Hey Brian, just curious how Pizza Schimizza is doing as a company?
They recently built one in beaverton about 2 years ago, and it is now closed!

I've noticed that Pappa Johns pizza are popping up every where, that has got to be one of the fastest expanding pizza places. I have to wonder why Pappa Johns is expanding so quickly. I for one, think their pizza is not very good. Over the last year I got 3 coupons in the mail for a free large Pizza at Pappa johns. Each time they sent me the coupon, they said that they hope to get my business back. I thought this was a bit odd, for them to give me three free Pizza's, but hey, I'm not going to fight a free pizza.

Ok Pdx Posters, What Pizza place do you hit the most, and why? Would you rather pay more money for a better pizza or settle for the Domino's pizza?

What Pizza place do you hit the most, and why?

Eddie's Pizza is the absolute best pie in town. It is well worth a drive or a wait for the delivery man. Mississippi Pizza also makes a good slice and is located close to the home of one of my dearest friends. Escape From New York is a solid nostalgic choice, even though the best location was long ago turned into a parking lot.

Would you rather pay more money for a better pizza or settle for the Domino's pizza?

I would rather wait over an hour and pay twice as much for a top quality local pizza with fresh ingredients. I always want to support a locally owned joint. There are no solid reasons to enrich the fellow that owns Domino's. Unless, of course, you want to buy yourself a home in his theocratic metropolis: Ave Maria, Florida.

Would you rather pay more money for a better pizza or settle for the Domino's pizza?

X100 on that!

Unfortunately, I still have not found a pizza that makes me want to stand up and shout in the almost 14 years out here.

My favorite all time pizza is my grandmothers, but since I can't get that anymore, I'll settle for either Imo's (http://www.imospizza.com/) in St. Louis or Gino's East (http://featuredfoods.com/cgi-local/SoftCart.exe/a-store/c-GinoAns_East.shtml?E+s cstore+ginos) in Rolling Meadows (NW Suburb of Chicago) and Lou Malnati's (http://www.loumalnatis.com/index.html) ranks right up there too!

LS, I'll have to try your suggestions!

Anyone who can remember Engine House Pizza will remember the corm meal under the crust and those fabulous little pepperoni's! Well, Papa Pete's is about as close as you cant get to that. Exit 14 Ridgefield just North of the Clark County Amp and well worth the drive!

DT, That's one of the things I like about Imo's pizza. Corn meal.

I've heard of Papa Pete's, but never been there. I'll add it to my list. Thanks.

Bill, if you wanna try the food from the good folks at Eddie's, I have a suggestion. You can order a pizza by phone, putter around a bit at Harbor Freight and pick it up on the way home. New tools and a hot pie makes a man very happy indeed. I like my pizza with double entendres. They make a mean calzone and good sandwiches too.

DT, My Dad would always figure out a way to get us the table with the siren under it. I think it is one of the reasons I have such acute bladder control. I really miss that pizza. Cornmeal under the crust is one of the keys to old school ambrosia. Next time I head up north, I am gonna have to take your suggestion.

Eddie's must be on Interstate then?

Great, just what I need. Another excuse to buy tools!

While not pizza, Fire On The Mountain is right across the street from Harbor Freight. Best wings I've had outside my own kitchen in a long time!

Eddie's is on Killingsworth, but still pretty close to Harbor Freight. Oh yeah, I agree, Fire On The Mountain has damn good wings. Heck, while we are scoping out that part of town, The Overlook has a chicken fried steak that is so large it has a zip code. We are talking about a serious "meat barge" scuttled in a gravy ocean. There are plenty of good eats in that part of town, especially during the Polish Festival.

Nest time somebody makes it to Saint Louie, you gotta bring us all back some Imo's.

I may have to try this;

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,1143.0.html

Justin_timberfake: just curious how Pizza Schimizza is doing as a company?

Company was sold to Figaro's last April:

http://blog.oregonlive.com/business/2008/04/salembased_figaros_buys_pizza.html

They recently built one in beaverton about 2 years ago, and it is now closed!

The one on Cedar Hills Blvd? Bummer!

