much pizza as he wanted. Now that we have a chance we'll keep our word," said club member Kjetil Jensen.
Norway's lower division teams have made headlines for odd contracts before, with one high-profile transfer involving a player being sold for his weight in prawns.
The Norwegians really love their pizza. If calculations are correct, they eat more of it per capita than we do here in the U.S.
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 31, 2005 at 5:24 PM
Never seen a Powerpuff Girl cartoon in my life. Apparently they're three girl-power superhero girls. Apparently there's some monkey in there who wears a hat. Apparently this shit was hot, like, seven years ago.
But if you're still into them and want to build your own Powerpuff Girl, go here. This wouldn't have even registered with us but for the fact that one of the accessories you can equip your girl with is pizza (see the screenshot of our girl, above).
[Via The Real Janelle.]
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 24, 2005 at 11:30 AM
