Mylocalpizzaguy's Blog

You Can Have Your Pizza and Eat It Too

MyLocalPizzaGuy.com — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 16:55:40 +0000

It’s no secret that America is the land of plenty, and when it comes to food these days even supersized is considered undersized. Double burgers, extra large orders of fries, Big Gulps and huge slices of New York style pizza, these bloated proportions that have become the norm are leading to bigger bloated bodies.

According to a study published by the CDC in 2008 obesity has increased dramatically within the last 20 years, so much so that only one state in our fair nation, Colorado, had an obesity rate of less than 20%. While we continue to grow bigger as a country, information regarding healthy eating habits as well as options to practice healthful eating is everywhere, it’s a matter of putting them into place. And that includes one of America’s favorites, pizza, long considered fattening and unhealthy. Here are some tips for keeping it wholesome:

• Think vegetarian: meat toppings such as sausage and pepperoni are loaded with fat and sodium, so skip these and try veggies instead. You’ll decrease calories and maybe your blood pressure in one fell swoop, plus get extra benefits from the fiber in the vegetables.

• Change the cheese: loads of gooey cheese makes pizza one high calorie option. But don’t despair; there are plenty of ways to skirt this issue. You can ask the pizzeria to go light on the cheese, or, you can ask them to make it with part skim milk mozzarella. Another way to cut calories is to ask them to substitute parmesan cheese for the standard mozzarella altogether, as parmesan is much lower in fat and will give your pie a lot of flavor.

• Get the skinny: Thin crust pizza has less dough than regular and thick crust versions, which are high calorically and low on fiber, making dough in general slower to digest. You can also ask for wheat or whole grain crust where available, which automatically adds fiber, making it a better option.

• One plus: yes, I’ll say it, only eat one piece of pizza! Impossible you say? It’s not, really. Add a big salad or low fat soup to round out your meal and fill you up.

• Skip the sauce: instead of pizza sauce which can have lots of sugar and preservatives, ask for fresh tomato, olive oil and/or garlic instead.

Next time you’re out for pizza put these tips to work for you. You’ll find you can have your pizza and eat it too, without packing on the pounds!

Ye Olde Pizza Parlor

MyLocalPizzaGuy.com — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 21:51:16 +0000

My culinary tastes have matured since the days when I ate nothing but popcorn with garlic powder* or Rob’s ice cream. They have evolved to a point where I now enjoy asparagus, green beans and the occasional crudités basket at my favorite French restaurant. Simply put, I no longer consider Chili’s and Applebee’s fine dining. Still, you won’t ever find me judging Iron Chef America, as I would no sooner bring sweetbread within 10 feet of my lips as I would become an airline pilot (I hate to fly but that’s a story for another day). As for pizza, I now enjoy gourmet pizza from places like Settebello and Grimaldi’s, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate one of my favorite childhood pizza places, Ye Olde Pizza Parlor – Shakey’s Pizza. I’m sure even Tom Colicchio downs a dog and a beer at a game once in a while and feels like it’s the best thing he’s ever eaten.

My latest Shakey’s experience took place last month when we took a family vacation to Venice Beach. We arrived in L.A. late afternoon and needed to go to the grocery store to stock up the kitchen in the beach house we rented. Once we got back from the store, the only restaurant on my husbands mind was Shakey’s. Our sons had never heard of it, and now, both starving and concerned about the quality of the pizza they were about to be subjected to asked “is it like Grimaldi’s or Settebello?” Both my husband and I could not fathom how our boys had somehow made it to 19 and 20 without knowing what a Mojo potato is. How had we not exposed them to Shakey’s at some point in their young lives? We felt it to be one of our last good parenting duties (due to their advancing age how many more opportunities to good parent would we get?) to remedy that, immediately, and promised each other we would not be so remiss with the grandchildren.

