Silver Spring Pizza

When: 12/17/09

Where: Mama Lucia in Silver Spring

Who: B-Flo and garretthubb

B-Flo and I went and checked out "Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas" at the AFI in Silver Spring. We went with our buddies Micaela and Brian. The movie is pretty great! The River Bottom Nightmare band is fantastic. I really love the line from their song:

"We don't wish to learn, but we hate what we don't understand."

After the movie we hit up Mama Lucia's for some pizza. It is excellent pizza there. The sauce is a little off sometimes. I can't quite say what I am not super into about it, but it works well with the cheese, just if you get some by itself is not my favorite.

Pizza and a Movie

When: 11/3/09

Where: Bethesda

Who: garretthubb, b-flo

B-Flo and I went and checked out "The Damned United" a movie about Brian Clough's 44 days in charge of Leeds United. I really appreciate B-Flo indulging me by going to a movie about 70's English Football. The movie was enjoyable. It was almost more of a bro-manatic comedy than a sports movie, but that was kinda cool for two good buddies to go see together.

Afterwards we went to Pizzeria Uno's. This was maybe not the best pizza based decision we have ever made. The pizza was OK. The waiter was pretty hilarious. Featuring an extremely thick Eastern European accent he didn't understand what I meant when I ordered the seasonal Sam Adams. He also definitely said "Awesome" when giving us the cheese and red pepper. He didn't say anything else, just "Awesome".

Caps Opener

10/1/09

My House, Just Me.

I really wanted to run tonight. I feel like I have been slacking big time. I also went to the doctor this week and my weight was 5 lbs more than it should be and 15 lbs more than I want it to be, so running is needed. However, I got sucked into two thirty plus min. conversations when I got home and by the time I had a chance to get ready to go it was already too late. It sucks eating lunch @ 10:30 AM everyday, it makes eating dinner after 7 PM kinda unbearable.

However, my spirits were lifted by the caps opener against the bruins. Suck it bruins!

I popped a Amy's Organic Margherita pizza in the oven. I looked at the stack of lab reports I brought home and realized the kids mixed up folders and did a generally horrible job on organizing things. So instead of grading and hockey, it will be pizza and hockey with a stern lecture to the kids tomorrow.

Somehow I feel like more nights of pizza, hockey and solitude are in my future.

Frozen Pizza from my couch

When: 9/17/09

Where: My couch

I was pretty ready for a night of doing nothing. I left work on the early side, which lead to getting stuck in some traffic. I then got my haircut that was much needed. I decided to eat the frozen pizza in my freezer and watch the UEFA Champions League games I had recorded early in the week as well as the new episode of the office. I also caught some of celebrity jeopardy and I must say that Wolf Blitzer is an idiot.

The pizza was nice, hot, crispy and delicious. Having purchased a pizza stone this summer I feel like my frozen pizza eating will be of a higher quality this year.

The quality of the champions league however was lacking. The last three games I have watched on TV (DC United @ San Juan, Barcelona @ Inter Milan, Manchester United @ Besiktas) were all snoozers. I was especially disappointed in Barcelona. I know that the teams I support should be boring away form home (Man, DC United) but Barcelona is supposed to be a free flowing attacking soccer.

First Week Back at Work = Lots of Pizza

Monday 8/31

Where: The Ugly Mug

Trivia Night

Who: Garretthubb and coworkers

My coworker Kevin invited me out for trivia night at his local bar the ugly mug. They have 1/2 price pizza and pitchers. The trivia night was pretty fun, but our team did awful on the "Cop Shows of the '80s" category.

I had one slice of somebodies pizza. It was a white pizza with tomato slices. It was not very good, but at 1/2 price one can't complain too loudly.

When: 9/4

Where: West Potomac

Who: garretthubb and other coworkers

My coworker Kelley is having her 2nd child soon so we threw her a baby shower. We ordered up some pizzas and had gifts. I think the pizza was from dominos. It was bad even for dominos. However, some other coworkers made delicious treats like cake and cookies.

Kelley got some cool gifts for the baby shower. Her expected child is a little girl, so there were some very cute clothes for the fashionable little one. Actually, I have no idea if they are cute or not, but I followed every ones lead and said "ahhhhhh" at the correct times.

9/5

Where: Crystal City Double Tree Hotel

Who: Garretthubb, a whole lot of other runners.

I ran the Arlington County 9-11 memorial 5k on Saturday. It was possible the worst race ever. I felt like crap the whole race. My legs didn't work properly and I cramped up. I have no idea why this happened and I am extremely disappointed in my time. I am hoping for some redemption when I run an 8k next month.

After the race there was pizza/water/beer for race participants. I had a slice of pizza. I think I was so mad at myself for my terrible run that I really have no idea how the pizza tasted.

