Wednesday, January 09, 2008

BEST OF GF: Pizza

"BEST OF GF" is returning after being on hiatus. I know you guys love sharing your opinions on things like area restaurants so I think this is a good feature to have on GFL.

I'm asking you, my loyal readers, what Grand Forks establishment serves the best pizza? Vote below and then discuss in the comment section. Have fun!

BEST OF GF: Pizza
Boston's
Deek's Pizza
Domino's Pizza
Gilly's
Green Mill
Happy Joe's
Joe Black's
l'Bistro
Little Caesar's
Mamma Maria's
Papa John's
Papa Murphy's
Pizza Hut
Popolino's Pizza
Rhombus Guys
Sbarro
Slapshot Pizza
Sledster's
Toasted Frog
Other

52 comments:

Anonymous said...

Any chance we can get the poll revised to two different categories? Eat-in and delivery. You are also missing Mike's pizza.

Anonymous said...

Does pizza taste better if one eats it in the business place?
Hmm.

Mike's Pizza come under "other", possibly.

Anonymous said...

"Does pizza taste better if one eats it in the business place?
Hmm."

No, but I have different expectations for delivery and a "gourmet" pizza at a location such as Boston's, Rhombus, etc.

GrandForksGuy said...

Mike's isn't included because this is "BEST OF GF" and not "BEST OF GF AND EGF". I also don't really see a reason to divide the poll into two categories.

Anonymous said...

huh, interesting. i -know- egf/gf are two separate towns but to me they're one in the same. maybe it's cause i didn't grow up here but that's how i view this town(s).

Unknown said...

I would have voted for Mike's if it were an option. I don't understand the fascination with Rhombus Guys... it wasn't that great the times I've been there.

Also, I didn't even know there was a Sbarro in town.

Anonymous said...

I would stay away from Deek's pizza. They have a peeping tom delivery guy that works there.

Anonymous said...

i would vote for mike's, too.

That aside, GFG really undermines any credibility he has by making that gf/egf distinction -- unbelievably stupid.

Anonymous said...

mikes

Still Fighting It said...

Hah, just took the wife and kid to Rhombus tonight - excellent as always. My second and third are Happy Joe's (closest tasting to my favorite back home - Round Table) and Pizza Hut because they have good pizza and my son has a blast in both places. Happy Joes for the "choo-choo" and Pizza Hut because there are always a dozen other kids his age there.

Papa Murphy's is our favorite for at-home dining.

GrandForksGuy said...

Hey, if you guys think that these "Best of GF" things should include both sides of the river, I have no problem with that. The only problem is that in order to include Mike's at this point I would have to put up a brand new poll and all of your old votes would be erased. That probably wouldn't make much sense. I would suggest casting your votes for Mike's in the "Other" category. Again, I will include both GF and EGF in future polls if that's what you think I should do.

dale said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Sbarros is in the Union at UND

Anonymous said...

Just because you don't care for Dominos doesn't mean you have to belittle the person who voted for them.....get a life.

Rhombus Guys pizza is excellent...they got my vote.

Anonymous said...

Dale--LOL about being still drunk. I noticed *my house* wasn't listed as an option, but that would get my vote. I have just not been impressed with any pizza in GF lately. I guess I am somewhat of a food snob, but--I really do prefer what I make at home. I always wonder if there are any other foodies out there--

Anonymous said...

Rhombus Guys is my little slice of heaven! It is a really small place, but that just makes it all the more special to get to eat there...they do have take out and delivery if you can't get a table.

Anonymous said...

I echo that Mike's should have been included. I voted in other. Mikes uses fresh ingredients, which is more than a lot of these places can claim!

Anonymous said...

