Monday, December 11, 2006

More eating controversy. Pizza style.

My wife and I disagree greatly on this subject and we had quite the dialogue, but here is the Samoasoftball Top 10 Pizza parlors or pizza choices in EUREKA to take home:

1. Angelo’s- I like their crust and potatoes on all their choices. My favorite. Buffet is great!

2. Round Table-This choice is determined by my wife. She loves their crust. All their food is consistent. And good wings!

3. Big Louie’s Pizza-I love their breadsticks and their ribs. I have ate way too much of their pizza. That is a good thing.

4. Babe’s Pizza-They are a great place to get together on that side of town after a game. Good selection for other pasta also. Great hosts!

5. Babetta’s-This is a place you should order the pizza to stay. Fancy stuff for a special date. Classy type pizza.

6. Lost Coast-Bet you did not consider this. Make a pizza to order. Really good stuff.

7. Smug’s-Quick eating stuff with class.

8. Papa Murphy’s-Lots of trial and error cooking. Calazones are good.

9. Domino’s Pizza-Consistent. And brought to you!

10. Costco-Available now. Cheap!

Winco? No. Pizza Hut? No. Eat somewhere else instead.

40 comments:

Anonymous said...

Winco's (Leonaridi's) is the best at the price.

Anonymous said...

We end up at Angelo's at least a few times during the girls' softball season – I'm a sucker for the jo-jos myself.

Arcata Pizza & Deli has excellent thin crust pizza, especially the one with sun-dried tomatoes. I think it's called "The Gotti."

Love that Smug's with the pesto sauce though. Garlic for days!

Anonymous said...

smugs, smugs, smugs---and then some.....

Fred Mangels said...

Winco's is ok.

My favorite: Big Louie's

Worst (as much as I hate to say it): Murphy's

Great idea with Murphy's, and makes pizza affordable for the have nots.

Problem is, the crust sucks. For one thing, it's no good the next day. It gets all soft and mushy after spending the night in the fridge, not that it's all that great to begin with. They need to do something about the crust.

I also think they put TOO much in the way of toppings on their pizzas, especially since the crust is so spongy. Never thought I'd say that about any pizza but I think they should lay off on the cheese and all the rest of the toppings- at least until they come up with a better crust.

Greg said...

Obscure to you big-city people: Ferndale Pizza Co. is the best we've found. It's the cheese. Purely a family-owned joint, it's on the right hand side as you enter the Main Street shopping area.

Big Louie's is very good. FPC takes it one step further with more of everything. Richard, you haven't discovered this yet? Get out of town more, boy. You could be Humboldt's premiere food writer. Next blog on chocolate? Ferndale's Sweetness and Light makes some of the best.

Anonymous said...

You are way, way off Samoasoftball. Try getting out of Eureka/Arcata. The best Pizza pies in the county come from Docs in Carlotta. It is worth the trip to check these pizza pies out!

Anonymous said...

I have to agree with Fred about Papa Murphy's crust, but I love their profligate use of toppings. The Cowboy is a personal favorite--but Fred's right about something else: order only what you will eat in one night. The crust on day-two really is unpalatable. Still, it's hard to beat the price.

I would also recommend the Safeway pizza. Do they still have $5 Fridays? You get what looks like an extra large for the price of a couple of slices at Smugs. Great for families and big eaters. The sausage is particularly good.

Anonymous said...

Papa Murphy's has got to be the worst Pizza ever created. Also, the owners are stuck up assholes and act as if they own some sort of high quality, fancy, sit down restaurant.

Anonymous said...

Big Louie's is my favorite in Eureka. I used to like Babe's before the new owner's took over, but since they did the quality has gone downhill, and the employee's act as if they are tweakers.

Anonymous said...

mazzottis has good pizza and great calzones!

Anonymous said...

You guys are truly culinarily deprived! (Winco, Costco, Papa Murphy's.....?)

Sincerely,
A real pizza junkie.

Anonymous said...

What about the places with the best donuts?

samoasoftball said...