USA vs. Mexico w/ Pizza

When: 8/12/09

In Attendance: Obama, Dozer, Elliott, Dave Duffy, Dave Duffy's Lady Friend, Garretthubb

Where: Obama's Apartment

I had to "go dark" for a couple of hours. Not looking at the TV and internet as to avoid any info about the game. Once my friends got home from work we gathered to watch the biggest game for US soccer fans. Dave picked up three pizzas from Vace (http://www.vaceitaliandeli.com/). I had heard Vace referred to as the best pizza in DC, but this was my first experience. Vace doesn't have any place to sit and eat, so carryout is really your only option. We got a standard cheese pizza, a pizza with peppers and onions and a fresh motz and basil pizza. I have to say all three pizzas were amazing. I would definitely have to agree that this is one of the top pizzas in DC. It should be noted that at Vace they reverse the cheese and sauce order on the pizza. Meaning on a standard cheese pizza the cheese goes on first and the sauce goes on second. This is a unique and delicious feature.

The game was not as good as the pizza. The US definitely did not have a good game. Charlie Davies scored a good goal and is begining to look like a striker that Bob Bradely should include in the line up at all times. Hopefully he will play well for Socheux this season. Gooch looked solid too, but he picked up a stupid yellow card and will miss the El Salvador game. Other than that the team looked a little out of sorts. The 2nd Mexico goal was a bit lucky, but the Mexicans definitely played better. The referee was absolutely terrible, but that wasn't a deciding factor in the game. CONCACAF referees are pretty bad in general but this guy was extremely poor. It must suck for some of the African American players on the USA team. I feel like Gooch in particular gets called for ridiculous fouls because he is big, dark skinned and American.

Overall this was a good time with some solid folks. Just wish the game went our way.

DC United Coaches Pizza

When: 8/11/09

Where: Estadio RFK

I got to go to a DC United coaches clinic as part a member of the DC United coaches association.

For lunch DC U served some delicious papa john's pizza. Although pizza outside in 90 degree heat is not the best time for pizza, it was still pretty sweet. I assumed there would be just cheese and pepperoni but they had a wide variety of pizzas including a veggie pie. Additionally, Goalkeeper coach and former DC goalkeeper Mark Simpson got pizza and was hanging out and answering questions. He seemed like a super nice guy! It was also great that one of the other coaches asked Mark a bunch of questions and then when he walked off to go eat his pizza asked us "So who was that guy?" Seriously? You are going to ask a dude if he ever played for the national team and not know who he is and what position he played? Crazy!

This was a super great experience to see a pro level practice and a high level club team (DC United U16 academy team). The addition of pizza only made it better!

Primo's Reston VA

Where: Primo's Reston VA

In Attendance: garretthubb, b flo

We got some post band practice pizza. We went with the #40, a basic tomato sauce, motz cheese, and basil pie. We both got side salads as well. My side salad was a little too heavy on the salad dressing and i thought that maybe b flo got more tomatoes.

The pizza was really good. Not anything outlandish or fancy, just good solid hot pizza. It definitely hit the spot after rocking so hard at band practice.

Atlanta Pizza Club?

Where: Atlanta GA

Who: garretthubb, obama, eliot lee, Shauna M, Matt E

Obama and garretthubb took a little trip down to atlanta to see some friends. On Saturday night we made pizza at their house. Shauna M made some dough and sauce and we topped the pizza with cheese and basil.

Sometimes homemade is the best way to go. My pizza was nice and crispy, but i think i put to many red pepper flakes on it. Don't have anyone to blame but myself.

Eliot Lee is a little dude so I was happy to see him indoctrinated into the pizza lifestyle at an early age. His parents made him a little personal pizza which he worked on eating. He did also enjoy playing with his food.

Ledo's Pizza

Where: Ledo's Pizza Lorton VA

Who: Garretthubb, Adam R, David F

What do teachers do during the summer? Go for the gold medal in hanging out. Three fine gentleman played a whole day of disc golf. Adam R showed me the ropes and let me borrow some discs. Pretty fun. We played 2 courses, burke lake and pohick.

Between the courses we stopped at ledo's to get some lunch. We got some bruschetta which was delicious, but slightly unusual. Huge slices of bread with heaping amount of cheese and tomato. Then we split a large pizza. I was super hungry and was informed that I ate 12 squares of pizza. It was delicious, but this might have been influenced by my hunger.

Overall the pizza was an excellent part or an excellent afternoon.

Ft. Reno/Whole Foods

This is a post for 6/25 and 6/29

6/25

Whole Foods 2 slices of cheese

In attendance: Kristin Walnut, Esmith, garretthubb

Whole foods is known for some sweet food.  Ft. Reno is known for fun.  However, the problem with whole food's salad bar is you get the checkout and you say to yourself "how did I spend $12 on salad?"  This problem was solved by whole foods adding pizza in their deli section.  I got two slices of cheese, it was right out of the oven!  The pizza was very gooey, which was good.  In addition the temperature outside was not stifling making pizza an OK option for summer time.

