"Big Game" Pizza, Day 5: Domino's Brooklyn-Style is Floppy, But Not a Flop

ABLC: Anything But Little Caesar's
It was late Friday morning and the weight of an impending decision hung upon J.N. and me.  Today would close out pizza week, and we had time for one last review before "Big Game" Sunday rolled around and consumers made their choices.  Thus far, every pizza we had tried had been pan-style.  Was it time to turn to a hand-tossed or thin-crust option?  Or should we be fair to all the major chains and give each of their pan or deep dish offerings a try?  Just about every option we considered presented major drawbacks.   Pizzeria Uno seemed like an obvious choice but they don't offer delivery and don't have anywhere near as many locations as the big four: Domino's, Pizza Hut, Papa John's, and Little Caesar's.  Vocelli Pizza had always been a decent place in our minds, but online research revealed that they only operate in 8 of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, leaving huge slices of the country in the dark.

Residents of 9 states know that Vocelli is one of our country's better regional chains, but their limited availability eliminated them from consideration.  My fave spot, Bertucci's, was also considered, but their locations are too spread out to be a realistic Sunday choice for most people.

 Cici's is one of the 10 largest national chains, but...well, they're an all-you-can eat joint.  Does anyone actually carry pizzas out of Cici's?  That seems like a joke.  And so attention inevitably shifted to Little Caesar's.  They are, after all, the 4th largest chain in the USA and they have a new DEEP!DEEP!^™ Dish Pepperoni Pizza with a Pepperoni-and-Cheese-Stuffed Crust announcing itself on their website.  But J.N. begged to be spared the eating ordeal that would be any Little Caesar's product.  It was not always thus.  Explains J.N. "Despite growing up on the classic rectangular LC and loving it, my most recent experience with LC and their “hot and ready” deal was almost inedible."  Besides, J.N. is vegetarian and getting a pie with toppings on only one side would probably have taken 20 extra minutes or an $8 surcharge.  Customization isn't LC's deal.  So, Little Caesar fans, you know who you are, but today is not your week.

Part of me is morbidly curious about this new Little Caesar's offering with cheese and pepperoni inside the crust.  But when something looks kinda gross, even in the advertisement?  Somebody fire that food stylist.

Domino's: Through Thick and Thin

So instead of closing out the pan pizza category we decided it was time to sample an entirely different style of pizza where the crust was minimized.  Fresh off yesterday's joyous experience with their rich yet lightly fluffy pan pizza, we decided to once again let Domino's do the honors.  Though they don't heavily advertise it, Domino's has a "Brooklyn-Style" crust that's a little thinner than their standard hand-tossed crust and designed to be floppy and foldable. That's never struck me as all that desirable a quality: I always figured that floppiness was a function of wet greasiness, but the Food Kingdom shall try anything once and so this time J.N. hopped into his car as the Pizza Tracker lit up and began its countdown to our final pizza of the week.

A little disclosure: the Pizza Tracker shown yesterday was a generic example taken from the web because I forgot, in all my excitement to head out the door, to take a screen capture of the actual tracker. You can see that this tracker is keeping tabs on the pizza in the take-out context.  The final stage is "ready for pickup" not "delivery."  If you look closely, you can see the name of the person who actually prepares the pizza.

Disclosure #2: You absolutely need to remember to enter your coupon to take advantage of Domino's advertised prices.  That "$7.99 large all day, every day" deal is indeed honored, but you don't get that price automatically.  You have to begin the ordering process in the special-offers section of the site.  I forgot to do this, but I noticed my mistake while J.N. was en route and the manager was kind enough to void the first sale and reprocess my order at the discounted price.

Will We Ever Find Out How the Pizza Tastes!?!?!?

Yes, gentle reader, presently.  This pizza is further proof that Domino's top-to-bottom redesign of its product lineup has been a success.  Floppy but not soggy, moist on top but dry on the bottom, sturdy enough to stay together but thin enough to let the toppings come to the fore, this pizza is actually a more interesting creation than its corny name would suggest.

This photos is a testament to the Brooklyn-style's durability and versatility.  At the far end, the spartan cheese half seems thin and almost fragile.  The addition of hearty toppings bulks the pie up but the crust easily handles the extra burden.

What Does It Mean to Be Floppy?

When we think of floppy pizza, we often imagine a weak crust that can't support the weight of its cheese and partially disintegrates as sauce and cheese oil render it like sodden cardboard.  That's not what's happening here.  As an engineer might put it, this crust has no strength in bending but a high degree of tensile strength.  Just look at the picture below: this slice isn't sagging; it's doing calisthenics.

The weighty mass of cheese tries to break away but the bonds between cheese and crust are strong and the slice maintains its integrity.

Here also the toppings cling to the crust, every scrap of goodness holding its position so to make a good impression on its way into the mouth.

Revenge of the Toppings

One reason to want a thin crust is simply to reduce the carb count and make each slice less filling. Pillowy, poofy pan crust is a singular experience but it can be a little bloat-inducing, and if you're primarily after the taste of cheese, pepperoni, and veggies, all that bread can get in the way, blocking the flavors that are meant to enhance it.  The Brooklyn-style crust, while almost leathery in its firm chewiness, steps aside where flavor is concerned and lets the toppings take a lead role.  The tomato taste was especially strong in this pie, so much so that I almost felt like I was tasting ratatouille, as chunks of tomato and suggestions of onion blended with green peppers.  Of course, most ratatouille doesn't have mushrooms and Italian sausage, but I do often top mine with a sprinkle of Swiss cheese, and serve some French bread on the side, so the resemblance of the two experiences is remarkably close.

The Brooklyn crust stays bone-dry on the bottom....

..while a wet, wild, and woolly flavor party rocks the night away up top!  And look! Is that a chunk of real tomato?  A first for a mass-market chain, in my experience.

Conclusions

Consensus was again the order of the day with J.N. echoing my own remarks, writing "I welcome the return to a thin crust and the fact that it makes the sauce more prominent, as all the pan pizzas were short on sauce in my opinion, though that may just be a factor of a thicker crust and thus a reduced ratio...If I were having a big game party with pizza, I’d go with a mix of the Domino’s pan and NY styles for delicious variety."

Numerical score

27: a solid running game, possession passing, and a reliable place kicker combine for three trips into the endzone and three medium distance field goals.  We don't have a dynasty here, but we have a solid contender for the championship.

And so closes pizza week with both Papa John's and especially Domino's boasting some surprisingly good casual cuisine for a couple of chains.  May the best team win, may the footballs be properly inflated, and may your bellies be not unduly distended by your pigskin revelries.