pizza heaven-flint, mi

pizza heaven is on fenton road, just south of bristol. it used to be called the pizza company but changed the name a few months back. i have driven past this place for years and have never tried it until tonight and i was very impressed!

straight up, best cheese bread in town!! yeah, i know, i have said this in older postings, but, this is the real deal. the cheese bread is loaded with butter that basically explodes out of the bread when you bite into it and is topped off with mozzarella and parmesan cheese. damn, it was delicious!!

the pizza does not disappoint either. the toppings are loaded and piled high, the sauce is probably the sweetest sauce i have had so far while writing this blog and the crust was flavored perfectly.

before i left the owner of the place told me that she has a new menu coming out and she was very excited about it. i asked her what was on it that was so exciting and told her i write this blog but she still wouldn't let me know. all i could get out of her is that she is going to have some stuff that NO ONE  in town has! she told me one of the new items but made me promise i wouldn't tell anyone, so i wont. just make sure you go there in the next few weeks and try some of the new stuff…i know i will be!

amicis living room-berkley, mi

first off, i would like to thank my friend vanessa and matt for taking me and lana to amicis last winter. amicis is high quality great tasting pizza that has a lot to offer.

the first thing i noticed was their cheese options. i am a fan of cheese so for a restaurant to offer 9 different types of cheese you can get on your pizza i get excited!  another thing is the list of toppings seems to be endless. they also offer whole wheat crust and gluten free thin crust! what more can you ask for? they have options for every0ne!

i dont drink, but they have an extensive martini/beer/whatever section. so thats pretty cool if you are into getting a drink with your food. lana also wants me to mention that they use fresh juices for their cocktails, she says that makes a difference.

amicis seems to cater more towards vegans/vegetarians and is a certified by the green restaurant association. they have also been voted as 2004 best martini bar from the detroit free press, 2002 best gourmet pizza by the detroit free press, and 2005-2007 citys best pizza by AOL city guide.

anyway, we got the pesto breadsticks and the vegan #8 pizza. the pesto sticks are wheat breadsticks with a pesto sauce on top served with their own herb tomato marinara sauce…delicious! the pizza was a wheat crust topped with walnuts, artichoke, spinach, and tomato and we chose to add tofu mozzarella…again, delicious!

check out amicis website here. if you are ever in the royal oak/detroit area i suggest you go get yourself some great pizza!!

pizza papalis-greektown. detroit, mi

hands down this is some of the best pizza you will ever eat.

no need to say more.

daves pizzeria-swartz creek, mi

this place is about as mom and pop as you can get. there's one old man working the kitchen and i am assuming his wife was the sole waitress working the floor. seeing this i wasn't expecting the greatest of service or to get my food fast but i was slightly proven wrong, the service still wasn't that great but its cool. id rather have a waitress that's real than one trying to suck as much as a tip out of me as possible. but, the food did come fast!

the place is filled floor to ceiling with clown posters, masks, balloons, trains, paintings, etc. if it had a clown on it then this place had it on the wall. it was kind of strange, but hey, who am i to judge. the atmosphere was very quiet. the radio was turned low and conversations from other tables were easy to pick up.

anything negative i was thinking about this place ended as soon as the cheese bread hit the table. fuck man, it was good. unlike cheese bread at other places (luigis, sicilys) that loaded up the cheese to the point of the bread being soggy, daves cheese bread was pretty light on the cheese and not soggy from grease. so i was into that. it was good!

the pizza was hand tossed thin crust. it kind of reminded me of rizzos in a way but way better. the crust was crispy on the bottom but was also soft, sauce was sweet, the toppings weren't over loaded and the cheese was light. it was good. nothing awesome, but it was good. i liked it.

then to continue with the weirdness of the clowns, this was the to go box we got.

rizzos-flint, mi

there's something about cheap pizza that isn't necessarily good or bad. the kind of pizza that rules because its close, convenient, affordable, and still better than little ceasers. this is the case of rizzos.

walking into this place you have to question as to how they are still in business. the ceiling looks like it is about to cave in, the counter is browned with dirt and the floor looks like it hasn't been mopped in years. the lack of upkeep of the restaurant is a direct reflection on their employees that are found more often playing cards or watching tv than actually working.

with all that said, i love this place! they have a deal where you can get a large 2 topping pizza for 5.95 and that's what we got. the pizza is, surprisingly, made fresh hand tossed thin crust. the sauce is sweet and the toppings are a little skimpy, but thats alright. the cheese isn't the greatest either but how cant really expect greatness walking through those doors!

