Lately we’ve eaten: Boot & Shoe vegan. Why? Emilia’s is too popular to pump out enough for everyone who wants it – one man show – and my buddy E isn’t into Nicks. But I am.

Anyhoo…

A friend graciously picked me up and we headed over to Bombay Pizza House in Union City after work. Clean and cozy shop, Russell Peters‘ doppelganger as proprietor and the toppings are awesome. Feels like another one-man shop I’ve been to, Emilia’s. Chicken masala, chicken tikka, etc.  Spicy but not too spicy!  Pizza is made fresh on the spot so no to-go slices here, unless I missed em. Best enjoyed with good company. Large is 14″ for $15. Check out the menu… veggie/chicken masala pizza rocked!

Comfy booth seats too, and plenty of other Southeast Asian shopping in the plaza. Cheers!

K

Yelp reviews: 4.5*

Smart(er) IKEA patrons know that the best thing to do after pulling-a-number in the Service Department is not to sit down on one’s haunches– though IKEA belatedly renewed the place with actual Virgin America style black leather couches instead of  the original Soviet slat wood benches of insufficient depth for our insoucient, $1 vanilla yogurt-filled, car seat shaped and Pepsi-plump American assage– but rather to immediately U-turn it and waddle over to the Customer Pacification Center, or food shack. Food first, sit later.

So there I was, getting a slice of $1.75 IKEA PIZZA PAX. Depending on one’s income level that’s a so-so deal or damn near KOMPLEMENTARY.

Go back to Service Dept.  Sit on couch. Happily eat pizza while you wait, forlornly watching red LED numbers count up to your ticket number. Ignore minor envy of hungry customers. The hot, wet tomato and cheese combo is welcome relief after the long bike ride across town. Just Look at it. Yum! I know…corporate, probably at the same level as that industrial bagel pizza you devoured maniacally way back in elementary school. But somehow just as dementedly good!

Better than Pizza Hut? No. Better than serious hipster gourmet? No. Better than 2012 vintage Domino’s? Likely, yes!

Funny how your speakers will pronounce “pizza” in Swedish. A sultry voice comes over you. Now try in Norwegian!

It’s the fancy kind – we are in Berkeley after all. The cafe is Jimmy Bean’s on Gilman.  JBC calls their 9″ pizzas “Pizzettas.”

Toppings were sunnyside eggs over easy, corn, goaty cheeze, unusual greens. If only they’d added kewpie mayo and shrimp it would have been Japanese style.

Keeping in mind JB isn’t a pizza joint we were somewhat impressed by the product. Tasted decent. If you like thin crust (dryer on the handle end) and interesting, healthful toppings, go to this place.

So far, people are listing a slew of spots in the city and easy bay, with a few surprise faves in the 680, Vallejo(!) and down the peninsula.

Go look at who people are rootin’ for, vote for your favorites, or leave a note here!

A party every voter can appreciate. Pizza party featuring Herman Cain, former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, at Seventh Hill Pizza in Washington, D.C. with GQ journalists, October 2011 – just as “Occupie” was getting hot.

by Ken Ott

You’ve heard the panhandler joke: “what’s the best country in the world?”  Dough nation!  We’re happily taking “doughnations” of hope and spare change to test out new models of pizza with, for the review reading enlightenment of all. But first, let me share what I see conspiring to bring about Pizzza Bubble.

Example billboard, though this company is profitable.

The bay area is enjoying the final stages of a second high-tech bubble. The proof is in all the money wasted on billboards feebly tempting solid programmers away from existing startups of dubious social value to join new startups of dubious social value, or TV commercials advertising slap-n-tickle apps made by such startups.  We’re riding the Sock Monkey-WebVan-PetFoodOvernight.com apex of the tech soup land sine wave.  Two seconds before slowly ratcheting over the roller-coaster’s first and highest peak.

I also smell a growing, extra-large pizza bubble. If you hadn’t noticed either bubble, I could be reading too much into all the empty pizza boxes I see, but I’m pretty sure I’m not mistaken.  Where I may be mistaken is calling it a bubble instead of a ghetto. Having pizza ghettos is a fine thing, although a pizza bubble wouldn’t be terrible to have for the time being.  Incidentally, Pizza Bubble is being blown by the same forces conjuring up a million app startups: vulture capital chasing “infinite growth” returns (creating nerds flush with cash eating out) and macroeconomic malaise forcing creative entrepreneurship, as well as general trends of folks moving back to cities, away from chain-y ‘burbs. More on the social element later.

Pizza Bubble encounter of the Poori kind.

The edible, mostly glutinous bubble shadowing the tech bubble is likely in its final cooking stages too but, unlike their tech start-up siblings, I’m pretty sure brand new pizza shops can be started a nearly infinite number of times. Food never goes out of fashion, even during famines, wartime and plagues. As long as there’s wheat, tomatoes and a source of heat, we’ll have pizza. So, I’ve started this blog to spotlight the contestants of Pizza Bubble.

In my limited, Oakland-based mind, this all started in Oakland/SF/the Bay Area, as many trends do.  For decades we endured or guzzled chain pizza. In the 70s, 80s and 90s, who cared about gourmet anything besides stay at home moms and blue haired seniors? Frozen tater tots and Red Baron was it! Years later: give me my SUV, HELOC and some kind of all-meat protein diet.  Yet, urban areas like SF and Berkeley always had better pizza options.