Aha, tlh, yes, another foody! Here's my snobby thoughts...
Delivery pizza sucks! Why? The steam in the box ruins the texture and flavor, the crust mostly. If I do order pizza out, I get the pie right out of the oven and then drive home quickly with the box open. And, NEVER nuke pizza to reheat. Simply heat a dry pan on the stove and heat it that way, from the bottom. It will maintain the integrity the best. Also, ALL chains suck! Why? It's easy. You can't have a quality food product w/o quality ingredients. Chain food is all about a good price for the masses. So, cheap ingredients are pumped up with fat and salt to make up for the junk the pie is made from.

And, the ONLY way to make pizza at home is "pizza on the grill". Yes, it can be done in the oven but, it's hard to get the proper crust texture in a home oven.

Ask someone who works at Pizza Hut, the deepdish gets a full ladle of some funky manmade grease crap in the bottom of the dish. And, it's gone when the pie comes out of the oven. Where did it go? More importantly, where does it end up? Ick.

Yes, I do have guilty pleasures and moments of weakness where I eat some crap. I wish I had more willpower, however.

That was one hell of a snobby post.

Matt BK said...

^ I think we've found someone to replace Dale and his Grand Cities Dining blog.

Anonymous said...

Rhombus does delivery? I did not know that, to all of Grand Forks?

Anonymous said...

If you goto Rhombus, try something besides the usual pepperoni/cheese/sausage flavors..

I agree with many others, Mikes is great as well.

And as for Deek's, you have to be drunk to enjoy that crap. And I'm not sure if anyone saw, but they got one of the lowest scores in town on the last round of health inspections- and I'm pretty sure the lowest for the pizza places. It makes sense too, I know a few former employees- gloves and handwashing? Forget it.

Anonymous said...

Deek's was even lower than the Italian Moon for health inspection? BTW, you forget Italian Moon.

Fast and quick? I will take Papa John's. Otherwise I have always liked Green Mill for pizza.

Anonymous said...

Italian Moon wasn't included because what they serve isn't considered food ;)

Anonymous said...

mamma maria's is by far the best pizza in town.

Anonymous said...

Where can you see restaurant health inspection scores?

I vote for Subway's pizza.

The Whistler said...

I voted other for the Italian Moon.

Anonymous said...

Anon @ 10:24--as much as I hate to admit this or may regret saying this. I agree with everything you wrote--but I have never grilled pizza--where do the foodies hang out in GF? We do ALOT of cooking with friends at home, but where do you go to meet other like minded foodies?

Anonymous said...

I agree with the "foodies" discussion ... Grand Forks is a terrible city to eat out in ... we usually make our own elaborate dishes at home, sometimes even have to go to Fargo to get certain ingredients (which is rather annoying). Maybe there are more of us in GF than I thought???

GrandForksGuy said...

The Italian Moon....great...I knew I was forgetting something. It's harder than you might think to come up with a list of every place in town that serves pizza. Don't ask me how I overlooked the Italian Moon. I'm thinking that future installments of "BEST OF GF" won't include a poll...just an open discussion like what we have going in the comment section here. Easier for me and much less prone to error on my part.

For what it's worth, it looks like Rhombus Guys is by far the winner as of now...

Anonymous said...

I love Papa John's. No matter what city you are in, the pizza quality is good.
A bunch of us tried Deeks for the first time awhile ago, and we were sick the next day. I have not been back, and after reading the comments above, I will never be back!

Anonymous said...

I wonder how a foodie blog would go over in gf?.......LOL

Anonymous said...

Popolino's is an absolute gem that I sadly discovered only after college...though they're now in my cell phone's contacts, even though the catchy jingle never lets me forget...

Anonymous said...

For all the foodies out there, is there any place in GF where you can buy block yeast. Hugos used to sell it at there bakery, but won't anymore. TIA.

Anonymous said...

I am not aware of any. I am sure that is one of those things that needs to be ordered online. Fortunately--there is usually an abundance of items available in that capacity. Good Luck.

Matt BK said...

Amazing Grains?

Anonymous said...

Nope, tried there. As I said, I used to get it at Hugos. Then suddenly they refused to sell it anymore. Don't know why. Maybe they figured I'd buy their lard products instead.