pomodoro fresh italian-highland michigan

i have nothing but great things to say about pomodoros. not only is it family owned and operated but the food is great and you can tell they really love what they are doing. good people making good food. what more can you ask for?

pomodoros is ran by a dude named hank who was an old manager of the french laundry in fenton who then opened up this place not too long ago down in highland. yeah, sounds like a drive but its just past duck lake road on m-59 so from fenton it was only about a 20 minute drive.

anyway, they offer a variety of pizza, salad, grinders, pastas and they also have monthly specials and daily specials.  we went with the 6inch veggie grinder and a medium Mediterranean pizza.

the veggie grinder was nothing short of amazing. served on oven fresh focaccia style bread bread its loaded with portabella mushrooms, peppers, celery, carrots, onions and tomatoes that are all held together with provolone and swiss cheese. there was no bells and whistles about this grinder. it was simply fantastic. and the best part about it was that it was loaded with veggies and was put together so well that when you bite into it not a single item fell out of the bread. it was also served with their own house made pickle and some pickled italian vegetables.

we then dove into the pizza. after the first bite all i could say was WHOA. after the second bite all i could sputter out was WOW. this pizza is whats up. i have had pesto on pizza before but it was always very oily and ruined the whole pizza. pomodoros makes their own pesto and it was the best tasting pesto i have ever had. the pizza is loaded up with feta cheese, kalamata olives, red onion, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts and mozzarella cheeses all on top of soft flakey dough. it was great. i just warmed up my leftovers for dinner and it still tasted great.

check out their website for specials and coupons!

ruggeros

is there anything better than a snowday? nope. last week during our snowday we went to ruggeros on corunna road for some pizza and that made our snowday even better!

ruggeros pizza is good, but not great. its thin crust and doesnt stack up to luigis or sicilys but thats alright because that makes those places that much better.

the breadsticks are delicious! cut in squares and smothered in butter and herbs. you cant beat it. we also got the one of the appetizer plates that consisted of fried mushrooms, cauliflower, and zucchini which was also fantastic.

i dont really have much to say about the place as it didnt leave a lasting impression on me. i do like everything we ordered but feel like for the price we could have gotten better pizza elsewhere.

Romano's macaroni grill

man it has been a long time since i last updated this. sorry to any of you who read this. i have been lazy.

the last post i made was for Giordano's when we went to Chicago. this pizza is from the same weekend. we got to the airport early for our flight home and asked a lady where a good place to eat at the airport was and she recommended the macaroni grill. i was thinking it was going to be like a macaroni and cheese place but it was actually a very nice Italian restaurant. 

when we were seated the server asked what we wanted to drink and while doing this she cracked some salt and pepper onto a small dish and grabbed the olive oil off the table and poured it onto the dish and then brought out a big loaf of bread with our drinks. awesome! that's probably my favorite part about Italian places is the bread that you begin with. so good.

i ordered the margherita pizza which has fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and olive oil. and let me tell you, it was delicious! very light and crispy and made fresh to order. and the best part is the price. only 8 bucks!! score! the pizza only comes in one size, which is 12inches. but that was plenty big enough for me.

we then ended the night with some tiramisu. this was the first time i have ever tried it but man, was it good. i wish i would have ordered my own because i would have woofed that whole boy down.

there are a few locations in Michigan, mainly down in the Detroit area, so if you are ever down that way and want some great Italian at a greater price go check out Romano's macaroni grill.

Giordano's. Chicago, Illinois.

i have heard of how great this pizza was for years. i have seen a few tv programs about the origins of Chicago pizza and they always mention Giordano's as one of the founders, and best, of Chicago pizza.

we went to Chicago this past weekend and this was a top   priority. after hunting down some info online i found that the Hyde Park location was the original location, so that is where we had to go. i figured if we came from flint for some pizza i want the for real deal and not some chain version of it.

everything that i have ever heard of this place was spot on. this pie was delicious! the only place i can compare it to is pizza papalis, which is way up there in my favorite pizzas. Giordano's was far better assembled than pizza papalis. the cheese is thick, the sauce is just right, the inside of the crust is doughy and the outsides are crisp.

the place was actually a lot smaller than i had expected and thought it was a little odd that they did not serve alcohol. the waiter dude laughed at me when i ordered an arnold palmer…he had no idea what it was, pretty funny. but yeah, we started with a spinach artichoke dip and that was top notch. it was served with slices of garlic bread that hit the spot.

if you ever go to Chicago  and you do not go to Giordano's then you are making a gigantic mistake!