sarea | Pizza pictorial and other stuff

Today was a surprisingly gorgeous day in Seattle -- I don't know what the official temp was, but it felt like a summer day (a Seattle summer day, anyway, meaning that it was warm and lovely) and the sky was cloudless and very blue. And of course today was the day I slept in until almost 2pm, because I'd stayed up until 5am the night before, so I missed most of it, sigh. Not that I would have done anything outdoorsy anyway, but seeing the blue skies and sun outside my window and not having to turn my heater on would have been very nice. Now it's already dark and over with -- dare I hope tomorrow will be the same? It was one of those days that Seattle occasionally gets in May that gets me hoping (in vain) that summer is right around the corner. Luckily it's January so I'm not fooled.

I went to Circuit City yesterday to see if I could snag any good deals; it was quite a disappointing experience. First of all, there were tons of people there, all hoping for the same thing, but there wasn't really anything much on sale. Some things were 10% off (digital cameras, movies, accessories), while other things were at regular prices (video games, iPods, TVs, computers). For me it was barely even a sale. I mean, 10%? Lame. Especially on things like their movies, which are overpriced anyway. However, tell that to the 25+ people who waited in line to pay for their purchases. Honestly, I don't even know what they got or why. At those prices the items that were on sale were probably about equal to prices you could find online. I guess people can't resist a "going out of business" sale regardless of whether or not it's actually a good deal. I roamed the entire store and really, there was nothing worth purchasing at those prices. I'll try again next weekend -- the pickings will be slimmer but hopefully they will continue to discount more and more to get rid of the remaining stock. The one thing that caught my eye was an open box Nikon D90. It's a really big camera and much stronger than my D40, so it wouldn't be for everyday use, and unlike my D40 can shoot movies. It was $1,089 for being open box, with an additional 10% off. That's still a lot of money for a camera I don't really need. However if it's still there when I go back and it's discounted further, I may seriously consider it.

Ever since I tried to go to Paseo and they were closed for vacation, I have been craving it. I've even considered maybe trying to make my own pulled pork, but theirs is indescribable and I have no idea what goes into it -- it's not BBQ sauce, that's for sure. I'm not the only one who is missing them; I love this latest review on Yelp:

"We go through this same trial separation every year, and every year I stay up late thinking about you. Christmas vacation should have been over weeks ago, and I cannot take it anymore! If I can don't eat a slippery caramelized sweet onion soon, there's gonna be a Midnight Cuban Missile Crisis."

Every single person who reviews Paseo waxes on and on about the Midnight Cuban, because Yes, It Really Is That Good. "Men if you are ever wondering what a woman will sound like in a bedroom, bring her here, pay $7.50 and you will have your answer after the first bite." -- haha, what she said!! And everyone also seems to have the same experience of getting there too late and Paseo being out of sandwich bread. It's like, if there's consistent demand ORDER MORE BREAD. Sheesh.

Some of you may be familiar with my love of New York pizza. I can't get enough of it when I go there, and often have it every single day. I don't know why it's so difficult (or undesirable) to replicate it outside of that state, particularly on the West Coast. That's why I was so excited about Mulberry Street Pizza, which

ropo and I went to after saying NO THANK YOU to Benihana's (btw, omg @ the vermin thing dude) weekend lunch prices. I then made a post to the Food Porn community about it, complaining about the lack of such a pizza in Seattle, and two suggestions were made: Pagliacci Pizza (it's OK pizza, but is definitely not NY style pizza) and Pudge Bros, which claims to have NY style pizza.

I was really excited about trying it, because how awesome would it be if there was a place relatively near me that had the kind of pizza I love? But unfortunately it, like so many places who claim to have "New York style pizza," fell far short. First of all, it was regular crust pizza. New York style pizza is characterized by its very thin, yet floppy (not crunchy) crust. The cheese, dough, and sauce blends into one experience. With regular pizza, the crust is very much present. It's chewy and there. If that's the case give me a deep-dish pizza instead.

Pudge Bros pizza slices were bigger than average, that's true -- but bigger doesn't make it New York style, which they seem to think. Yes, NY slices are very big and wide, but what's truly definitive is the thinness of the crust and how the 3 elements blend into a harmonious one that is an explosion of yumminess in your mouth. It's also telling that Pudge Bros's largest size, the "Monster," is made out to be this big deal, with its "huge" slices, and it's an 18"-er. Mulberry Street Pizza has only one size if you order a whole pie, and it's 22", with no fanfare. It's just the default, because that's the only way it should be. That's true New York style pizza.

NY cheese pizzas are so good, and so thin, that you don't need or want any extra toppings. Pudge Bros pizza, being REGULAR pizza (like Domino's, frankly -- just bigger if you get the "Monster" size like I did), needs more toppings. The plain cheese is bland and uninteresting.

Here we are in Wallingford, and there's Pudge Bros across the street. At first glance I had my misgivings, but looks can be deceiving, so I forged ahead.

The inside is kind of small and dirty, but had its charms. The photograph actually flatters the actual place.

Here's the pizza box, making a big deal of its "Monster" pizza and claiming to be "New York style."

The pizza itself. You can tell just from the crust at the edge that it's not right. There's too much of it and it's too thick. When I opened the box I knew immediately they were false advertising with their claims of "New York style pizza." Grrr. (In case you're wondering, the whole pie has double cheese, and half of it has mushrooms and jalapenos.)

A size comparison, with the garden salad I had ordered in addition to the pizza. It was a huge salad, and the pizza itself was large. But as I've already said, that doesn't mean it's good.

Now all I can do is look at the following photo and envy

ropo and

jade_okelani for having such good pizza so close to them. The one saving grace is that if I had that near me, I'd eat it all the time and I'd never lose any weight. I've posted this picture before, but now there's something to compare it with.

The sad thing is that the New York style pizza I'm even looking for is the "fast food" kind, like the kind you'd get at the chain Ray's (or at Mulberry Street Pizza, above). I'm not even looking for the really good stuff, like you'd get at Pasty's or Lombardi's. I don't think it's asking too much to get Ray's style pizza, but apparently it is.