pamparius

Pamparius on tour!

pamparius — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 20:02:00 +0000

Hey pizza dudes and pizza dudettes, the boys from Pamparius are going on a small little tour down to Florida and back. Handi and Grant will be playing with Virginia Beach post-punk band Constrictor as they blow their load all over Orlando, Gainesville and Chapel Hill. We will of course be stopping at the raddest pizza places along the way, so if you’ve got suggestions, we suggest you hand them over.

Check us out!

aug 26 2010

10:00p

The Reservoir w/ Colossus

carrboro, north caro

aug 28 2010

9:00p

The Junkyard w/ Savage Brewtality, Spanish Gamble

gainesville, florida

aug 27 2010

10:00p

Warehouse party

orlando, FL

find us!

Best Friend’s Day Weekend Pizza Mash-Up

pamparius — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 03:58:18 +0000

Best Friend’s Day 9 has come and gone, and left all of us in an exhausted daze, hungover from shitty beer and too much pizza. If you are one of those folks who didn’t attend then I’m afraid you missed out on a lot of fun, sans the Hadad’s Hepatitis piss pool, even though some great bands played the spot this year. The Waste/AWK/Propagandhi show blew the fuck up and was well worth the $20 price of admission. Rock.

In the spirit of the weekend I got to enjoy some pizza with my friends, something everyone should have been doing. The usual stop at 8 1/2 left me surprised for once as the crust seemed to have changed a little bit. Perhaps they just cooked the pie longer than normal because the crust was a little tougher than normal, but my basil/capers pie left me craving more capers.

Superman that dough!

I was also able to try out 3325 West Cafe’s thin crust pizza. The pizza as a whole is pretty disappointing. The crust is essentially a crispy tortilla which is fine. It’s a pretty unique approach to pizza and isn’t inherently bad, but the cheese is awful. In fact, I would consider none of the components of the pizza to be “good,” and at around $9 for such a small pie, the value just isn’t there.

Birthday boy Andy has been traveling out west all week and should have a ton of legit pizza prose for us this week.

McDonald’s Pizza

pamparius — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 23:32:56 +0000

No, no. This is nothing new. Nothing you can actually buy anymore. McDonald’s actually dipped it’s toe in the pizza market in the early/mid 90′s and failed miserably. Check out this commercial.

As awesome as the commercial is, you could never, EVER expect this stuff to be any good. Sure, I enjoy a little McDouble every now and then. You can’t deny it’s addicting, sweet smells and unique, albeit disgusting flavors. However, the same probably couldn’t be said have their pie.

Listverse said:

“The company and its frachisees were left on the hook for expensive new ovens and widened drive through windows that weren’t needed. Even saturation marketing wasn’t enough to change the pizza habits of ordinary Americans, and McPizza was gradually abandoned, and generally forgotten. Why did this product fail? In short, people didn’t associate McDonald’s with pizza and they could get better pizza elsewhere.”

Apparently, pizza is still sold at McDonald’s locations in Orlando, FL and Spencer, WV.

I think Andy’s band is touring down in Orlando in a couple of weeks. Road trip anyone?

Fat ass slice

pamparius — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 20:36:59 +0000

Breakfast Pizza @ Strange Matter

pamparius — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 20:32:59 +0000

Strange Matter has only been getting better and better as the year goes by. Better food, better menu, better arcades (even if 1945 Strikers II is on a sideways Zenith tv from 1994) and a cute wait-staff.

Their breakfast pizza is quite alright too.

Granted, it’s just pita bread with egg, bacon, sausage, spinach and tomato, but at $7 it’s a pretty satisfying breakfast.

Squirrely Pizza

pamparius — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 20:23:37 +0000

A sweet suite at the Richmond Flying Squirrels game + free beer + free pizza = pretty awesome, even if baseball is the most boring sport on earth.

