When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie…

That’s AMORE!

Seriously. What is better than pizza? Maybe ice cream (we’ll see YOU, ice cream, in a month or so), but really, I doubt it. Pizza pretty much has everything I’m looking for in a life partner…I mean, uh, a delicious food option. It’s cheesy. It is warm. It has tons of flavor. It’s cheesy. It’s crunchy. It’s cheesy. And it’s cheesy.

We were all delighted to find Betsy very well prepared for the event with red and white checkered plates and accessories. Each pizza joint had a piece of paper with all that would be necessary for us each to get to ordering. Amusingly, each joint had a slogan. Ya know, something cute like, “best around,” or “cute delivery boys” (that one didn’t exist, but should have) or the best slogan - Dominos… “Now hiring.”

I didn’t really know what to expect going into this challenge and was pleased with the local pizzeria options. The places tested included (alphabetical order):

                     Carbone's Pizza
                     Domino's
                     Parkway Pizza
                     Pizza Luce
                     Sarpino's
                     Uptown Pizza

Sarpino’s was a last minute entry as Derekino’s (or some equally as lame-named place) wasn’t open. I would like to relate Sarpino’s Pizza to Tim Urban on American Idol this season. He didn’t make the initial top 12 cut, but someone dropped out and…wah-lah! Tim Urban/Sarpino's is IN! However, he really wasn’t that good. He (and Sarpino’s) just did not step up to the 2nd chance opportunity. Not the worst, but defiantly not the best. Heck, not really even in the middle. You really missed your chance here, Sarpino's....

Not a real shocker, but Domino’s was the looser. However, the pizza guy did let us take his picture and I really like that about him. To me he looks like a character in a Disney movie. Like a spell had been cast upon the Domino’s and they all turned into animals. The spell has now been undone somehow (perhaps with the welcoming of the new crust) and his mouse-self just spun in a veil of red and blue smoke and he returned to his human form. Even with their new crust – it just couldn’t compare to the others. The thing is, visually speaking; it was the most put together and enticing pie. The flavor just didn’t match up to its good looks. Domino’s is the really hot, stupid chick. Lots of people buy Domino’s, but when they really get to eat it, they find out it’s just kind of dumb. You’ll probably order Domino’s again because it’s easy and looks good when you’re drunk, but it’s not a lasting relationship.

The belt of our pizza competition was Uptown Pizz and Pizza luce. Eh.

Now, to the top spots! There was something like a .5 difference in scores between the one and two spots. Parkway Pizza and Carbone’s were both a joy. I feel that Carbone’s had a little help going into the race because of some pre existing love of the place. It stepped up to the expectations and with its stretchy cheese and crisp crust just about made it! It just couldn’t pull through though as it was the most sloppily put together pizza and for some people in the group that was a bit of a turn off.

The winner was Parkway Pizza.  Being that it’s in the Betsy/Justin neighborhood, they are frequent patrons of this establishment; but I do not feel there was any nepotism happening. I think it truly was the best tasting pizza.

I regret that I do not have the notes handy to tell you all about all aspects of the pizza test. I would like to point out to those wondering of our scoring system, that because this was a delivery test, delivery time/heat of pie/etc. were all factored into our scores. Please note: Pizza Luce; although low on the list, was the only pizza that was early and received a bonus point for said arrival time. I believe most of the other joints were towards the end of their given time windows or late. Those that were late did receive a one point deduction.

Final results:

            1st - Parkway Pizza

            2nd - Carbone's Pizza

            3rd - Uptown Pizza

           4th - Pizza Luce

           5th - Sarpino's

            6th - Domino's

And finally, I would just like to thank the universe for providing us with pizza. I had it for breakfast this morning.

See you soon ice cream. We’ve got our eyes on you…

shalee.

weeeee're baaaaack....

by amelia cameron:

april 17th is the next meeting for the taste buds. we will be eating pizza at betsy's house. although the blog voting poll does not close for another 5 days, pizza was a clear winner. any input on scoring subjects? crust, cheese, cooked-ness, sauce, size, price, visual appeal...what am i missing?

taste ya later!

the birth of the taste buds

by amelia cameron:

i was reading the book "The Gastronomy of Marriage" and in it the main character tastes a bunch of cupcakes to help her future sister-in-law write a "Best of New York" column. i thought A. "i LOVE cupcakes!" B. "i would love to be able to eat lots of different cupcakes at the same time." C. "i would love to share this experience with my closest girl friends!" so, i immediately sent out an email to manda, shalee, betsy and vanna declaring that i was going on a search for the best cupcake in the twin cities and i wanted them to join me.
we set the date for today, february 28, 2010 at 3:30pm. the morning of, i drove all over the twin cities and it's southern suburbs collecting cupcakes. i stopped at 10 bakeries (2 did not carry cupcakes) and purchased 16 cupcakes (one chocolate and one vanilla [except cafe latte, they were out of their vanilla]) i also created a scoring sheet, as well as collected fun cupcake facts and cupcake-esque parting gifts for my guests.
shalee arrived at 3pm, (very punctual!) and helped me set the scene. i set out eight plates each with a bakery name and the price of each cupcake after tax. shalee excitedly placed the cupcakes on their plates as i cut fruit to be served with the cupcakes "to cleanse the palate". i brewed some coffee and set out milk and wine (my adorable husband got "Cupcake" brand wine for the event).
a little after 3:30pm vanna and betsy arrived and soon after that manda arrived. we were ready! we got all of our beverages together and got acquainted with the competing cupcakes. cafe latte, french meadow bakery, a baker's wife, starbucks, sweets, cupcake, the salty tart, and YUM! were all in the running for "The Best Cupcake in the Twin Cities." they were to be judged upon size, visual appeal, price, cake taste, cake moistness, frosting taste, and frosting consistency, then followed by an overall rating, ranging from 1-5.
over the next hour and a half the cupcakes were cut into pieces, scored and heavily discussed. as we were in the midst of the tasting, we decided that we should do this again and again, but with other foods...we should become a group of local food critics...we should award the unsuspecting shops with awards when they win...we should start a blog...we should be called "The Taste Buds." and here we are.
this blog will be run by all 5 of us. when we post we will start it with our names, so you know which perspective you are getting. we will continue our tasting around the twin cities and it's suburbs and tell you all about it. some ideas for the future: pizza, french fries, cookies, egg rolls, ice cream, nachos, mozzarella sticks, and cesar salads. sometimes we will host the tastings at our homes, sometimes in food courts, sometimes it will be a traveling taste fest! the taste buds are not putting ourselves into any well manicured, super structured box. we are just going to eat and tell you about it!


by the way, cafe latte was the winner of the taste buds' cupcake award. we are going to send them a thank you note for making the best cupcakes in the twin cities and give them a very descriptive and important sounding award certificate that they can display, if they see fit.