Anonymous said...

GF Guy, I like these polls and it's understandable that you might inadvertently omit a place or two from any list you create. How about giving readers a heads up for upcoming polls with your proposed list and allow a couple of days for add-in suggestions before posting the poll?

GrandForksGuy said...

That's a very good idea and I've actually thought of doing that in the past. It can be very frustrating to set up a poll like this only to find out that you've inadvertently left something out. It's easier said than done as far as adding more choices to a poll you've already started. So, yeah, I will try to ask you guys to help me come up with lists for future BEST OF GF polls. I do see problems with something like Best Burger...just how many dozens of places in town serve burgers? Yikes!

Anonymous said...

What ever happened to Pizza Patrol?

Anonymous said...

Pizza Patrol was my favorite. They went out of business in 1992 for unknown reasons. I think they had a store in Fargo for a while longer than that.

Unknown said...

Gilly's doesn't serve pizza. I know because I was one of the three cooks there until about 3 weeks ago.

Soon they'll just be a sub place. Josh Gilleland has an agreement with Grand Junction to move a GJ into their kitchen.

Anonymous said...

What kind of food products can you not buy in GF? I've never been that fond of grocery stores in Fargo, so I find it hard to believe you can buy it there. What do you need block yeast for? Why can't you use the power yeast? I guess I'm not enough of a baker to know. My wife cooks with all sorts of stuff and never has any trouble buying stuff in GF. However, she does not bake, so maybe that's the diff.

Anonymous said...

Pizza Patrol in Fargo is awful. maybe good drunk at 3 am but order it sober and it is the worst pizza you'll ever have.

Anonymous said...

Pizza Patrol in Fargo is awful. maybe good drunk at 3 am but order it sober and it is the worst pizza you'll ever have.

Anonymous said...

did I understand you correctly joshtee, they are putting a Grand Junction in Gillys. I swore I would never go back to Gillys again but that might be enough to change my mind.

Anonymous said...

There are a ton of food products that can't be found in GF. If you like to do any specialty cooking or international cooking, many of the foods that I need I have to special order. That is not to say that GF doesn't have a fairly decent selection considering, but you can't seriously think everything is available here?

Anonymous said...

I'm not saying that I think everything is available here. I just know that there is a decent amount of selection here, and I don't know of anything that you cannot buy here for food products that you can buy in Fargo. Between Target, Wal-mart, Hugos, Amazing Grains, the oriental store in the Grand Cities Mall, the health food store there also, etc. it seems a decent amount of selection for a lot of products.

OUWxGuesser said...

"the oriental store in the Grand Cities Mall"

and yet all of my Chinese friends go to Fargo for their international needs...

While GFK suits me fine, I know it doesn't for international students shopping needs (not really a surprise or criticism).

Anonymous said...

toasted frog's toppings are great, but they sure have a soggy crust toward the inside of the pizza.

:-/

I mean, for a wood burning oven an all. meh. perhaps they stop stoking the fire after the dinner rush, huh? Crisp that thing up man!!!!

I gotta try Mike's though now. lots o' folks are loving that it would seem (or just a vocal minority!)

Anonymous said...

Where is the place to buy all of this international food in Fargo? I find it hard to believe that they are finding it at Hornbachers or Cash Wise.

Unknown said...

I had Mike's Pizza once, and I didn't find it to be anything special. Not bad by any means, but nothing I'd go out of my way to get.

As the Mike's Pizza was bought for me, I have to ask what the prices are like. I haven't been there to look, I guess.

"did I understand you correctly joshtee, they are putting a Grand Junction in Gillys. I swore I would never go back to Gillys again but that might be enough to change my mind."

Yeah. And as far as I knew, they were putting it in as soon as mid-January or early-Feb. It might be in there already.

Anonymous said...

I like pizzas of Dominos Codes their pizzas ingredients efficiently.