Attempt #82 - Paul Revere's Pizza

Venue

The Venue

47 Kirkwood Ct SW
Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
(319) 399-1500

Venue Inside

This restaurant is a popular spot among those on the Westdale side of Cedar Rapids. Several from Kirkwood Community College stop in the enjoy the pizza. The restaurant itself does not have much seating, so this attempt was taken into a home. The staff at Paul Revere's were friendly and offered to make us pizzas from their Chicago style stuffed lunch menu pizzas. Additionally, specialties like the meatball and their own cooked beef brisket are off-menu items that have to be requested. The also do ribs, pasta, sandwiches, and salads. So pretty much anything you could possibly want!

The Pizza

Chicago Style: Yes (by special request)

Crust Thickness: Thick -to- Average

Menu: http://paulreverespizza.com/menu/

Participants: 13 (plus 10 children)

Pizza Ordered: 7

Sizes Offered/Ordered: XL (14”), Terminator was 22”, Deep Dish was 14”
Crusts Offered/Ordered: Standard Average Crust (Chicago Style Stuffed by special request)

Pizza Bags

Pieces Cut: Triangle-Shaped

Deluxe – Sausage, pepperoni, beef, mushroom, onion, green peppers, extra cheese, XL 16” crust

Mexicali – Taco bean sauce, sausage, beef, onion (usually include jalapenos), XL 16” crust

Spicy BBQ Brisket – BBQ/Sriracha mix, homemade smoked BBQ brisket, jalapenos, mozzarella & pepper jack, XL 16” crust

Meatball – Pasta sauce, garlic seasoning, meatball, Italian sausage, onion, mild Giardiniera, XL 16” crust

2x Chicago Stuffed Pepperoni & Sausage – Pepperoni, Italian sausage, mozzarella, pepper jack, 14” crust

The Verdict

Pizza Spread

Sauce: The sauce had good consistency and taste. I felt the stuffed pizzas certainly beat out Sam's pizza (who's sauce was too sweet).

Cheese: Loved the pepper jack blended into the Chicago style pizza's!

Crust: The crust edges on all the pizzas was perfect, chewy and bready. Just the way I like it.

Toppings: The toppings varied from pizza. I felt like the classics were a hit, as well as the Mexicalli. The meatball wasn't a favorite of mine, and the brisket was a bit sweet.

Final Comments/Considerations: With seven pizza's, its hard to write an overall review. The cost was within normal budget. The most surprising thing to me is that the Chicago stuffed pizza's weren't on their normal menu. By FAR, this was the favorite among those in the group. The sauce and cheese was right on, and the pizza held up with being set to the bend test. This is something they should strongly consider. Some of the specialty flavors were unique to some of our participants, however, others really enjoyed the variation. The Deluxe was a requested pizza which was one that was not finished for instance; whereas the Mexicali, terminator, and stuff pizzas were nearly gone. If you have a big group, I recommend a terminator or (if you can get a Chicago stuff pizza request in) a Chicago stuff pizza.

BBQ Brisket, 16 Inch XL

Here are our ratings, where 1 = worst and 10 = best.
Overall 7.96

Cheese 7.43

Sauce 8.00

Topping 8.25

Crust 8.57

Venue N/A

Favorite: Chicago Style Pepperoni & Sausage

Mexicali, 16 Inch XL

Deluxe, 16 Inch XL

Specialty Meatball, 16 Inch XL

Terminator, Pepperoni Cheese 22 Inch

Chicago Style II, Pepperoni, Italian Sausage, 14 Inch

Attempt #81 - Zaydo's Pizza

Venue Order Counter

The Venue

3981 Center Point Rd NE

Cedar Rapids, IA 52402
(319) 200-4488

Menu

This restaurant is located inside Burgerfein. It is a primarly burger joint with a separate add-on room for wood fired pizza. The room has about 9 4 person tables with 3 large TV's hanging up. There is a Order and pickup counter present to place your order. No booth seating, only tables. The drinks and bathrooms are located on the Burgerfein section of the restaurant. The staff was helpful and honest. One thing stood out, was there was no mention of tips, nor a tip on the receipt. Maybe they are mimicking Europe's style?

The Pizza

Chicago Style: No

Crust Thickness: Thin

Menu: https://www.facebook.com/pg/zaydoCR/menu/?ref=page_internal

Participants: 6 (plus 1 child)

Pizza Ordered: 6

Sizes Offered/Ordered: Small (11”)
Crusts Offered/Ordered: Standard Thin Crust

Pieces Cut: Triangle-Shaped

Pepperoni $7.99

Gyro $10.99

Chicken Bacon Ranch $8.99

Taco $10.99

Hawaiian $9.99

Pesto $10.99

Chicken Alfredo $10.99

Buffalo Chicken $8.99

The Verdict

Sauce: The sauce had good consistency.

Cheese: Average.

Crust: The rim was chewy and the pizza was not bone crispy dry that you'd expect from stone fired pizza places. Great sunrise. This exceeded my expectations!

Toppings: The toppings quantity was average.