GPS blazing, we hopped in the car and off we sped to Shakey’s Pizza in Culver City. Sure, the décor had been modernized since the days when the employees wore striped shirts and straw hats, but the pizza was the same and those Mojos, anyone that hasn’t tried a breaded fried potato round just doesn’t know what they are missing. Did you know they even have Mojos Supreme (cheese, green onion, bacon, black olives and salsa) now? Heaven!

Unfortunately, there is no Shakey’s Pizza in the Las Vegas area, but they do have locations all over the U.S. and even some in Mexico. If you want a slice of nostalgia or heaven or both, go to their website and punch in your zip for the nearest restaurant.

Suellen Meyers is a self-professed (decaf) Starbucks addict with the ability to return anything to any store at any time due to her 11-year stint in retail. Subsequent careers in sales and business ownership followed. Suellen recently went back to school and chronicles her experiences in her blog License to Bake. Now on the path to becoming a full-fledged writer (got a job for her – send her an email) she lives in Henderson, Nevada, with her husband who may or may not be over-educated and her two amazingly talented sons as well as their two dogs. You can contact her at suzyq221@gmail.com. To read her blog go to www.licensetobake.blogspot.com or at www.MyLocalPizzaGuy.com

“Making Homemade Pizza? Use a Baking Stone”

MyLocalPizzaGuy.com — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 04:11:21 +0000

“Making Homemade Pizza? Use a Baking Stone”

It’s no surprise that Americans are crazy for pizza. According to the National Association of Pizza Operators we consume about 350 slices of pizza per second, or 100 acres of pizza each day. Pizza lovers have long argued whether it’s the sauce, the cheese or the toppings that make the pizza, but I beg to differ, our love affair with pizza begins with the crust.

Many pizza establishments today use a brick oven to make their pies. Generally, this type of oven cooks the pizza very quickly and therefore is able to retain moisture in the dough making it light and crispy without burning the bottom. When my kids were little, being the gourmet cook that I was, we would make “real” pizza using Boboli crust. 3 and 4 year olds, at least mine, were not that discerning, and at the time neither was I. We thought this was delicious, but then again most of our meals back in those days came in a paper bag and included a plastic toy. In the years to follow, our tastes and kitchen skills have evolved. I have graduated to making actual home-made pizza, and have come to learn the only way to do it, in my opinion, is on a pizza or baking stone, since there is no way I am going to shell out thousands of dollars for my own brick oven.

So, you may be asking yourself why you’d want to use a baking stone, is there really that much of a difference? There is, as long as you use the stone correctly. Besides the above-mentioned attributes of brick oven cooking (remember, the stone simulates this for us home cooks) a good pizza or baking stone acts as a heat conductor, distributing heat evenly, so no hot or cold spots which equals even cooking. It also helps keep the pizza crust from becoming soggy, not a good attribute in a crust.

If you’re going to try using a stone, make sure you get one that is pretty thick, about ¾ of an inch or more. Make certain to heat the stone in the oven at 500 degrees for at least an hour, and then turn the oven down to the proper temperature on the recipe. Allow the stone to cool down to room temperature before cleaning, don’t use soap to clean it, instead use a plastic scraper to get off any stuck on residue. It’s also important to remember never to put a hot stone in water or it may crack. If you’re baking stone comes with instructions that contradict any of the above, follow theirs, and not mine!

And, since I would be remiss if I didn’t combine two of my favorite pastimes (shopping and eating!) here is a list of pizza/baking stones you might want to check out:

From Crate & Barrel, has handles: Click Here

Ceramic from Williams Sonoma: Click Here

Pizza Baking Stone FDA food safety approved from King Arthur Flour: Click Here

Rectangular Cookie Sheet Pizza Stone at Bed Bath & Beyond: Click Here

Happy Pizza Making! Let me know how it goes!

New York Pizza vs Chicago Pizza

MyLocalPizzaGuy.com — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 04:26:19 +0000

Pizza means many different things to many different people. Some think of it as their favorite meal, others just a quick bite to eat. Still others think of pizza as their savior when they don’t want to cook. There are many definitions of pizza but the best in my opinion is a baked pie of Italian origin consisting of a shallow bread-like crust covered with seasoned tomato sauce, cheese, and often other toppings such as sausage or olive.

