Salad Days

I live in Texas, and in Texas a pizza is whatever the chains will deliver to your door in 20 minutes or less. I've always known they weren't exactly haute cuisine but pizza is pizza, right?

But then I saw a Youtube video (see below) illustrating the proper way to make a Chicago-style deep-dish pizza and my eyes were not only opened but my mouth got all kinda slobbery, too. I summarily decided I had to have one of these babies. A quick Google search revealed three restaurants within driving distance that offer the deep-dish variety and so this past weekend Beloved Girlfriend and I visited one of them, Pizza by Alex, in downtown Garland.

The exterior was from the "blink twice and you'll miss it" school of architecture and the service was amusingly inept ("Oh, look, Honey. ANOTHER bread plate.") but the pizza itself was an astonishing sight to behold, not to mention consume. It was a bargain, too, at $14 for a pie large enough to bathe a small dog in. (I have to admit that I somewhat marred the pristine cheesiness of the dish by requesting extra toppings. I will not make this mistake again.)

More importantly, while we were scanning the menu I saw Beloved Girlfriend's eyes go wide with astonishment. It seems that Pizza by Alex offers Caprese salads, a dish unknown to me and one that neither of us has found on a menu in 14+ years of dining out. In case you don't know, it's nothing more than slices of tomato alternated with slices of fresh mozzarella, lightly drenched in olive oil (Edit: plus leaves of fresh basil) but OH. MY. CTHUHLU was it good!

Now go find some now! Seriously! I mean it! Go! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

=Lefty=

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America's Test Kitchen makes a Chicago-style deep-dish pizza.

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And our Chart of the Day: Things That People Like More Than Congress


Larger version here.

=Lefty=