Final Comments/Considerations: For me, I preferred the slightly spicy pepperoni. The gyro didn't have enough meat on it, I wasn't a fan of the cream sauce pizzas. The buffalo chicken had a nice spicy zip to it! Overall this place impressed me, its reasonably priced and quick turnaround. I would give it a try.

Here are our ratings, where 1 = worst and 10 = best.Overall 8.50

Cheese 9.17

Sauce 7.65

Topping 8.50

Crust 8.492

Venue 9.33

Favorite: Chicken Bacon Ranch

Buffalo Chicken $8.99

Chicken Alfredo $10.99

Chicken Bacon Ranch $8.99

Pesto $10.99

Taco $10.99

Hawaiian $9.99

Pepperoni $7.99

Gyro $10.99

Slices

Attempt # 80 - Aroma Artisan Pizza

Venue

The Venue

1100 3^rd St SE

Cedar Rapids, IA 52401
(319) 200-4050

This restaurant is located in the heart of New Bo City Market. They are open on Thursdays-Sundays. This location is where we once tried Maggie's Pizza Farm, which has since moved down to Iowa City. Now it is time to try Aroma's. Just like our previous attempt, you can eat your meal out in the tables on the food court side of the NewBo city market. During the week, the traffic is pretty light, but on the weekend you might expect a wait. There are several other shops and ethnic food you can also purchase. One of the rules I heard is that you should buy from the local vendors. So in the case of the Salame Picante, the meat was sourced from the small butcher next aisle over.

The Pizza

Chicago Style: No

Menu

Crust Thickness: Thin

Menu: http://www.urbanpieup.com/urban-pie-menu/

Participants: 6 (plus 1 child)

Pizza Ordered: 6

Sizes Offered/Ordered: Small (10”)
Crusts Offered/Ordered: Standard Crust

Pieces Cut: Triangle-Shaped

Bianca Chicken $12

Carmelized Onion and Bleu Cheese $12

Hawaiian $12

Margherita $12

Pepperoni $12

Prosciutto $13

Salame Picante $13.50

The Verdict

Sauce: The sauce very light. This caused the pizza to be drier than normal.

Cheese: Light.

Crust: Had some dried crispy ends, where other pizzas had bready crust rim's. Seemed inconsistent due to the nature of the fire brick oven.

Toppings: The toppings quantity was light.

Final Comments/Considerations: I tended to prefer the basic pizza's. The Bleu cheese was too overpowering, but some bites with the onion, made it quite good. The prosciutto had a sweet and salty taste to the pizza. This was the overwhelming crowd favorite. The hawaiian was okay, could have used more pineapple and ham though. The salame picante had unique flavors, which didn't mend as well with me personally, but others seemed to enjoy it. Overall, this place is okay to try, but you might want to look elsewhere if you are looking to impress an out-of-towner.

Here are our ratings, where 1 = worst and 10 = best.Overall 8.08 Cheese 8.08 Sauce 7.67 Topping 8.58 Crust 8.42 Venue N/A Favorite: Prosciutto

Carmelized Onion and Bleu Cheese $12

Bianca Chicken $12

Hawaiian $12

Margherita $12

Pepperoni $12

Prosciutto $13

Salame Picante $13.50

Attempt #79 - Urban Pie

Venue-Outside

The Venue

1130 7^th Ave.

Marion, IA 52302
(319) 200-2399

This restaurant recently is opened in the Marion city. Originally from Cedar Falls, this is their second location. Their slogan is Fast Wood Fired Pizza. They were right about that. It didn't take long for them to get our orders processed.

The waiter was polite and met our needs accordingly. No reservations needed for a Monday night, the Marion location has two stall shops right next to each other in the Marion town square. In the first room (“stall”) The open concept kitchen occupies half of the space and the remaining space is for low seating tables. The second room (“stall”) has a bar area, some low seating tables, and several high seating tables. The place is kid friendly, with a dart board and bowling game in the back of the second room. Plenty of room for a group of 15.

Venue-Inside

The Pizza

Chicago Style: No

Crust Thickness: Thin

Menu: http://www.urbanpieup.com/urban-pie-menu/

Participants: 10 (plus 5 children)

Pizza Ordered: 14

Sizes Offered/Ordered: Small (10”), Medium (12”), Large (16”)
Crusts Offered/Ordered: Standard Crust

Pieces Cut: Triangle-Shaped

Supreme - House Blend Cheese, Marinara, Pico De Gallo, Steak ($8.95)

Goat Herder - Goat Cheese, Fresh Mozzarella, Spicy Marinara, Tomato, Artichoke ($8.95)

Meat Mountain - House Blend Cheese, Marinara, Sausage, Pepperoni, Ham, Bacon ($8.95)

Lilly's Luau - House Blend Cheese, Marinara, Ham, Pineapple, Banana Peppers ($8.95)

Menu 1

Philly Cheese Steak - House Blend Cheese, Cheddar Cheese Sauce, Steak, Onion, Green Pepper, A1 Drizzle ($8.95)