The word pizza is believed to be from an Old Italian word meaning “a point,” which in turn became the Italian word “pizzicare,” which means “to pinch” or “pluck.” It has been said that a man named Genarro Lombardi started the first pizzeria that opened in New York City back in 1905. He sold strictly pizza for over 20 years and then started selling spaghetti and other Italian dishes as well in 1930. New York style pizza is said to be the best pizza around. You can choose from many different toppings and the sauce is the best I have ever had. Many places try to copy the New York pie but there is just no pizza like New York pizza.

In contrast, pizza in Chicago started in 1943 and is a totally different animal. Chicago is famous for their deep dish pizza. Anyone who has been to Chicago knows that deep dish pizza is amazing!!! A must try!! You can add anything you please to a deep dish pizza but traditionally it’s the Sausage that brings it home. I love it with pepperoni, mushrooms etc. It is much the same as New York style pizza but deep dish pizza has all the topping inside the pizza crust instead of on top. You also need a fork to eat it because it’s so thick with ingredients.

From this long history you can surely see that pizza has been around for a while but they are still making changes and perfecting pizza in all parts of the country to this day. Pizza will always be one of Americans favorite traditions. And regardless of whether you like thin New York Style or the Chicago way of doing it we as Americans will be eating and loving this product for years to come.

Henderson Pizza Delivery

MyLocalPizzaGuy.com — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 04:10:07 +0000

I think I have found the best Pizza in the Henderson Nevada area. I have been eating pizza since I was 3 years old and I cannot get enough of the stuff. I consider myself a good judge of the cheesy stuff because of the amount of pies I have eaten. I have eaten pizza in Georgia, California, New York, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Puerto Rico, Nevada, Kentucky, and in multiple cities in those states and countries. I have eaten everything from Thin New York style, Chicago deep dish, homemade pies, and frozen microwave junk. On a week to week basis I would guess I eat pizza 5 nights per week. Yes I am a little over wait!

So what have I found in the Henderson Nevada area that is making me say, “Yes this is a great pizza”? Nothing! That’s correct, not one place has impressed me as the best Pizza in Henderson Nevada. I have eaten Papa john’s, Domino’s, Little Caesars, Gramaldis, Rosatis, Pizza Hut, Metro Pizza, Anthony’s wood fired Pizza, Tombstone, Red baron, Mama de Palmas, Napoli, Fox Pizza, and a few other places not worth mentioning. Not one has impressed me as the best. Don’t get me wrong these guys are good but not the best. They all have good and bad points but not one stands out as the king of the hill.
Does anyone get it? Does anyone have the New York thin crust, huge slice cheesy greatness that I crave? I did find a small place named New York Pizza, but on the second try they failed miserably. They are also a little pricey, no online presence, no way of ordering if you look them up online, and a pretty bad attitude that destroys the taste for coming back to them a third time.

My goal is to keep eating my way around town until I find a place that makes me a great pizza and has everything I am looking for. I am getting through my list really fast so I could use some suggestions. I need Cheesy cheese with the correct mix of cheeses only a New Yorker knows about, and lots of toppings with a crust to die for.

I love the New York Style Pizza but I guess around here you have to go to New York to actually get one. Does anyone miss the huge New York cheese slices with that perfect taste that leaves you coming back for more? I miss New York Style pies! I need the whole package when it comes to a pie made in a coal oven with the perfect mix of ingredients, freshness and a price I can afford. I guess I will have to wait until I visit NY again.

I am always open to suggestions on local pizza companies and I will try to stay opened minded if anyone has any suggestions. I will try the food and call it as I see it. We will give them a real review on www.mylocalpizzaguy.com website. Here is to good pizza worldwide may it never die!