Winco is all most inedible to me, and I will eat most anything. Maybe I got burned out on theirs when my kids were little. Other Richard, Smugs is a good one. Greg and Carol Ann: next time you head to Ferndale Pizza give us a ring, I have never been there. Doc's in Carlotta? He doen't moonlight as a vet does he? Never heard of it. Mazzotti's! You are right. I missed a good one. I love their greasy cheese Fries. The $5 Safeway friday pizzas are not bad I admit. This blog is a good food hunters scout for me.

samoasoftball said...

Just wondering here, If you left out cooked hamburger or sausage all alone on the stove, would you eat it cold the next day? Or how about cooked tomatoes, olives and onions? Then why is it sanitary to grab a day old cold pizza right out of the box and munch on it cold. Seen it done enough. I am a self admitted "garbage hound." No leftovers left behind!

Anonymous said...

Live From New York on the Plaza in Arcata....the BEST!!

I gotta disagree with Fred. I really like Papa Murphy's and for the price.....

Eric V. Kirk said...

I've never tried Angelo's, though I think about it every time I drive by.

But Smugs is the best pizza in the north part of the county.

However, nothing in the north can match SoHum's Mateel Cafe nor Damato's.

samoasoftball said...

Damato's is the place in G-ville with the old advertisment goodies on the wall? That place is good.

Heraldo Riviera said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Heraldo Riviera said...

If you left out cooked hamburger or sausage all alone on the stove, would you eat it cold the next day? Or how about cooked tomatoes, olives and onions?

I think most people would, or at least my family does. Cold pizza that sat out all night is a sought after delicacy.

Fred Mangels said...

Exactly, Heraldo! Nothing better the next day than left over pizza- hot or cold- with the exception of Murphy's.

5:41 wrote, "I gotta disagree with Fred. I really like Papa Murphy's and for the price.....".

Well, no accounting for one's tastes.

As far as the price, that's why I added "I hate to say it.." in regards to Murphy's being the worst.

Murphy's made pizza affordable to just about anyone. I know I'm seeing the real down and out types when I see someone walking by the front of my house carrying a Murphy's pizza. They can't afford anything but Murphy's Pizza, much less a car.

Anonymous said...

Sigh, I miss the duck shooting game at both Angelo's and Straw Hat in Arcata. And the old movies at Straw Hat in Arcata. And Shakey's mini-arcade. It's not the pizza people, it's the atmosphere.

Anonymous said...

Fred, I've always thought the truly down-and-out among us are those people walking down Broadway carrying a yellow Canned Foods Outlet bag. At least someone carrying a Papa Murphy's around has an oven to cook it. With the yellow bags, all you need is a can opener (or maybe a sharp rock).

Anonymous said...

Carol Anne - order it to go - you wouldn't be very welcome in Carlotta.

Fred Mangels said...

9:01 wrote, "I've always thought the truly down-and-out among us are those people walking down Broadway carrying a yellow Canned Foods Outlet bag.".

You might have something there, 9:01. Only thing is, I end up with a lot of those Grocery Outlet bags around the house myself, the only difference being I drive the bags home.

Eric V. Kirk said...

Damato's is the place in G-ville with the old advertisment goodies on the wall? That place is good.

No, that's Sicilito's. Damato's is a sandwich/pizza place in Redway. I strongly recomend their chicken parmisan sandwich on a Santo roll.

Eric V. Kirk said...

I like the Mateel Cafe's pizzas. I forgot about that, Eric. Their blue cheese salad dressing is the best!

All of their dressings are great. I also strongly recomend the SoHum Thai chicken - extra hot!

Eric V. Kirk said...

Fred - even cheaper is to make your own. My wife makes up her own dough, and it's not that difficult.

Great pizza combo if you want something other than red sauce or pesto - gorgonzola, figs, and walnuts, on a thin crust.

Eric V. Kirk said...

Trivia - the Iranian word for "pizza" translates as "elastic loaf."

Fred Mangels said...

