1000 Degrees Pizza

we are back to pizza questing! this last friday was at 1000 degrees neapolitan pizza. (i'm not sure what makes it neapolitan; i never saw vanilla, strawberry, or chocolate anywhere!)

the idea behind this is that the oven is 1000°F. it cooks the pizza in a very short time. in fact, it's the quickest i've gotten a pizza from time into oven to table. it was super fast.

but here's the problem: the time it took to get through the line and have our pizzas made totally lost all the time we saved during the cook time. i don't know if they were short staffed or if the kids working were not experienced yet or because they kept shifting positions, it felt like they were not as organized as they could have been. and this was a friday night. don't know how it is these days, but weekends were always considered to be the busier days, so be ready. they seemed to be behind on some dough, and a few ingredients needed to be restocked on the line too.

that being said, the pizza was good. i liked the crust, sauce, cheese, toppings. i was so hungry (from the long wait) that i totally killed my 14 inch regular crust. k1 ate most of hers. she had a piece to take home and wanted to get box but wasn't sure how long it would take to get the box. i forgot to order bread sticks this time, but i am not sure how long it would take to get them.

it really seemed similar to many of the assemble-your-own pizza places which have popped up. i would say that if they could nail down their serious lag issues, they would be a rival to the blazes and pie fives (oops, sorry, pie five) in this town.

big ed's

i know it's not knoxville, but big ed's pizza is a well-known standard for pizza around here. this place was established in oak ridge in 1970 and has been serving pizza to happy people since.

i was in college when i first visited big ed's. big ed was still alive back then and i caught a glimpse of him standing at his usual bar spot that evening. even though he has passed, his pizza still lives on. and a pizza quest wouldn't be complete without a trip to this historic spot.

the style seems new york, although the logo on the window of the store says it's "true italian style." the crust is of the hand tossed variety, providing a thinner foundation. the sauce and toppings are consistently delicious. i have included the link to big ed's website at the bottom of this post. you should read the "who is big ed" section which talks about the history and what ingredients are made and used. it is interesting.

both k1 and i were quite hungry, so we decided on a couple of 12 inch pies each. k1 ordered her usual pepperoni only. i ordered pepperoni, bacon, and onion. (they now put benton's bacon on their pizzas!)

being as hungry as i was, i threw down on my pizza. i couldn't get enough of the flavors of tomato sauce and cheese and toppings! k1 was able to take some of her pizza home for later enjoyment. that might have been a smarter move. now, she can have the experience of big ed's extended more than just one evening.

being the classic as it is, i felt we needed big ed's t-shirts to show our pizza solidarity.

uncle maddio's pizza joint

k1 and i hit uncle maddio's pizza joint on friday evening. i didn't realize this place was here until i had done a quick google search for pizza places within my location while driving down cedar bluff.

uncle maddio's is located in the northshore publix shopping center. they advertise that they are locally owned. and if you notice in the picture that it's not a pizza place but a "pizza joint." i like that. a pizza joint!

the format is like blaze or pie five. we told them we wanted personal pizzas and which toppings, and they built it on the line in front of us and slid it into the oven. (theirs is not wood fired.)

we both ordered our standards: all meat for me, cheese and pepperoni for k1. we both liked our selections. for us the most memorable item was the bread sticks. they look like normal bread sticks in the photo, but they are thinner. we detected garlic and minced onions atop the sticks, and that made them very yummy. i think k1 spent more time nibbling on the sticks. i couldn't blame her. they were addictive!

it was easy to get to this place, the atmosphere was casual, and the service was speedy! we had not been sitting for very long and got our pizzas. the crust was new york style. the toppings were quite tasty as well.

if i had to do over, i would have doubled down on the bread sticks order...and still gotten a personal pizza. note for next time.