Pisanello's Pizza offers best specialty pizza in Bowling Green

Pisanello's pizza offers great specialty pizza.

Located at 203 North Main Street, Pisanello's Pizza has been operating for more than 45 years. Their menu carries all the pizza/pub essentials; including wings, pasta, beer, breadsticks and gourmet speciality pizza's.

My personal favorite is their delicious spinach, alfredo and chicken pizza. This cheese and garlic blend of fresh greens and moist chicken is sure to satisfy any pizza lovers taste. The recipe was created by accident after owner, Jim Anderson, wanted to give Pisanello's an upper hand to the competition.

"I knew a lot of students really liked our actual fettucini alfredo pasta," Anderson said. "So I decided to make it a pizza and add spinach. Within a week, it was our most popular selling pizza."

In my opinion, Pisanello's has the best crust in town and has the best variety of pizza. According to their website, Pisanello's has been voted Bowling Green's best pizzeria since 1992. Other great specialty pizza's Pisanello's offers is the chicken, bacon and ranch.

"It's a nice combination of crispy bacon bits and homemade ranch sauce," Anderson said. "The only difference is, we season the chicken on the bacon and ranch pizza. We also add tomato, onion and a mix of mexican cheese. It's pretty well liked item."

If you're craving a psychedelic atmosphere and a variety of awesome dishes, try Pisanello's pizza and you will surely be amazed.

Myle's taco pizza should stay foreign

Myle's pizza is one of the most popular food establishments in Bowling Green. It currently leads our favorite pizza poll with nearly double the amount that the runner up has. It is a unique thick pizza which makes it stand out from other, flatter pizzas in the area.

In fact, I would say that Myle's pizza is my favorite. The pepperoni pizza just mixes perfectly with Myle's famous red sauce. Feeling bold a few nights ago, I decided to branch away from my regular pepperoni and go for southern (really southern) taste.

I am a fan of taco pizzas, they can be some of the most delicious meals if done right. Campus Pollyeyes, who usually is renowned for their breadsticks and not their pizza, has an awesome taco pizza. Myle's taco pizza, however, does even come close to being able to compete.

The ingredients on Myle's pizza are fine and dandy. As with most pizzas from the restaurant, it is a thick pizza. The cheese, lettuce, and meat are all great. The issue is the sauce.

Instead of something a little more Taco tasting, the pizza still has Myle's signature red sauce, a distinctly Italian tasting sauce. The red sauce just does not mix properly with the lettuce or ground beef. It comes off tasting like it never quite made it across the border to Mexico. In fact, the taste got so lost, it ended up on a completely different continent.

My suggestion for those looking for a Taco pizza? Walk the extra block past Myles' and go to Campus Pollyeyes. It'll treat you much better.

BGSU Dining Services part 2: Founders and Macateria

Bowling Green State University

Last week, I ventured to two of the four dining options offered on the BGSU campus and rated their pizza.. My next post will profile the pizza made by the Macateria and Founders Keepers Food Court.

As a two year employee of Founders, I’ve eaten my fair share of their pizza. In the years past, our pizza was made from processed dough and Hunt’s tomato sauce. With a new head chef and a dining service make over, Founders now has a new tasty piece of pie that will surely satisfy any taste.
This semester Founders head chef, Bret Richards, has decided to start from scratch and conduct a home made dough and sauce.

“After a lot of experimenting, I decided to try different recipes for our pizza,” Richards said. “We started with a tomato puree and fresh basil and garlic to add a more spicy taste than sweet. In the process, I made several different pizzas with different kinds of sauces to see what one students liked best. When we finally decided on one, I wanted to make an equally good dough to compliment the taste."

Founders dough is a thick and soft style crust cooked on a lower temperature. Richards said the low, slower cooking time helps the crust rise and makes for a more deep dish style pizza. A coating of garlic butter is added to the crust before every pizza is cooked.

“I probably make over 60 pizza's a day,” said Colleen Hermes, classified staff member at Founders. “We try to make every pizza the best we can. Chef Bret has measured out the ingredients and toppings so the pizza never changes taste wise.”

Along with a great sauce and crust, Founders also has the most unique flavors of pizza offered on campus. Chicken bacon ranch, buffalo chicken wing, Philly cheese steak and chili dog are all amongst some of their fabulous toppings.

Macateria located in Macdonald residence hall on the west side of campus. It is one of the oldest residence halls on campus and is a good reflection of their pizza. Occupying more than 600 students, Macdonald is the most traditional of all the dinning services. Their menu pretty much stays the same throughout the week and so does their pizza. Even though their pizza isn’t made from scratch, their product is pretty tasty compared to the Falcon’s Nest.

Their sauce is sweeter with a hint of sugar that gives the pizza a slight ketchup taste. You can tell they use canned sauce and processed dough. Corn meal covers the bottom of their crust and gives it a gritty taste. The cheese and toppings are of a low quality and the cheese they use is more than likely grade D. In my opinion I think grade D is a pretty fair estimate for Macateria pizza. The students agree.

