In a blog last week, I said that I had my doubts about Domino’s new “Brooklyn style” pizza but would keep an open mind if Domino’s wanted to send a pizza. Domino’s sent eight pizzas, in fact, and 12 of us took 10 paces and sampled them.
There was plain cheese (the real “Brooklyn” pizza if you ask me), pepperoni, sausage and mushroom. Refreshingly, the mushroom appeared to have hand-cut, fresh mushrooms instead of the slimy brown bits that most pizzerias use. The pepperoni was pretty good, too, but the sausage wasn’t a big hit. The toppings were applied conservatively; a nice change from the usual glut of stuff dumped atop Midwestern pizzas.
I personally enjoyed the corn meal-dusted crust and thought it was perfectly sized for “the fold,” which 23 years after moving here is still my favored pizza eating method.
The crust was thin but soft (not thin and crunchy like, say, a Zaffiro’s pizza) and the slices were cut in the proper pie shape (don’t get started on those tiny squares we’re forced to deal with in Milwaukee!). The sauce wasn’t excessively oily, as is sometimes the case with New York style pizzas.
In my informal poll, only one of 11 surveyed said they absolutely disliked the pizza. While most agreed that this is the pizza they’d select if ordering from Domino’s, most added that Domino’s was still unlikely to be their first choice for pizza overall.
Most staffers here -- Milwaukeeans through and through -- were unable to say whether or not it was “authentic,” whatever that means. And that’s the crux of the matter. Everyone has a unique idea about the authenticity of anything, especially regional foods. I would say that in Milwaukee, this Domino’s is about the closest one can find to New York style pizza.
But for me, part of the “authenticity” is the setting and the atmosphere. There’s really nothing like a pizza in Naples or a banana and Nutella crepe in Montparnasse or neeps and tatties in Glasgow. So, for me, the authentic Brooklyn pizza is almost anything you can buy by the slice on, say, 18th Avenue, and carry down the street.
But, we have to be fair and realistic. While Domino’s can tinker with the recipe and with the dimensions and presentation of a pie, they can’t turn North Avenue into Kings Highway.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
