Lone Locust Productions

Day: February 12, 2006

  • Pizza Heaven


    Pizza Heaven has recently moved to a new location on 7th Street.

    It’s in one of those previously residential homes that have been converted to a business, and they’ve done a nice job. The move is so recent, the paint was still wet on the walls when we visited.

    It’s a comfortable restaurant, and the staff were friendly and attentive.

    In addition to being a New Times Best of Phoenix winner at some point, their menu brags that Channel 3 awarded them “the cleanest kitchen in the Valley.”

    I like a nice, clean kitchen, but I’d be happier if Channel 3 could come up with something better to say, like “good tasting food” or something.

    That notwithstanding, I really had a good feeling about this pizza by the time it arrived. When it did arrive, it was a beauty. Rarely have I seen a pizza brought to the table that looked so… right.

    After such an auspicious start, it was anti-climactic after that.

    The crust itself was done, but very, very light and insubstantial. It was cooked, but it was airy like a loaf of white bread. It didn’t really add anything to the overall flavor of the pizza.

    The pepperoni was just ordinary. If I had to guess, I’d say it was Hormel, pre-sliced, just like you’d buy at the supermarket. Similarly, the sauce was just ordinary – nothing wrong with it but really nothing to recommend it.

    The cheese finished off a perfect 4 out of 4 ordinaries. It wasn’t particularly flavorful and as the pizza sat for a while, it began to coagulate and breakup like extremely low-fat or imitation cheeses do.

    Completely unremarkable pizza, but it’s a nice place to eat.

    They do have sandwiches, pastas, wings, calzones and sodas. It was such a nice place, I wouldn’t write this place off and will certainly go back and try something else – or maybe even try another pizza.

    The menu says they have wireless internet access too, although pizza sauce splashed on my pristine white iBook would not be a welcome event.

    Pizza Heaven
    5150 N 7th Street
    Phoenix, Arizona
    602.277.8800

    Cost of 12″ Pepperoni pizza: $9.00. Cost per square inch: $0.08 (0.080)

    Conclusion: While I’m not wowed by their pizza, this is a place worth giving a try.

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  • The Popeye’s Song


    We stopped in this Popeye’s Fried Chicken today. It’s one of those newfangled restaurant gas station combinations. That seems like such a great idea to me. We all know how well gasoline goes with just about any kind of food, right?

    The point of this story is that, somewhere in the back, one or more of the employees were singing a song to the tune of The Twelve Days of Christmas.

    They weren’t singing loud enough for me to hear the whole song, but from what I got the final verse went something like this:


    
On the twelfth day of [blah blah] KC asked of me:
    
[blah blah blah]
    
Seven Number 7's
    
[blah blah blah]
    
For the love of god
    
[blah blah blah blah]
    
...and a Number 1 meal, spicy.

    After the big production (one guy sang all 12 verses) I heard him say he was trying for American Idol.

    Here’s a bit of advice: Don’t quit the day job at Popeye’s

    (However, if anybody happens to know the lyrics to this song, post it in the comments.)


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  • These Shoes Were Made For Stomping…


    James got his first pair of shoes today.

    He’s been standing for a while now, and even walking along (sideways) while holding onto things. In the last few days, he’s been taking a couple of unaided steps and so… here he is, stomping away and have a good old time.


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  • Pizza City


    This is two weeks in a row that I’ve eaten in a residential house converted into a pizza place. (The other review has been delayed due to a fact-checking issue and will be posted after this one.)

    Pizza City is a weird little place which is only open 5 days a week: Sun, Tue, Thr, Fri & Sat) and then only for dinner. They’re also open for lunch from Thursday to Saturday.

    Remember to consult your Magic 8 Ball to decide if they’re going to be open when you’re hungry for pizza.

    As always, when I go into these quirky little places, I’m expecting something really special. Chains and upscale fru-fru places rarely have good pizza. It’s the little mom and pop shops where I expect to find the next great pizza.

    This pizza was an extremely near miss. As I was eating it, I felt like I might really like this pizza but for one problem: the entire flavor was overwhelmed by the taste of garlic powder. (Not fresh garlic – the dry stuff.)

    Towards the center, I think I could taste the cheese some, and it wasn’t bad, but everything else was drowned out by the garlic powder.

    When you reached the outer crust, it was exactly like eating a bread stick with garlic powder stuck to it – not a garlic bread stick where the garlic had been melded into the flavor, but just bread with garlic powder poured on it.

    Service was a little slow, but the owner/manager/pizza maker was very friendly but quite busy. Apart from a delivery person he seemed to be the only one working.

    I’m going to give them a second visit in the near future because it’s possible that they just spilled too much garlic powder on the pizza. (Although, my party had two other pizzas and they all reported the exact same thing.) Besides, I need a better picture of the pizza. Apparently the garlic altered the focal properties of the air in the localized vacinity of the pizza. (Or it might be bad photography.)

    Pizza City
    4447 N 7th Ave
    Phoenix, AZ

    602.604.2489

    Cost:10″ Pepperoni, $4.36 or $0.06 per square inch
    (Note: this is one of the cheapest pizzas per square inch I’ve reviewed. It only achieved $0.06 by rounding, the actual cost was $0.055)

    Conclusion: The jury is still out, but if you really like garlic (powder) this might be the pizza for you.

    Stay tuned for a follow-up.


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