The model for the company was to open a store, make it successful, then sell it to a franchisee. (Brian will correct me if I'm wrong.) I think a few of the stores were kept but many were sold off as part of this business plan.

Not all of the stores Schmizza has opened over the years have succeeded. The original store in downtown Hillsboro closed ages ago (as did the one that replaced it a few blocks away). And they never made their store on Hawthorne work (couldn't even get the pizza to taste right). Hot Lips opened a store up the street on Hawthorne just after the Schmizza store folded and now that Hot Lips is a smashing success, so there was a market for good pizza there.

Portland's west suburbs are hurting for good pizza big-time. Hot Lips closed their Raleigh Hills store earlier this year, and Pizza Roma closed their Hillsboro store, too. And now another Schmizza has folded...

Andrew

What ever happened to GODFATHER'S in the northwest?

I still miss SHAKEY'S and PIETRO'S...(weep)

Dominos has a more SOFTER taste than Pizza Hut

There's a Godfathers right around the corner from my house at 4th Plain and 162nd here in Vancouver.

The pizza there is edible but not by much. Although, what do you expect when they nearly give it away. 2 XL pizza and a huge cookie for less than 20 bucks.

Back to Littlesongs comment. I'd rather pay $30 for a good excellent pizza than 20 bucks for a whole pickup truck full of crap pizza!

Hey Littlesongs, I will be there in October and can get you one from the Walnut street location!

Did you know that they ship frozen pizza's anywhere in the US? They also sell ingredients so you can make your own. Check it out: http://stlouisstylepizza.stores.yahoo.net/takhomimprod.html

Imo's Pizza

Papa Petes is right off I-5 at the Ridgefield junction exit 14 I beleive. There is also one right off I-5 at the Castle Rock exit 49 and one in Longview. I recommend either straight Pepperoni or the Lumberman. And Bill, the perfect pizza for you would be the "Meat Eaters".

Menu

I grew up eating Northwest chain, Pietro's Pizza... their crust was the bomb. I compare all other crusts to theirs. No one matches up. When I lived in Seattle the only pizza worth a damn in my neighborhood was Dominos... sad but true. Their thin crust isn't so bad. Now that I'm back in Eugene. Pappa's Pizza is probably the best in town. Their Taco Pizza is righteously good. And DT, yes, Pappa Pete's has a really good 'zza.

In Portland, I like Hot Lips (although not quite NY-Style pizza). A new Hot Lips store seems to open every year, although another one in Raleigh Hills closed this year (not due to poor business - started with a plumbing problem believe it or not). They just opened a new one by PGE Park in SW.

Escape from New York in NW is often considered the classic pizza joint in Portland, but I don't think the pizza is always that great anymore - depends when you go and who's cooking that night. You might try Tribute's on NW Kearny between 22nd and 23rd - pizza like Escape is inconsistent but sometimes great. And they make Philly cheesesteaks. And they have free WiFi and a big screen TV. In N Portland (barely - really NE), you could try Pizza A Go-Go on N. Williams by Emanuel Hospital - usually really good pizza but pricey to order a pie.

In Eugene, I'm a huge fan of Sy's right on the U of O campus. I think they may have the best NY-style pizza in Oregon.

Andrew

For the 30 years that we've been married, Friday night has always been Pizza night for my wife and me.

I shudder to think how much Pizza (or beer for that matter) that represents.

In Salem that's been places like:

Abby's in Keizer
Walery's
Sunshine Pizza Exchange (where Best Buy now is).
Casey's (where Davidson's Garden Store now is).

In the lean years (with little kids) that meant various take-n-bakes, Pizza Hut, and Little Caesars.

Now we alternate our Pizza Friday's between Paddington's and Christo's.

This week it's Christo's (if they're open that is).

Amus take the drive out to Stayton one of these Friday nights to Apizza (pronounced Ah-Beets) its THE best pizza I have ever tried in my entire life.

When I lived in Rhode Island I couldn't stand their pizza because it was in no way similar to the NW Pietro's style pizza ie cornmeal crust. But while I was there their were places starting to serve "grilled" style pizza. Ie crust cooked over a wood burning grill. Amazing crispy thin crust similar to what Apizza in Stayton has.