The pie was downright the worst pizza I’ve ever had. It’s not even up there with Tombstone, or even Kroger brand frozen pizza. The cheese closely resembled some type of cheese flavored gelatin instead of mozzarella, and the crust was very soft and chewy throughout.

Alas, it was free and I can’t really complain. Just don’t buy this shit by any means!

Pizza Face

pamparius — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 20:17:45 +0000

Sikk

pamparius — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 19:51:38 +0000

PIZZA DANCE

pamparius — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 20:10:06 +0000

wtf?

The Intoxicating La Bella Napoli

pamparius — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 01:08:28 +0000

Generally, when traveling, one seeks to either expand or directly engage their interests, thus, during my stay in Barcelona, I thought it compulsory to find some genuine pizza. Ultimately one of my more memorable, meal-oriented moments in Barcelona was my experience at La Bella Napoli, which seems to be the only overtly Neapolitan pizza establishment in the city.

Though its location is just off the major Parallel Avenue, the building is tucked away in such a way that one might miss it entirely if strolling around by night. The establishment seems to benefit from this location however, because they catch plenty of business while also avoiding the mad throngs throughout the city’s other main drags (it was never terribly busy the two times we visited).

Pizza is certainly pronounced in their menu, but they also offer appealing pastas and appetizers along with a moderately priced wine and bear list, as well as coffee and dessert. We began the meal with Catalonian beers and a formidable ball of buffalo mozzarella, which was also served with fresh tomatoes, arugula and a touch of olive oil. This mozzarella, in addition to the mozz served on the pizza, was certainly the best buffalo mozz I have experienced thus far: great texture and moisture ratio (i.e. no too wet) and a rich and mildly gamy taste. On our second visit we also ordered the very popular fish fry that one can find throughout the city (small, fried fish which one eats in their entireties).

The pizzas were not short of fantastic. The pies accorded with the traditional, ‘oven kissed,’ modestly topped Neapolitan way (in lieu of aggressive charring due to longer exposure high temp/coal or wood fired ovens). The crust had the wonderful, rich and fermented flavor of naturally leavened bread and the toppings were top quality. The pies were soupy in the center and lent themselves to consumption entirely with fork and knife. The combination of proper temperature, flavor ratios, and the semi-soupy centers to the contrasting cornicone/rim/crumb textures, produced a dynamic and almost exotic tasting. We ordered four pies twice and one additional pie on the second visit: the Eduardo (buffalo mozz, cherry tomatoes, basil), Napoletana (mozz, tomato sauce, basil, capers,), Carbonara (mozz, spec, and finished with an semi runny egg), the Four Seasons/Quatro Stagiones (buffalo mozz, tomato sauce, olives, mushrooms, artichokes, prosciutto), and on the second occasion, we ordered an additional pie that consisted of buffalo mozz and walnuts. All the pies featured a touch of olive oil and sea salt.

The servers offered a flavorful, chili/red pepper infused oil to use while eating the pizzas that a few of us used to finish up the crusts. The wood-fired pizza oven itself is a spectacle, sporting the notable pizza pulcinella mask. During each visit, I devoured the pizza in a seemingly famished fashion. Rest assured, however, that I was sufficiently fed the entire trip.

Had our experiences ended with the pizza, we would have remained beyond satisfied, but, on our first visit, a particular dessert across the room caught my eye which I had not seen or had (legitimately) in some time. Upon receiving dessert menus, I confirmed that they offered profiteroles, which we then promptly ordered. Profiteroles are dessert puff pastries served with a cold, cream product inside (not quite ice-cream, but something similar) and then topped with melted chocolate-this is a dessert which I have not found once domestically, rather, only a few pathetic attempts which have never come close to the target. It’s safe to say that these were fantastic and I could not have been happier or more gastronomically stimulated.

If you find yourself in Barcelona, I highly recommend seeking out an anomalous meal and visiting La Bella Napoli; their cappuccinos are also on-point.

-Nathan