Las Vegas Pizza Delivery

MyLocalPizzaGuy.com — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 03:59:04 +0000

We have found some of the best pizza delivery companies in Las Vegas on a site called www.mylocalpizzaguy.com and so far I have had some pretty good luck getting fresh pizza to my house. Here is a list of some of the companies we found hope this helps.
Spago

3500 Las Vegas Blvd S

Las Vegas, NV. 89109

702-369-6300

www.wolfgangpuck.com

Buca di Beppo

7690 W Lake Mead Blvd

Las Vegas, NV 89128

702-363-6524

Albo Pizza Restaurant

1510 Las Vegas Blvd S

Las Vegas, NV. 89104

702-997-8531

Abella Pizza Inc

6060 Boulder Hwy Ste 6

Las Vegas, NV 89122

(702) 333-0707

Strings Italian Cafe

2222 E Tropicana Ave

Las Vegas, NV 89119

702-739-6400

Adar Kosher Pizza Restaurant

318 W Sahara Ave

Las Vegas, NV 89102

702-385-0006

Alexander’s Pizza

5020 Broadbent Blvd

Las Vegas, NV 89122

702-253-1600

Don Antonios Pizzeria

8810 S Maryland Pkwy

Las Vegas, NV 89123

702-818-3789

Amalfi Pizza & Pasta

2211 S Maryland Pkwy

Las Vegas, NV 89104

702-614-4488

Uncle Joe’s Pizza

505 Fremont St

Las Vegas NV 89101

702-385-2162

Amore Taste of Chicago

3945 S Durango Dr

Las Vegas, NV 89147

702-562-9000

Broadway Pizzeria

850 S Rancho Dr Ste 8

Las Vegas, NV 89106

702-259-9002

Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza

6569 Las Vegas Blvd S

Las Vegas, NV 89119

702-361-7500

Boston Pizza

1507 Las Vegas Blvd S

Las Vegas, NV 89104

702-385-2595

www.bostonpizzavegas.com

3 Tomatoes & A Mozzarella

6485 S Rainbow Blvd Ste. M105

Las Vegas, NV 89118

702-257-3866

www.3tomatoes.com

Pizza World

8665 W. Flamingo Rd. #102

Las Vegas, NV 89147

702-367-3909

Pizza Marketing

MyLocalPizzaGuy.com — Mon, 10 May 2010 23:55:12 +0000

Pizza Marketing
I was driving down the road today and was in awe of how many pizza restaurants there are in my area of Las Vegas. So many of them are around but do not advertise enough for people to realize they are there. As I drove down the street for only about five minutes I noticed twenty five pizza restaurants. These pizzerias are not the regular ones you hear about all the time but the mom and pop shops that just make really good pizza. How are people supposed to find these places? I think these pizzerias rely on word of mouth the make their business grow. I have noticed since I have lived in Las Vegas that once I try a place that sells pizza, I will start to tell all my friends about it, they will tell their friends and so on. These mom and pop shops will be making pizza for years to come just based on our talking to others about the pizza that we love. If you have a great pizza then you don’t have to put signs on everyone’s door. You can just rely on your customers to bring in the business for you. But sometimes that’s not enough.
Most of the small local pizza companies in town usually have people running their shop that really know about cooking good food and pizza recipes but have little to no knowledge about marketing. Pizza shop advertising is hard if you have no time for it or if your word of mouth is slow. Most small pizza company owners do not know about Face book, Twitter or Bing from Google! So I created a small website called www.MyLocalPizzaGuy.com for this exact reason. We are a search portal for pizza lovers that want to find the small local pizza guy near their own neighborhood making pizza the old fashion way. I love hand tossed, coal oven, fresh ingredient, lots of toppings, New York style pies. So naturally this is what I look for when I’m hungry. But I, like a lot of people I know, am very lazy. I have no patience for waiting for my food and I do not want to go to Google, then Bing, then Yahoo, then read a review’s on city search and then order something that may not be near my home that takes 90 minutes to get to me and ends up arriving cold. I think this is a major reason people order from the big chains because it’s easy and fast. I will give it up for the big guys they do it fast and easy. But I want quality and I want that New York taste and I want it near my home. So we put together this site to help pizza lovers find local pizza companies near their homes. Our customers can find websites, menus, phone numbers, Emails and reviews about pizza companies in their own zip codes. Plus you can place a free pizza review and tell others about your experience.