For cheap ass hangover or budget pizza its Little Ceasers for their $5 pies.

But in this area Salem-Keizer I think the best places that I frequent when I am craving pizza is Paddington's first and foremost its expensive but you pay for the quality. Second is JC's Pizza cheap good quality pizza.

I don't like places like Figaro's, Domino's, Papa Johns, Primetime, and even Abby's.

Papa Murphy's has improved a great deal over the years and has some good take n bake pies while Round Table is hit and miss.

I am interested in how the Smizza sp? in Idaho is doing for BrianL.

Corn meal is used instead of flour to help the pie slide off the wooden peal into the oven. They use corn meal because it burns/scortches at a higher temp than wheat flour.

99% of the time, I make my own scratch pizzas, after literally spending years finding the perfect "dough" recipe. But if I'm ordering in, I use "escape from NY"s co-owned NewYorkNewYork just a couple blocks from Terwilliger on Barbur. No delivery, but they do have a drive up window.

Like mentioned above for Escape... consistancy is not their hallmark. Sometimes its the perfect NY/Phili style Pizza, other times it's a reasonable near miss.

For crispy thin crust European style pizzas, I like JoPa on Beav-Hillsdale, and La Prima in the Raleigh Hills shopping center.

Being childless means you never have to say "I'd like a half Hawaiian, half Pepperoni Delivered!!"

Author: Receptional
Wednesday, December 31, 2008 - 1:00 am


What ever happened to GODFATHER'S in the northwest?

I still miss SHAKEY'S and PIETRO'S...(weep)

Dominos has a more SOFTER taste than Pizza Hut

1: well for a starters Pietros is STILL in business. this is the website: http://www.pietrosrestaurants.com/
Also, Shakeys PIzza is also still open, http://www.shakeys.com/

And also while i'm at it, does anyone remember Square Pan pizza? Mall 205? seems like it was decent pizza.

The best pizzas I've found in Oregon since I moved from the Calif. Bay Area:

Cirello's in Corvallis, especially their pesto pizza...

Christo's in Salem, more like an old-school Italian restaurant, but they serve an amazing pie!

Old Chicago in Tanasbourne/Beaverton, very good deep-dish pizza.

Oh, and should you happen to travel to the Bay Area for some reason (I don't recommend doing so except for the pizza places), a 2-store mini-chain called Zachary's in Oakland and Berkeley serves the most delectible Chicago-style pie! At least two inches thick (a 10-incher satisfies two BIG appetites), very fresh ingredients, totally melts in your mouth! The downside is that you have to plan at least a couple hours to go there... No call-ahead or takeout, and it takes 45 minutes to cook a pie... WAY worth the wait!

I almost forgot this place, It's been a while since I have been there but last time I went it was LOADED with toppings.
http://www.nonnaemilias.com/history/

Oh... and one to avoid at ALL costs... Olympia Pizza on Queen Anne in Seattle!

A year or so ago, my fiance and I were up there for a wedding... no real food at the reception... We got back to the hotel STARVED!!!! I picked Olympia Pizza out of the phone book and ordered a delivery. I should have opened the box and taken a whiff before paying! The driver would have gone back with a cold, smelly, rotten-tasting pie and no cash from me. The fiance agreed... one of only two pizzas I've ever backed away from in my adult life... Gah! Still, if you look the place up on the 'net, places like yelp.com, etc. there are both bad and good reviews for the place... Go fig.

BTW, the other pie I backed away from was at a mercifully-no-longer-around place in Napa CA that had the audacity to call itself "New York West Pizza". More like "New York Sewer Pizza".

There was a wonderful place on Powell Blvd. about 18th or so called Mama Maria's. Best Italian-style pizza I've ever had. I think they moved up Powell a ways, but I haven't been there in years.

Thick with toppings? Flying Pie Pizza

Nonna Amelias was good, but prefer Giuseppe's on 181st and Stark. It is also an Italian style restaurant. Haven't been to Nonna's for many years.