In the suburbs you could find the odd Mountain Mike’s, U Be’s-U Bake, Shaker’s or another uncharacteristically good pizza spot.  Even childhood memories of post-soccer Round Table Pizza and arcade game parties are still vivid. Maybe pizza was better back when George Lucas filmed Star Wars and the Iran-Contra crack epidemic was about to explode.  Back in 1982, one could get hired either full or part time at Pizza Hut, with benefits. Time passed. The economy grew. Offshoring and financialization exploded.  Then, starting in the mid 2000s as people-with-money started moving back to cities and ecological apocalypse led to organic food appreciation in our hive mind, we started seeing more and more interesting pizza options.

First, let’s talk “deep dish,” also the name of a great former house music duo.

• Zachary’s – it’s been around forever (and now expanding out to the 680 corridor)
• Little Star – rumor says a Zachary’s worker took the recipe and started Little Star (this place has already expanded to the 680 exurbs)
• Patxi’s – rumor says a Little Star worker took the recipe and started Patxi’s (I wish this place would open in the Easy Bay)
• Deep Dish options I haven’t tried yet: The Lookout (SF),  Rocco’s (Mill Valley, Walnut Creek), Windy City (San Mateo)

Personally I like Patxi’s the best, but Zachary’s is still going strong and Little Star is okay.  The list is shorter than Little Caesar… tell me if I left anyone out!

Next, we have the Italian aka “New York” style thin crust. None of these pizzerias serve the rectangular, lightly burnt slices I remember feasting on in Piazza San Marco, Venezia, but they are similar enough. (Note: in Germany, a pepperoni pizza is for some reason called a “salami” pizza.) Thin and cheesy contenders as follows.

• Old school better than corporate-chain* options: Blondie’s, Fat Slice, Escape from New York, Extreme, La Val’s,  Jupiter (a bar which serves pizza), “San Francisco” Pizza on Broadway and 15th in Oakland, Gaspare’s on Geary…
• Old school co-ops: Cheeseboard, Arizmendi
• Pizzaiolo – started in the roaring late 2000s, probably 2007? Rep for snooty 680 corridor clientele and organic foodie-ness with pricing to match
• Lanesplitter – started who knows when. Good for hipster/punk/yuppie demo
• Boot & Shoe – started 2010, as good as or better than big bro Pizzaiolo with less attitude, and cheaper
• Emilia’s – hole in the wall on Shattuck, South Berkeley. Best and quite good when hot
• Addie’s – CLOSED May 2012. Wasn’t that good. Red flag for bursting of Pizza Bubble? Likely not. (Popo’s in West Oakland also closed during 2009) Yet.
• Nick’s – OPENED May 2012. Another hole in the wall on Shattuck, North Oakland. Really impressive. Former vegan pizza joint Pizza Plaza, done in “Oakland style” (aka California cuisine, nice herbs and toppings as B&S has)
• Mobile food truck/tent/stand options: Casey’s Pizza, Fist of Flour, Copper Top Ovens
• SF options I haven’t tried yet: Caffé BaoNecci, Tommaso Ristorante Italiano, Arinell, Marcello’s, Serrano’s, Goat Hill, Valencia P&P, Source (vegan- no cheese), Beretta, Zante (Indian), Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, Delfina, Popo’s, Pizza Hacker, too many to list….
• Easy Bay options I haven’t tried yet:
  • Berkeley: Bobby G’s, Arinell, Gioia, Sportivo (a bar which serves pizza), Pepe’s, Lo Coco’s, Pizzavore, Nino’s Brazilian, Red Tomato Pizza House, Paisan (West), Olive Grove (West), West Coast, North Beach
  • Oakland: Pizza Love (West), MLK Cafe (MacArthur BART), Amazona’s (“Northgate”/ Uptown), Sopranos Pizzeria (Uptown), Mr. Pizza Man (Chinatown), Pizza Man (Downtown), Villa York (Chinatown), Leaning Tower of Pizza (Lake Merritt), Slice of Hollywood (Lake Merritt), Pizza Pazza (Piedmont), Cybelle’s (Piedmont), Pizza Politana (Rockridge), Marzano on Park (Glenview), Red Boy (Hills), Skyline (Hills)
  • Alameda: A-Town, East End Pizza Co, American Oak, Papa Murphys, Bowzer’s, New York, Linguini’s, Croll’s, Alameda, Straw Hat
  • Emeryville: Rotten City, Mediterraneo, Roba’s Cafe, Pizza My Heart**
  • Moraga: Lamorinda, do I really want to go all the way to Moraga?

If you love pizza and think gobbling down good pizza is the best way to enjoy life, the best time of your life should be RIGHT NOW.

I’m expecting Pizza Bubble (or Pizza Ghetto) to grow and grow as the economy sucks harder (encouraging competition, and discouraging “big luxuries”) and as people-with-money increasingly congregate in cities. Pizza should get better too, even at chains.

So, this is my first post. A short, unresearched chronology of Pizza served in a Bay Area hub and spoke around Oakland/SF/Berkeley, and specifically, the quantity and quality of pizza places which seem to have risen due to recent macroeconomic and social demographic conditions.

Quality of and diversity of pizza places seems to have gone up with most “great” pizza places selling beer.  Beer and pizza seem to be a match made in heaven, and the CO2 in beer is giving Pizza Bubble plenty of gas.

* * *

Ken Ott is not a professional food critic, not a foodie, and not a pizza expert. His opinions are his own and pizza review requests/ invitations/ samples are welcome. Photos: bubble pizza,