Pamparius has NO FRIENDS

Here at pamparius, we are into all things rad. When we heard No Friends was playing the bike lot, we knew we had to attend. Not only were we delighted with a night of BMX spectating, loud, obnoxious rock’n'roll and tons of cheap beer, we were able to get a few words with Richard, drummer from No Friends and his thoughts on pizza. The interview was imprompto and hardly recorded in a way fit for posterity, but it went something like this:

Pamparius: Why do you have a pizza drawn on your snare head?

Richard: Because pizza is my life!

Pamparius: What makes pizza your life?

Richard: I delivered pizzas for 10 years.

Pamparius: Who did you deliver for?

Richard: Papa Johns

Pamparius: Ah that fucking sucks man!

Richard: Ya it does but it was the only way to tour.

Pamparius: Well what do you think of Papa John’s pizza?

Richard: It’s bland as shit – BUT – the ingredients are fresh, bland but fresh.

Pamparius: What was cool about working at Papa John’s?

Richard: Me, Sam(Guitar) and Alex(Bass) worked in an Orlando Papa John’s all at the same time.

Pamparius: Holy shit, that must have been crazy. What was the craziest thing you guys ever did?

Richard: One time we made an 18 foot long breadstick. Everyone had to hold it up. It was so long that it went over the make line and all the way into the lobby.

Pamparius: Haha, awesome, have you had any pizza on the tour at  all yet?

Richard: Ya but it was all pretty shitty.

Pamparius: Where was your favorite?

Richard: Some place in Raleigh, they made organic pizza.

Pamparius: What is your favorite pizza place ever?

Richard: Anthony’s Adriatic pizza is out of this world Adriatic pizza in Orlando.

Pamparius: We will have to check that out. If you could sum up the tour with one sentence what would it be?

Richard: Not enough pizza, actually, fueled by pizza…

*brief hesitation*

Richard: …and mexican food.

No Friends just finished up their East Coast dates with Deep Sleep and their EP ‘Traditional Failures’ is available for free on their myspace

Suffering for your craft

Sometimes I wonder if eating so much pizza is the right lifestyle decision.  One day I’d like to have kids, be a successfulm respectable adult, and turn into a crazy old grandpa that gets to yell everything on my mind at the top of my lungs.  ”Oh he’s just senile,” they’ll say as they hold doors open for me and my Rascal scooter.  Oh, and I’ve always dreamed of having several young men rush to my door to help me off the ground when “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.”

But I also love Pizza.  Yes, I capitalized it.  It is the food that makes me the happiest in the world.  I celebrate every joyous occasion in my life with pizza from the mundane to the extraordinary.  There is a Devils game on cable television tonight and to celebrate the rare occasion that I don’t have to watch hockey on a 640×480 resolution internet feed, I will consume an entire pizza of my choice.

However, some things I do not out of my desire to consume but instead I do less satisfying things in the hopes that this blog will one day become something bigger than just a small pizza blog with 80 hits a day.

Today I decided to see how well the kids at VCU are eating.   Their pizza, in particular.  You see, I graduated from VCU last year and I never ate too much of the pizza that was served throughout campus.  It can get pretty fucking bad I tell you, and if you’re a student then I probably don’t have to tell you.  On the Monroe Park campus I know of three places where pizza can be purchased with meal plans and dining dollars;  Shaffer Court dining center, The Commons and the first floor of Shaffer Court.

The Commons serves up this stuff called Bene Pizza.  I don’t know much about Bene other than how shitty the pizza was, and apparently still is horrible.  For $2.50 (plus tax) you can get a greasy, sloppy slice of pepperoni pizza.  You know that weird, addicting, McDonald’s-like sugary, oily taste that is greased all over Pizza Hut’s pizzas?  That what this thing has.  The aroma is oddly pleasant, but not in a desirable way at all.  The cheese sucks and the crust is even worse.  In fact, the crust ends look full, plump and full of chewy goodness inside.  Its all air!  You’re really only eating two sides of really flat, stale crust, separated by lots of oven air.  I remember only eating this shit when I had to…when Subway was closed and I had to spend the remnants of my parent’s dining dollars.

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one more reason not to go to short pump

LEDO Pizza & Pasta.  Their concept is simple.  ”…to provide high quality food at a great value in a comfortable, family atmosphere.”  Sounds like I’ve got a real generic stomach ache ahead…

My boss kept telling me that Ledo Pizza is the best pizza he’s had in town.  ”Everything else tastes the same to me, except this place,” he says, so I took off work a little early today to check out Ledo’s and to kill some Christmas shopping at the same time.