Haven't been to Little Caesers since they guaranteed two slices of pepperoni per slice. Chincy little buggers.

One of these days i'm gonna have to try out: http://therockwfp.com/
It's in Vancouver off of Hwy 14 by the new Fred Meyers.
Anyone been there and if so is it any good?

DT, a friend of mine has been there several times and said it's a good place. They have good beer!

(He doesn't remember how the pizza was though, as he was busy ogling at the bar tender!!!)

I've been wanting to stop by there too. Maybe a mini PDXradio meet is in the making?

Any comments on the Dino's Pizza chain? There's one in Wilsonville and Lake Oswego. Quite good actually. I'd be curious to know what others think.

Deno's is very good! Been there quite a few times. It falls just barely off my list of top pizzas in Oregon, only because they're a bit inconsistent from one to the next.

"Hey Brian, just curious how Pizza Schimizza is doing as a company?
They recently built one in beaverton about 2 years ago, and it is now closed!"

Companywide, we're down ... EVERYONE is though. Not sure which store in Beaverton closed, Cedar Hills and Raleigh Hills are two of our highest-volume stores, Tanasbourne is by far the highest. The original one in Beaverton, on Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway across from Fred Meyer's, closed because the lease was up, and they were having issues with that building. (It would creak and shake every time a train went by behind it, it was literally falling apart).

I am not sure where all new stores are going in for Schmizza, sadly there are no more stores in Vancouver as Salmon Creek closed a couple months back. I own the one in Coeur d'Alene, and I'll be honest it's more work here than it was there, mostly because I don't have the name recognition that 30 stores in one area does.

We are not nearly as down as a company as the trend is nationwide ...


"I've noticed that Pappa Johns pizza are popping up every where, that has got to be one of the fastest expanding pizza places. I have to wonder why Pappa Johns is expanding so quickly."

One of the issues that has affected the fast/quick serve food industry with the current economic problems is that people are settling for cheap. Places like McDonald's and other big-chain fast food places are recording positive sales increases over last year, but profits are way down because people are buying more and more from the dollar menu, for example. I managed a Pizza Hut for several months before buying the Schmizza, and it's no coincidence that the Pizza Mia sales spiked. People are going more for value, and less for quality. Domino's and Papa John's, same thing ... it's cheese whiz on a cracker.

It has always been assumed that pizza was somewhat recession proof, and I've been in the business for over 17 years. I have NEVER seen it affected like this, the only other time that sales dropped like this was immediately after 9/11. It's time to sink or swim for many, and many won't make it ... those who are reactive and wait for the market and the people to come back won't make it, those that are proactive and go get it will.

"Not all of the stores Schmizza has opened over the years have succeeded. The original store in downtown Hillsboro closed ages ago (as did the one that replaced it a few blocks away). And they never made their store on Hawthorne work (couldn't even get the pizza to taste right). Hot Lips opened a store up the street on Hawthorne just after the Schmizza store folded and now that Hot Lips is a smashing success, so there was a market for good pizza there."

The founder of Schmizza wanted to expand, but didn't have the capital ... so he brought in some investors. The initial explosion of Schmizza happened under their watch, starting in 2001-2002 ... the idea was for as many of the managers as possible to eventually own their own franchise. The premise is great, and to some extent worked. Many of the issues with Schmizzas that have not succeeded tied in with the fact that, IMHO, corporate Schmizza did a poor job of selecting franchisees; they would sell the franchises, both existing stores and new stores, to people with the capital, but without any inkling of how to make a restaurant work, and most of them failed. Schmizza in some ways grew too fast for its own good, the idea was to expand as fast as possible, damn the consequences. They were not able to provide the positive training and feedback to their franchisees that they needed to, and many were lost because of it. It is still quite hands-off, which is a good thing for those of us who know what we're doing, not so good for those who don't.

Hawthorne was a corporate store. My personal opinion, they put a substandard manager in there, and to a large extent left her there to fail. They also gave up on it way too quick. The downtown Hillsboro store closed because the building was removed and something else went up there; the Hillsboro Airport location does quite well.