As for the small pizza companies, gone are the days of handing out flyers, sending mailings out with 1% returns, creating unattractive websites that get lost near page 456,789 on a search and generally failing to reach out to their local repeat customer they need in order to survive or thrive! Search engines and Face book control all the customers you are looking for, the world has turned to this new way of staying in touch and this is what http://mylocalpizzaguy.com is good at doing. Did you know that a twitter account can reach out to thousands of people each day for free? But which one of you, that has to cook 40 pies today and clean the bathroom and do the accounting and drop the cash tonight, has time for that. Let alone playing with Linked in, Face book, Bing, Google, Yahoo, Flicker, and so on. We can get those customers talking about pizza, blogging about pizza, Face booking, and twitting about pizza to call your local pizza company and increase your revenue.
Here is an example: Type “HENDERSON PIZZA” in to a Google search, the second line you see shows www.MyLocalPizzaGuy.com. It’s that simple we are at the top of page one or on page two depending on the zip codes you search from. Your customers are looking for you here and we can put you there with us. People search for pizza in Henderson they find us, you place a monthly add with us then people find you. No contracts, no start up fees, no BS. Try it for one month if it works you stay if it does not you go. We do all the hard work keeping our self’s up in Google, Bing, Yahoo and Face book under all the keywords that people use in order to search for pizza. We are here to help pizza lovers find the best pizza they can near their own neighborhoods. Help us to help you and together we can make this 32 billion dollar industry work for us! We are the new way to Market your Pizza Company.

Best Las Vegas Pizza

MyLocalPizzaGuy.com — Thu, 06 May 2010 23:59:44 +0000

No matter what I am doing throughout my day if someone asks me what I want for dinner, my answer is usually pizza. Not just any pizza but good authentic pizza. Pizza from a mom and pop place that really takes the time to get to know their customers. A place where I can go and feel welcome when I walk in. I want hand tossed dough, fresh home-made mozzarella, lots of fresh toppings like pepperoni and mushrooms. I love meat on my pies and I love a well made crunchy crust.

Many times the big chains of pizza restaurants don’t treat their customers well. They dish out the pizza and then move on to the next person regardless of quality. Since there are so many different pizzerias to choose from I prefer to try new pizza restaurants once a week. I love to try out new places for pizza in Henderson and the Las Vegas area too. As Las Vegas has grown it has made it hard to just go driving around looking for pizza places. So now I go online and search for new pizza places to try out using Google and Bing. If the pizza places have an online menu this really helps me with my choice. Being able to see what kind of food they have before I order makes me even more hungry for pizza. I have also noticed recently that their are even some pizza restaurants that make their food available for you to order online.
I think if I was going to ask for anything else out of a good pizza place it would be for them to offer more pizza coupons. Not enough places offer coupons. I mean when you are first trying out pizza wouldn’t you choose the $2.00 off coupon over the place that doesn’t offer anything. In the economic climate our country faces coupons are essential. I need to save money when I go out to eat and anything helps. I am still looking for the best las Vegas pizza and I belive that someday I will find it with the help of my huge appetite, search engines and some good old fashion luck! But if you have any suggestions please let me know, I will visit and give my true opinion on MyLocalPizzaGuy.com

Hello world!

MyLocalPizzaGuy.com — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:34:16 +0000

Welcome to our blog, we are all about Pizza.

We are Pizza lovers and we decided that having a place were we could look for small local pizza companies was in our best interest since we do not like big chain pies. We like coal and brick oven authentic pizza makers doing it the old way. Welcome to our blog and our site www.myLocalPizzaGuy.com we hope you enjoy your self here.