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Romanza, the New Feel Good Hit

Last Friday we embarked on our first ever Pizza Crawl with the dudes from Carytown Bicycle Company, and while 8 1/2 stole the show, Romanza in the Jackson Ward was definately the surprise hit of the evening.

So last night I was on a cheap pizza kick and didn’t want to bother with Chanello’s or Asante’s Pizza, so Romanza was the logical choice.

And it’s better than those two.

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Arianna's Pizza, Sheppard

I’ve always known that the same family owned Piccola’s and Mary Angela’s, but I’ve only recently learned that the same family has sort of a monopoly on pizza pie in Richmond, owning not just these two overpriced joints but also Pronto’s, Maldini’s and Arianna’s. I only hope they aren’t all equally as bad as Piccola has recently been.

My first and only experience with Arianna’s was a pretty annoying one. I went there with a friend about two years ago and we got some pretty good pizza, but the service was so horrible, so god awful, that the server earned less than a dollar tip. My friend and I felt we were treated as if we weren’t going to be able to afford to leave a good tip because of the way we were dressed. Everyone else dining in that night seemed to be dressed up fairly nice and us, with jeans and t-shirts, don’t look like kids that can afford to leave a tip.

Or maybe the server was just a dick.

I went to Arianna’s more recently and the service was much, much better. The pizza? Pretty good. Not great. The crust was kind of dead and tough, just didn’t have any flavor. The good part was the cheese and the sauce. Very good stuff but unfortunately, it’s just too expensive for such a mediocre pie. A good crust means everything, and a bad crust will crush even the best flavors that sit on top.

-g

Valentino's Pizza, Grace St.

true dat!

Valentino’s on Grace St. is sometimes a bit too intimidating to check out.  The building nor the area are very inviting, but the pizza is pretty damn good.

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DaVinci's, Brooklyn Park

Just when we think we’re running out of new pizza parlors to visit, we get the word of promising pie joints.  Sometimes in not so promising areas.

A friend of mine hints at a place she’s heard people talking about in a particularly crummy area of Northside along Brooklyn Park called DaVinci’s.  The place is a take-out only, traditional pizza and subs, hole in the wall type of pizza joint.

The pizza?  Pretty damn on point.

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Monday Night Pizza Deals

Monday nights at Extreme Pizza on Broad St., $1 slices and $1 cups of PBR.  Also, pitchers of PBR are $5.  The pizza ain’t half bad either.

Check it out.

Extreme Pizza is a pretty decent pizza joint, offering lots of different specialty pizzas and cooking them in their own style.  They’ve got beer on tap too.  When I first moved to Richmond, this is the only place I knew where to get decent pizza.  I haven’t eaten there in well over a year, but their Monday night deal is a steal.

-gRant

Just a side note.  Extreme Pizza is a franchise, as it obviously appears.  But it happens to be the only one on the East Coast.  The first time I ate Extreme Pizza was at the Pike in Long Beach, CA.  The location was almost identical in style and feel to the one in Richmond and their pizza was dead on.  I remember being really excited with the portions.  They have a really different crust from most chain pizza places.  Different is always a good thing.  Their slices are an awesome way to get a lot of food for your money.  They actually freshly cook slices every time.  They also serve beer which is uncommon at most other chain pizza places.  For a long time I wanted to franchise one in Florida.

-Andy

Pizza Suggestions, On the Go

On my way to a coffee shop to get some writing done, a friend and passer-by rode up beside me to get a quick pizza suggestion.  He was hungry, and short on time and required a slice or two.  No time for ordering a whole pie.  (We were on bikes btw)

This conversation spurred a prompt brain fart.  I have readily given suggestions on where to go for the best pizza pie in the city, but this dude needed a quick slice, and it was 5:30pm, so Jo Jo’s is out of the question.

What is the best, any-time quick stop for a slice of pizza in the city?  Feeling like I failed a friend, I threw out the usual names;  Piccola’s, Vito’s, Mary Angela’s.  How typical.  Oh Richmond I have failed thee.

After I get some suggestions from yous guys, my next task is to find the best pizza by the slice so I can lead my friends in the right direction.

*Jo Jo’s does not qualify since they operate on special hours.

-gRant