Street Taco - House Blend Cheese, Marinara, Pico De Gallo, Steak ($8.95)

Cheddar Wurst - House Blend Cheese, Marinara, Black & Green Olives, Basil, Artichokes, Garlic, Balsamic Drizzle ($8.95)

Farm Boy - House Blend Cheese, Bbq Sauce, Pulled Chicken, Red Onion, Sweet Baby Ray's, House Blend Cheese ($8.95)

2x Mac Daddy - House Blend Cheese, Macaroni & Cheese, & Bacon ($8.95)

CBR – House Blend Cheese, Alfredo Sauce, Chicken, Bacon, Green Pepper, Mushroom, Ranch Drizzle ($8.95)

Greek Goddess - House Blend Cheese, Marinara, Black & Green Olives, Basil, Artichokes, Garlic, Balsamic Drizzle (8.95)

2x Pepperoni - Pepperoni ($8.95)

The Verdict

Menu 2

Sauce: The sauce average. Light on most pizzas to support the fire baked thin crust.

Cheese: Average.

Crust: Baked well in the fire brick oven.

Toppings: The toppings quality was good, but the quantity was light.

Final Comments/Considerations: The Philly Cheesesteak pizza was the best one I've personally had. Although it may not look appetizing on the page, it truly was in person. One participant commented that it tasted better than the real thing! The flavors blended VERY well together. As for their best seller- the Meat Mountain – it was okay, Nothing too great though. The plain pepperoni pizza was too salty. The Taco had an interesting bite of freshness with the fresh Pico de Gallo. Overall, the place is worth a try. You can even build your own pizza based off whatever you desire.

Here are our ratings, where 1 = worst and 10 = best. Overall 8.31 Cheese 7.55 Sauce 7.45 Topping 8.36 Crust 8.73 Venue 8.64 Favorite: Philly Cheesesteak

CBR, $8.95

Farm Boy, $8.95

Goat Herder, $8.95

Greek Goddess, $8.95

Mac Daddy, $8.85

Meat Mountain, $8.95

Supreme, $8.95

Lilly's Luau, $8.95

Philly Cheesesteak, $8.95

Street Taco, $8.95

Slices

Attempt #78 - The Mill

Venue - Outside

The Venue

120 E Burlington St,

Iowa City, IA 52240
(319) 351-9529

This restaurant was founded in 1962 in the heart of Iowa City. It is a local venue for various bands, among various genres. The rustic atmosphere has no sports games on the TV (which is unusual now-a-days), and instead had Harry Potter playing on TV. LOTS of seating in the back, with booths, bar, and table seating. They even have outdoor seating with ivy growing overhead. The staff were friendly, but they were on the slow side in terms of getting our pizzas out to us.

The Pizza

Chicago Style: No

Crust Thickness: Average

Menu: http://icmill.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/summer-2017-menu-8_25_17-pg1-e1504374963362.png

Venue - Inside

Participants: 7

Pizza Ordered: 4

Sizes Offered/Ordered: Small (10”), Medium (12”), Large (16”)
Crusts Offered/Ordered: Standard Crust

Pieces Cut: Triangle-Shaped

Pepperoni - $15.50 (16”)

Classic – Italian Sausage, Pepperoni, Mushroom, White Onion, and Mozzarella on red pizza sauce, $20 (16”).

Iowa Waltz – Bacon, Granny Smith Apple, Walnuts, Asiago, Mozzarella, Blue Cheese, and honey on an olive oil thin crust, $16 (12”).

Hickory Hill – Bacon, Ground Beef, Tomato, White Onion, Mozzarella, Cheddar, and pickles on a mustardy red sauce, $20 (16”).

The Menu

The Verdict

Sauce: The sauce was great. Just the right amount with lots of flavor.

Cheese: Decent. Nothing to write home about though. The Wisconsin gourmet pizza looked like a good contestant for having the most variety of cheeses. Sadly, this was not chosen for the attempt.

Crust: Baked well. The olive oil thin crust was noticeably distinct from the standard average classic crust.

Toppings: The toppings quantity was good, but the quality was average. Nothing gourmet,but lots of interesting combinations (granny smith apples).

Final Comments/Considerations: This pizza impressed me compared to Mesa and the Wedge. I expected the pizza to be much more like standard bar pizza-but this place was better. The sauce was much better than the past few attempts. The pizzas all tasted good. However, the classic was by far the best of the bunch. The staff suggested since it was the best seller. No doubt! We choose this as our favorite also. The others just had something that held them back. Mainly, the flavors didn't jive as well as the Classic favors. The next time you are at the Mill, give their pizza a try!

Here are our ratings, where 1 = worst and 10 = best.Overall 8.00 Cheese 8.43 Sauce 7.29 Topping 7.29 Crust 6.86 Venue 8.86 Favorite: Classic

Classic, 16 Inch, $20

Hickory Hill, 16 Inch, $20

Pepperoni, 16 Inch, $15.50

Iowa Waltz, 12 Inch, $16

Slices