Headed to Mama Palma’s on Friday with several young ladies from the Spanish Pantalonies. Let’s get down to business. The service was good Philly style service. The waiter had a smart mouth, but he was fun and funny. The Coke’s were fizzy and non-chalky. We quickly established that we were going to be annoying, asking for pizza with half one thing, half the other, getting blue cheese for our pizza, etc. Blue cheese? Yeah, two of the girls are from Rochester, and they claim that it’s a Rochester thing. I guess it’s their big claim to fame. Philly gave us the Constitution, Rochester gave us blue cheese on pizza. Anyways, it was a good call, as the blue cheese was a nice touch. I may be kickin’ it Rochester style on future pizza outings. So despite our badgering, the waiter stayed cool, and brought us out our pizza’s. One was a sausage and artichoke heart job, the other was a crab and asparagus pizza. To me, the artichoke pizza was kind of “Eh”, but the crab and asparagus was mindblowing. Without question, the best pizza I’ve had yet. It was a flavor that just got better the more you ate of it. I ended up eating six slices in all. Then, as I was deciding whether or not to eat the seventh, our waiter brought us out some tiramisu…on the house! The tiramisu was downright dreamy. Hold on, let me think of a word less lame than dreamy. No, no, ok nevermind. It was dreamy. Here’s what the others thought.

First up is Jenny (3rd from right, hidden by JGT’s enormous head): 3 pepperoni for the pizza. Fresh ingredients including the excellent crab meat proved very enjoyable. .5 pepperoni for the lack of dirty looks when asked for a side of blue cheese and 1 cherry on top for the scrumptious (and complimentary) tiramisu! That’s 3.5 pepperoni and 1 cherry. I can do that, right? Next up we have Renee (2nd from left): I especially liked the sausage and artichoke heart pizza. The crust was also nice and crunchy and not too thick (a plus in my book). The prices were reasonable. And then of course they get bonus points for the free tiramisu. Finally, we have Amy (far right): Unlike my co-pizza devourers, I wasn’t swayed by the free tiramisu that our waiter delivered at the end. Gave up sweets for lent, so this is an unbiased run-down of Mama Palma’s pizza. Mama’s has an excellent selection ofgourmet creations, offering up combinations that you wouldn’t normally put together yourself. This is nice, it forces adventure. I thought that the Artichoke & Sausage pizza was solid: nice, crumbled sausage, good sauce and a crunchy crust. The Crab & Asparagus pizza, though, took the prize. Props for the big chunks of crab, the big strips of asparagus and fresh lemon slices to squeeze. All in all? I’d give it 4 out of 5 pepperonis. But I’m no expert. . .
Well, I am an expert, Amy, and I’m going to agree with you. That’s right, JGT is handing out his first four pepperoni pizza! Feel free to drop your own two cents on Mama’s below.

I went with Cheney’s Got a Gun (Home court: The Vous) to NYPD Pizza on Thursday for lunch. Now, when you first walk in, the New York theme is heavily represented. Lots of pics of the skyline, various Yankees, etc. I hate the Yankees. It seems like every year, they seem to think that free agency is…ok, ok, I’m getting pulled off point here. Where were we? Oh yes. Also, on the counter is a little plaque showing that they made Philadelphia Magazine’s Best Of…in 2005. Now, I doubt that the Philly mag staffer even tried the pizza. He or she probably just walked in, said, “Wow, this is sixth-burroughrific! It’s places like this that are going to finally make us NY Lite!” And gave them a plaque.

OK, first off, I’ve had their BBQ chicken pizza before and remembered it was good. So I was hoping for it again. No luck. In fact, for a place that sells slices, they didn’t have much to choose from. Spinach, eggplant, sausage, or pepperoni seemed to be the only choices. Maybe they had just had a lunch rush and run out of other stuff. Who knows. But I got spinach, and it was pretty unmemorable. Then I went back and got a slice of the deep dish pizza, which was quite a bit better but still not great. I know I’ve had NYPD Pizza before and thought it was really good. But this time it was kind of so-so.

Here’s what fellow taster Chris thought: My pizza experience at NYPD pizza can be summed up in 2 words-mediocre. I had the pleasure of choosing the deep dish and the vegetable slices from a limited array of pizza, sub par selection if you will, especially at a time designated by society as an official lunch hour. (Arrival time 12:40). On a scale of ‘roni’s I would have to award NYPD two roni’s. Though, I will give credit to their crushed red pepper flakes, they were delicious. Next up was Jazmine, far right, who liked it a bit more than Chris: The square pizza was thick, juicy, and the cheese was melted to perfection without it tasting like it was cooked under a light bulb. As for the slice of sausage, I would have probably have liked it better if the cheese was melted on top of the bite-sized sausages, this way the little suckers wouldn’t have been rolling off, but it was still great! It gets a three on the pepperoni scale.
Here’s what Kim (far left) thought: I wasn’t too thrilled about this place. The choices were limited and the red sauce tasted like the standard canned stuff you can get at the grocery store. Overall, I’d give it 2.5 pepperonis. Not bad, but not great either. I gotta go with Kim. It measures a 2.5 on the Roni Scale.

Went to Joe’s Pizza (16th Street between Walnut and Sansom) on Tuesday with my man D-Mac from Philadelphiawilldo. First off, the ordering process at Joe’s challenges Pat’s steaks in intimidation. Surly looking Italian people give you a hard stare as they wait for you to place your order, letting you know that your diddling is costing them and everyone behind yuo in line valuable time. But Joe’s isn’t known for it friendliness, it’s known for it’s pizza. I got two slices. I started with a bruschetta slice. Big chunks of sliced tomato and mozzarella on top of a regular slice. It went down quickly, and I started on slice number two. It was a variation of the “Hawaiian pizza” theme, with pineapple and pepperoni instead of ham. This, this was the best slice I’ve had so far. The pineapple was juicy, the pepperonis brought a little kick that I don’t think you get from ham. The ambiance of the place has also improved since they rebuilt after the fire last year. Still a sort of generic pizzeria, but the red booths make the place seem much less “cafeteria-ish” than it used to. They also gave me a chance to invent the word cafeteriaish. Here is D-Mac’s take: I’ll give Joe’s 3 pepperonis out of 5. I know lots of people love the place, but I wouldn’t put it in my Top 5. It’s kind of hit or miss, and sometimes overcooked. Nonetheless, the cheese is good, the slices aren’t too greasy or cheesy. (Cheesy meaning “too much cheese that slides off” not “lame” — but the slices aren’t lame, either.) I liked it a little more than D-Mac did. I’m gonna give it the illustrious three and a half pepperoni mark (out of 5). Alright, now I’m off to NYPD pizza. I’ll have a report this afternoon.