Back in college in the mid-eighties, I truly had a love affair with pizza.?
What’s not to love?!? It was cheap, it was plentiful and it was easily had! The greasy, gooey, cheesy red variety with pepperoni or sausage was what I craved the most. And I liked my crust thick back then. These were obviously pre-Clean Eating days (I am now a Colon Cancer survivor with a delicate stomach). But back then my stomach was a cast iron that could absorb even the hardiest of dishes. I usually had a beer or two to swallow the slices down as pizza and beer were truly a match made in heaven…
Fast forward to Today and I like to think my tastes are a little bit more sophisticated. Give me an upscale pizza restaurant, with a “wide variety of my favorite pizza toppings,” a coal-fired oven and then (stop it!) spoil me by allowing me to name my custom-made pie and you have a customer for life! That’s what happened today when I taste tested at the soft opening of a brand new restaurant in downtown New Haven featuring the latest concept in pizza, grinders, and salads…you custom make your pizza or grinder or salad so you get exactly what you want on it.
I stood on line and had everything I love put on my custom-made pie, as well as my own crisp build-your-own salad, and all of the ingredients are fresh and locally produced. Yummy!
If you are at all familiar with the New Haven restaurant scene, think “Chipotle” meets “Modern” in an upscale setting…the restaurant I am speaking of is called Ah-Beetz, which simply means “Pizza” in Italian.
Again, once your pie is finished you get to name it. I named mine LJ’s Vegetarian Delight (smile). My creation was meatless with lots of cheese, tomatoes and veggies. And it only took minutes to cook!
After my first bite of LJ’s Vegetarian Delight I was in love, but this time it felt good and, more importantly, I felt healthy…