“I never want to eat a piece of pizza from Macdonald’s ever again,” said Ciara Eddings, former resident of Macdonald. “They never change any of their toppings and the cheese is terrible tasting. Only time I eat it when there is nothing else better. It’s definitely the worst pizza on campus.”

So there you have it folks. A two part series profiling the pizza on BGSU’s campus. Hopefully with new dining facilities being built, the recipe for the university’s pizza will improve. Until then, take this with you: Enjoy the Sun Dial’s and Founders pizza, it’s the best on campus. For a crispy, thinner piece try The Dial. For deep dish style go to Founders. For a piece of garbage go to the Falcon’s Nest or Macateria. Use what I have told you wisely. And remember, stay cheesy Bowling Green.

BGSU Dining Services offers a Mix of Good and Bad Pizza

On the search for quality pizza, Jason and I decided to take the mission internally. We will be narrowing down the best pizza offered on the BGSU campus. For those of you who are unfamiliar with BGSU's Dining Services, the campus is divided up into four main resident halls with a cafeteria in each facility. Amongst them are; Founders Keepers Food Court, The Sun Dial, The Falcon's Nest and Macateria. While all them offer a variety of food options, one item is always on the menu, pizza.

Each individual dining hall carries a head chef responsible for the recipe of their pizza. During my freshman year, I was lucky enough to have over $1,200 of meal plan money. This means I could eat anywhere on campus and try everything each dining facility had to offer.

At "The Sun Dial" I was able to enjoy a delicious slice of pie that was thin and crispy. Their sauce was of a sweet but peppery blend of herbs and spices. For me, this by far is the best and freshest pizza on campus.

"We serve over 2,000 people a day so we definitely have to keep up on the pizza supply," said Chad Carper, classified manager at The Sun Dial. "Unlike several other dining facilities on campus, our pizza is made from homemade sauce and cooked in a cast iron oven. It gives the crust a lighter but flakier taste many students enjoy."

And students do favor the Sun Dials pizzas. Their pie has become so popular that in 2005 The Sun Dial started taking delivery orders. You may have seen the small electric cars zooming around campus and delivering pizza to all BGSU dorms.

Other dining services such as The Falcon's Nest do not use homemade crust and sauce. Hence Jason and I have crowned The Falcon's nest the worst pizza on campus. The sauce is from a can and taste similar to cafeteria frozen pizza. They also sell their leftover pizza for half price the next day. The Falcon's Nest is over priced and overrated. Try going to other dining facilities for a real piece of pie. It will serve you good.

Papa John's specialty pizza presents tasty alternative

In a town populated with local pizza parlors, Papa John's offers reasonable prices and unique specialties.

Papa John's, founded in 1984 by John Schnatter and originally operated out of a broom closet in Schnatter's fathers tavern, owns franchises in more than 3,100 restaurants in 50 states and 29 countries, according to its website, www.papajohns.com.

According to the site, Schnatter created the business because he felt that "a superior-quality traditional pizza delivered right to the customer's door" was missing from most national chains.
Bowling Green's franchise maintains this mission by offering pizza with seemingly high quality that is competitively priced compared to most of the local pizza slingers.

BG's Papa John's also offers unique deals, such as the free dessert with purchase of any large or extra large pizza. It also often has $10 large pizzas specials.

My current addiction is to the Hawaiian Barbeque Chicken specialty pizza at Papa John's. This delightful pineapple, barbeque sauce and chicken pizza is a tasty alternative to the typical pizza sauce drenched pies.

If you are looking to step outside your normal pizza, the Hawaiian Barbeque Chicken from Papa Johns is highly recommended. Though the Hawaiian Barbeque Chicken is a bit pricier than the regular larges, it is certainly worth the money. With the dessert combo, you can pick up a large and a cinnapie, icing covered cinnamon breadsticks, for around 15 bucks, a substantial amount of food for the price.

When I'm not in the mood for a saucy slice of Myles, Papa Johns is often my go to choice.

Marco's pizza delivers inexpensive pizzas

One of the things I've learned as a college student is that I and most of the people I know can be pretty lazy. If I am in the mood for pizza, I will order it for delivery even if it would save me money to pick it up. Little Caesars offers a cheap pizza, but the downside is that you have to actually go get it. That is where Marco's Pizza comes in. It offers a similarly priced (and quality) pizza as Little Caesars but with the option for delivery.

So when I want to save money on pizza, but I also don't want to drive anywhere, I turn to Marco's. It is slightly more expensive than Little Caesar's but still significantly cheaper than a large pizza at any other place in town. A large one topping pizza at Marco's only costs $5.99.

Marco's also gets my appreciation because an employee there was very helpful when we were taking photos for the slideshow. All of the other pizza places were very hesitant about letting us take photos inside their stores. The manager at Little Caesar's actually told me that I couldn't take any photos because they didn't want their trade secrets leaking to their competition.

When I went to Marco's, not only did the employee want to help, she actually invited me behind the counter to take photos while she made a pizza. Here are some extra photos from Marco's, which did not make it in to the slideshow.

New Domino's pizza as bad as old Domino's pizza

If you have been out of the pizza loop, you may not have realized that Domino's pizza reinvented their pizza by changing the ingredients. This move, which happened in December of 2009, changed the crust, the cheese and the sauce. In an article on USAToday.com, Domino's marketing chief Russell Weiner stated that the change was made because "[Domino's wasn't] winning against everyone on taste."