Eric wrote, "Fred - even cheaper is to make your own. My wife makes up her own dough, and it's not that difficult.".

Indeed. The wifey does make pizza, on occasion and it's quite good. Even tastes good the next day, unlike at least one pizza, the brand of which we won't mention any more.

Something we just started doing again, and I started doing as a kid, is dressing up frozen pizzas.

I've found few good frozen pizzas in my life. When I was a kid, I used to buy a frozen cheese pizza and just add my own toppings.

The wife gets some fairly cheap, half way decent, frozen pizzas at Grocery Outlet. Even if they have toppings already, we add stuff like olives, mushrooms and such. Heck, add whatever you like.

Makes a frozen pizza much more palatable for me.

samoasoftball said...

Remember when Andy Stunich changed the name of Shakey's to, what was it, Andy's Incredible Pizza, or something like that. My softball team used to frequent there after games. The last few years we hang at Babe's in Cutten. My Basketball team is more into Big Louie's. My wife had a women's softball team that used to go to Tom's Sourdough after the games. Between the ladies playing they had 36 kids! What a mad house! Add the husbands or boy friends and we could about pack a place. It was fun. Robin retired after messing up an ankle playing tennis against me.

Greg said...

9:22, your comment shows how little you know. Carol was working for Ang at the Carolotta Hotel when our eyes first locked. Now bug off.

Anonymous said...

have you ever heard of new york pizza, there is one in arcata , and one in mack ville , give it a try , you will like it

samoasoftball said...

The one in Arcata is called "Live from New York?"

Hank Sims said...

Live from New York -- far and away the best of the best in HumCo. Real New York style, but with all your exotic California variations, too. Get the spinach pie -- the "Brooklyn," I think it's called.

Andy Stunich had a pizza place?? Was it halal?

Eric V. Kirk said...

Hmmmm. My wife will be the judge of whether it is "real New York pizza." Many Bay Area pizzerias make the claim, but so far only ONE has measured up. It's called Amici's, with at least two branches - one in SF and one in San Rafael.

Escape from New York pizza for instance is "too bready." See, authentic NY pizza crust is thin, preferably with a slight crispy membrane that melts in your mouth. And the sauce can't just be ordinary pasta sauce. And the cheese had better be high quality mozzarella, laced with parmesan.

Don't even get me started on bagels. She likes the "rolls" they serve at Los Bagels, but they aren't "real bagels."

Hank Sims said...

See, authentic NY pizza crust is thin, preferably with a slight crispy membrane that melts in your mouth.

That's what I'm talking about!

And I'm with your wife 100 percent on the Los Bagels question. Good, but not necessarily what you'd call a bagel, per se.

It took something like 20 years of customer agitation even to get Dennis to install a toaster. The wounds from that battle have not entirely healed, I'm sad to say.

samoasoftball said...

9:59pm Hank: Funny! It was his fathers pizza place.

Eric-Amici's is famous in the bay area http://www.amicis.com/ eight locations to serve you. One day I will wander to the best eating places on the west coast. I have worked in California, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Idaho and Nevada while on the road for the Pulp union. (AWPPW)

Anonymous said...

Andy Stunich Sr. had Shakeys. And it was the best, hands down. But sad to say it is gone.

The next best was the Pizza Factory in Arcata & McKinleyville, again sad that it's gone.

In Eureka, Humboldt County it's Round Table, Angelos pizza blows! And I wouldn't eat anything in SoHum that was not prepackaged.

Eric V. Kirk said...

And I wouldn't eat anything in SoHum that was not prepackaged.

Your loss. Some of the county's best restaurants are down here.

....

I forgot to mention the Grove in Myers Flat, which has excellent gourmet pizzas, though they're a pretty penny.

Heather McTaggart said...

I worked my way OUT OF EUREKA working at Shakey's! The Stunich Family were amazing people and gave me a job when I was a youngin'. I will NEVER forget my years there OR NEVER be more thankful for the $ earned there so I could get the heck out of Eureka. Sorry, it wasn't my town! SO CAL GAL ALL THE WAY!