If anyone is in the Spokane/Coeur d'Alene area, stop by and say HI. I know that some of you (Andrew, DT, Skybill, Stevethedj) made multiple stops in to say hi when heading through PDX, I'd love to see ya!

We like Schmizza when we are in the mood for a slice. Plus, we live about 3 minutes from one, so it's super convenient. My only beef is that the pizza is pricey. I also like Hot Lips and Escape from NY, but neither are very close. Another pizza by the slice place that's growing on me is Garlic Jims, which is close to where I work. Again, location and convenience.

When we want to order a full pizza, it depends on what mood we are in. Sometimes we order Round Table and just get the standard thin crust pepperoni. Other times we order Bellagios with all the toppings. And we also like to have a Papa Murphy's every so often.

One of the best old school places to get good pizza is Giovanni's in Beaverton. I remember being a kid and barely being able to eat one slice because their pizza was so think and the slices huge. I haven't been there in years though.

How many Garlic Jim's are popping up down there? I used to work for the founder/CEO of Garlic Jim's, I ran the first Jet City Pizza (which was also his brain child) in Seattle. I was impressed with their pizza.

I tried Garlic Jims just the other night! Infact they have a Garlic Jim's located right next to "5 Guys burgers and fries." on Cedar Hills Blvd. in Beaverton.

You're right Brian, Garlic Jim's is Really good pizza, but spendy! THey are comparable to Round Table.

MMMMMMM, all this talk about Pizza is making me hungry!!

I have tried both chains pizza and feel as though that Garlic Jim's is a far superior product to Round Table BUT Round Table is the more economic choice of the two. But you pay for quality and Garlic Jim's indeed offers that!

I forgot to mention Track Town Pizza in Eugene. Some of the best zah around.

Brian, are you familiar with this site?

http://www.pizzamaking.com/index.html

It has good recipes and hints for making good pizza at home.

The dough calculator works great if you know your recipe in bakers percentages.

I have to add my two cents and say that Pietros is the pizza I grew up with as a kid and when I need a gut bomb on the way home from work I will make a point to stop off of 99E and pick up a pepperoni pie.

The closest I can get to this on the eastside is Geno's pizza on 257th and Kane. I tell them specifically to put extra cornmeal on the bottom so I feel like a kid at the Engine House again

When I'm in the mood for something not so greasy its been Flying Pie.

Mr. Timberfake, I suggest you give Five Guys a try next time you are near Cedar Hills... I use to frequent them when I'd travel to the east coast and its a pretty good burger. I hate all of those stupid signs in the windows talking about their awards though, let the burger stand for itself.

Speaking of Pizza, anyone see this company Zappos? They recently replaced the Figaro's in Troutdale with this brand and I know of another location in Portland. They seem pretty darn pricey for take and bake...

http://www.zappospizza.net/Menu.html

My wife buys shoes from Zappos!!

(Probably not the same company, huh!)

Maybe NOT different companies if the pizaa crust is like shoe leather...

The biggest secrets for making your own dough:

-Use a high-gluten flour. Gold Medal flour from the grocery store just won't cut it, you won't get the performance and the taste isn't as good.

-Let it sit at least one day in the fridge before you use it. Ideally, you want that dough ball to be roughly double the size of when you made it. Also, refregiate it immediately. Room temperature greatly affects the dough.

Mr. Timberfake, I suggest you give Five Guys a try next time you are near Cedar Hills... I use to frequent them when I'd travel to the east coast and its a pretty good burger. I hate all of those stupid signs in the windows talking about their awards though, let the burger stand for itself.

Hey Dr,
You obviously have not read any of my previous posts. I am the biggest supporter of "5 guys burgers and Fries". I LOVE THAT PLACE! Infact, I went to "5 Guys" the very first day it opened. "An Orgasm for your mouth" is the best way to describe "5 Guys burger and Fries."
SOOOOOOOO Much better than In N OUT!!!!
WHO THE HELL NEEDS AN IN N OUT IN OREGON, WHEN WE HAVE A "5 GUYS BURGER AND FRIES"??? THIS PLACE PUTS IN N OUT TO SHAME!!!!!!!!!