fipril 7, 2004

 

Culture

e the other press ©

 

 

Arthur Crowson
OP Contributor

As a student, sometimes things can be
tight, and you may not have the time to
cook a meal. When you find yourself in
that situation nothing works better than
a slice of pizza for a reasonable price. The
problem is that finding the right slice can
be a throw of the dice.

There are five pizza places near
Dougkts College that offer by-the-slice
service: Bella Pizza on 8th St., Big Slice
Small Price Pizza on Carnavon Street,
Peter Pan Pizza on Columbia, Royal Hut
Pizza on 6th, and Pizza Pizza which is
located in the College. My goal is to find
out the best slice for the cheapest price.
My criterion for reviewing is simple: One
slice of pepperoni pizza from each place.
I will also rate the restaurants on atmos-
phere and how close they are to the
College. Each individual piece will be
evaluated on the following factors: The
quality and quantity of the toppings
(cheese, sauce, and meat) and the crust.

A price-to-value ratio will also be cre-
ated in the process. Therefore, an average
tasting slice of pizza could possibly beat
out a better tasting piece if the better
tasting slice is considerably more costly.

, Size does matter when it comes to a slice
of pizza, and the slices are measured from
the tip of the slice to the crust and then
from one side of the crust to the other
(see below).

There can be only one winner in this
grueling, intense, extreme, brawl-for-it-
all test. Only one will get the coveted
Golden Slice Award. The others will sim-
ply be average pieces and will most likely
be forgotten.

First up, Big Slice Small Price (BSSP)
on Carnavon. BSSP is a unique stop in
one way, because it is the only pizza joint
in the surrounding area that offers a
whole-wheat crust. The question
is...would that give them an unfair
advantage against the rest?

No, no it would_not.

I found the crust to be bland and unin-
spiring. It was soft on the bottom, soggy
would be a better way to put it, and not
much better on the edge. The cheese was
all right but the sauce was very sparse.
The pepperoni was present in three large
but thin morsels. I thought that it was
nothing special, and overall the pizza was
very dry and not especially delicious.

The price was a decent $1.25 for a
20.5 by 13.3cm slice. Perhaps my bias
against the whole-wheat crust swayed
this rating but it’s a review I’m willing to
stand by. On a positive note, the atmos-
phere was very nice and the service was
friendly. If you really feel like whole-
wheat crust then by all means go to BSSP,
but for the rest of us, it’s on to Bella Pizza
on 8th.

Bella Pizza was not the nicest looking
place. You'll want to buy your pizza and
go. There's a single dirty arcade machine
along with some tables that are freakishly
high. The service was nice, though, and
the pizza was quite good.

The crust iwas soft and chewy all the
way around, but not soggy. The cheese
was gooey and tasty. The sauce was good

and it had a unique “peppery” taste to it.
Pepperoni is again 3 large slices, these
ones were thicker than BSSP, though.
The piece was 18.5 by 16cm for $1.25. It
also has a great location next to the New
Westminster Skytrain station. Altogether
a convenient package that is worth the
price of admission.

Peter Pan’s Pizza on Columbia remind-
ed me of Bella’s in that it had a dirty old
arcade machine in the corner as well. The
pizza was disappointing. The crust was
soggy on the bottom and the edge was
soft. None of the toppings were all that
special, the cheese being bland, and the
pepperoni being three large slices that
were quite tasteless. The sauce was sparse
and the pizza was below average.

One good thing was the price the pizza
was an outstanding $1.05 for a 21 by
14cm slice. I hurried along to my next
stop: Royal Hut Pizza.

Royal Hut Pizza is very close to
Douglas and offers pizza for what seems
the average $1.25 per slice. The cheese
was good, the sauce was good, the crust
was soft and chewy on the bottom but
crispy on the edge. The not-so-good
things about the pizza were it’s below
average pepperoni (which instead of
being placed on the pizza as a whole was
first chopped up and then sprinkled on)
and small size (16 by 15cm).

The restaurant itself was nothing to
write home about either, with cheap-
looking tile, cheap-looking chairs, cheap-
looking tables, and blaringly bright flo-
rescent lights. It was very spacious
though.

Last stop, Pizza Pizza. Ah, Pizza Pizza,
where the slices are big (19 by 18cm), the
toppings are plentiful and the restaurant
is clean. I can’t say enough good things
about Pizza Pizza compared to the other
slices. The cheese is good, the crust is
perfectly crispy on the bottom, but soft
and chewy on the edge, it’s not too dry,
the pepperoni is tasty and you get eight
pieces of it.

You might be thinking that Pizza Pizza
is going to run away with this one but
before you think too much let me tell
you—there is a drawback, and it’s a
drawback of epic proportions: a slice
costs 2.85.

This is so much more expensive then
the competitors it’s almost blasphemy. So
who will be the ultimate victor and win
the Golden Slice Award? Read on my
friends, read on.

After carefully comparing and tabulat-
ing results, the winner of the Golden
Slice Award has been chosen and without
any more delay here it is... Bella Pizza.

Why you ask? Well, to be honest, it
came down to two pieces, the aforemen-
tioned Bella and the Pizza Pizza slice.
Bella simply excelled in just about all the
categories and did not have the steep
drawback in price that Pizza Pizza had.
Pizza Pizza is an excellent slice, but the
fact remains that you can get two slices of
Bella for less than the price of one Pizza
Pizza. So for this year, Bella Pizza is
crowned King of Pizza land.

Photo.

BELLA®?
* PIZZA

    

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s by Angela Blattmann

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