I have to agree with that statement. Old Domino's was the bottom of the pizza barrel, but how do the new ingredients fare?

For the sake of honest it is important to point out that of the major chains, Domino's has been my least favorite for as long as I can remember. I hadn't even had the urge to try their new pizza in the year that is has been out. Motivated by this blog, I decided it was time to give the company another chance.

I picked up a medium, hand-tossed pepperoni pizza with the hope of being amazed, but I ended up just being disappointed. The new ingredients might be different, but different doesn't mean good. The crust was less like cardboard, but the sauce and the cheese were a new kind of bland. The new garlic crust felt slimy, giving the whole pizza a very cheap feel.

All in all, Domino's new pizza just doesn't work. It might be improvement, but the scale is only moving from god-awful to just awful. I'd much rather drop $5 at Little Caesar's than the $8.99 I spent on Domino's.

Dunk! Dip! Douse! What's your favorite dipping sauce?

In 1991, a Papa John's executive chef wanted to come up with a new and tasty side-kick for pizza. He started with garlic, threw in some parmesan cheese and what he got was Papa John's garlic dipping sauce. A lot of people are unsure if Papa John's was the inventor of garlic butter, but there's no doubt it's a tasty complement. Other pizza franchises are jumping on the bandwagon coming up with new and unique dipping sauce flavors. I went to Little Caesars on North Main St. to check out their sauce selections. What I found, is an incredible display of 15 different flavors. From buffalo ranch to sweet-honey BBQ, Little Caesars had their sauce selection up to par. I also noticed small bags of seasoning that could be purchased for .59 and came with a free coupon for a sauce. Pizza by itself is tasty, however there is nothing wrong with trying to take it up a notch. After all, what would vanilla ice cream be without chocolate syrup? Milk without cereal? You never know until you try something new!

Best bang for your buck in BG? Little Caesars Pizza!

Here ye here ye all my fellow broke college students! Looking for a tasty piece of pie that won't milk you dry? Then you need to hit up Little Caesars Pizza located at 1068 N Main St.

Though a nationwide pizza franchise, Little Caesars Pizza was the brainchild of brothers Mike and Marian Ilitch. First opened in 1959, Little Caesars started in Garden City Michigan as a small local pizzeria. To this day, it's still a family-owned and operated business.

"The Little Caesars in Bowling Green opened last year and since then, profits have been through the roof," said BG Little Caesars manager, Ken Richman. "I knew it (Little Caesars) was going to be big here. With the college kids and the number of families, how couldn't it be?"

Take notice of the caption title, "Best bang for your buck." While the product quality (corn meal and canned sauce) is of very low-grade, the pizza is average. But what does set Little Caesars apart from the competition, is their fantastic Crazy Bread. Soft, warm and covered in garlic butter, nothing says cheap and good like Little Caesars Crazy Bread. For only $7, you can get a large one item pizza and an order of Crazy Bread with dipping sauce.

"The Hot n' Ready combo deal is genius," said BGSU student Kim Irvin. "I don't know how I would have survived of couple of nights. You can feed yourself for at least two days."

Broke, hungry or just looking for some Crazy Bread, Little Caesars will give you a quality product for a fair price. In these hard times, budgeting is important, but if you still want to eat good and have save money doing it, The Little Caesar’s is the joint for you.

Myle's pizza takes the pie in Bowling Green Ohio!

If you ever find yourself hungry in the Bowling Green area, get a piece of pie at Myle's pizza, located at 516 East Wooster Street. Known for their stacked toppings and delicious sauce, Myle's has been a BG hot spot since 1974. This is one pizza pit that will leave you begging for more...maybe.

"There pizza is ridiculously filling," said Josh Myers. "I ate one piece and I am already full. We got a large pepperoni and only three pieces are missing. I think I'm going to eat it cold for breakfast tomorrow."

Jason and I are awarding Myles's pizza and pub best pizza pig-out in Bowling Green. Not only is the pizza delicious, their toppings are cooked raw right on the pizza. If you find yourself craving a carnivorous feast, check out my personal favorite, the spicy Italian. Loaded high with sausage, pepperoni, ham and salami, the spicy Italian is a packed full of pepery, hardy goodness.

"I can honestly say, the spicy Italian literally makes me happy," said Nickole Bollini. "There is just something about the assortment flavors that is sooo pleasing. If you're a fan of spicy, meaty pizza, the spicy Italian is your best bet."

From salads to subs, Myle's does everything over the top. The local franchise is also known for having some killer tomato bread and garlic cheese bread. But remember, always get it open-faced.

"Open-faced means they cut it in half and throw two big hand fulls of cheese in the middle," said Torrie Kurt. "After they douse it in cheese, they bake it golden brown and serve it with warm marinara sauce. It's definitely a mandatory appetizer."

So there you have it folks: Myles's pizza in Bowling Green Ohio! Cheesy in BGeezy's number one best pizza parlor in town. But don't think we're done yet, there is plenty of other great pizza post just around the corner!