6/29

In attendance: b-flo, brad parnell, obama, chris long, obama's coworker, garrett hubb

Same deal.  Got pizza caprese this time.  Next week I might branch out from pizza at whole foods, maybe do a sandwich or sushi.  In general the whole foods pizza is above average, but I wouldn't take it over a real pizza place pizza.  Also of note that the actual bands last night were sub par.  It seemed like the sound for the small doses was off, which made them sound worse then the probably really are.  Cigarbox Plantation was not my thing, but all the HS kids got up and danced while they played so that was entertaining.  Batala was cool, but I wish the dude in the white shirt had sat down so we could see.

When: 6/17/09

Where: Baffetto 18th and Florida

Who: garretthubb, Dave "blackie knight" Goldberg, Double Dagger (the band).

Dave and I went and saw Double Dagger play a free show at Crooked Beat. The show was rocking. We were close to the oldest people there as the kids moshed it up. There was a crazy homeless lady you pounded some vodka, grinded all up on dave, put her arm around me and ran her hand through my hair. It was weird.

After the show we walked down the street to Baffetto. I got a slice of cheese with Dave. The first Cheese slice I had was burnt, but still good. I was pretty hungry by the time we ate, so that might have influenced my feelings about the pizza. I got a 2nd slice that was hot from the oven. It was really good. Dave got one slice of cheese, which he seemed to enjoy. I am not sure what the dudes in Double Dagger got, maybe cheese w/ ricotta added?

I would say Baffetto deserves another look. I heard that the eggplant parm sandwich is way delicious.

road trip

date: 6/6/09

location: pizzas and cream, gualala, calif.

present: bflo, mary flowers

the final full day of my west coast trip was spent driving along the coast of california. having been thwarted in my attempt to have pizza for dinner the night before (since delivery stopped at 9pm in willits, ca (wtf?!)), i was beyond stoked when we came across this place right along route 1. i would have stopped anyway, but having a catchy name definitely helped.

i had a lunch special aptly named "a slice and a salad" though in reality, it was two slices of pizza. the salad was pretty standard, with a balsamic vinaigrette. the pizza was a pretty tasty flatbread. with the lunch special, you had the option to add two toppings. i added fresh tomatoes and mushrooms, setting a personal record for most toppings consumed in a week. to polish it off, i had a scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream in a cake cone.

we then continued our drive along rte. 1 south, and cut over to rte 101 on this crazy mountain road that was pretty stressful. we made it to oakland in time to see the o's play a stinker against the a's. but luke scott hit a home run and i got some props from the a's fans behind us for wearing a rally cap in the 9th inning despite the score being 9-1.

In Class Victory Pizza

Date: 6/5/09

Location: Room 190 E Gunston Building. West Potomac High School

Present: Garretthubb, 24 kids in 6th Period Honors Physics.

As a celebration of the end of the year and victory over the hated BC Calculus and their nefarious leader Allison Satterwhite the heroic 6th period honors physics class ordered up some Papa John's. We got 7 cheese pizzas. They were standard, yet delicious.

"The pizza was adequate and sufficient enough to feed a hungry 6th period physics class. It could have been better, but for our purposes it was OK." -6th period student Christina S.

ECFU

date: june 2, 2009

location: dove vivi pizza, portland, ore.

members present: bflo
honorary guests: mary flowers, gus bowman, katie mcguiness

this past week, i did a west coast excursion with my mom. our second stop was the city of portland, oregon. we had met gus earlier for a pretty decent lunch of vegan corn dogs. after doing some site-seeing, we met up with gus again, this time with his lady-friend katie, for dinner.

the pizza here was a corn meal crust, which is outside my norm, but really quite tasty. i had a slice of quattro fromaggio and a slice of what they called "corn" which actually had roasted red onions, chives and fresh mozzarella in addition to corn. now, i am not usually a toppings guy, and the only time i make exceptions is when consuming "fancy" or "gourmet" type pizza, and not even always then. but i will say i am glad i took the option this time. it was quite good. plus they had bottles of virgil's root beer, and brought water to the table in an over-sized mason jar.

dinner was followed up with a trip to voodoo donuts for dessert. i had a donut with oreo crumbs and peanut butter. it was excellent. in the end, i didn't get to see as much of portland as i'd hoped, having heard stories of it being a magical punk rock place, but i did enjoy my short time there. plus i think i am going back later in the summer for a couple of days.

this was the first of two pizza stops on our trip. to be continued....

Post Office Pavilion

Date: 5/26/09

Location: Post Office Pavilion

In Attendance: garretthubb, gina mcg

My buddy gina was in town with her kids.  She moved last year from our fair city to Michigan.  Her 8th graders were on their class trip to Washington.  I meet her in the post office pavilion food court.  I got two slices of cheese.  It was pretty terrible.  The cheese was low quality, the crust was soggy.  However, the point of this trip was to visit a friend that I don't see that often and therefore my goals were meet.

Cafe Pizzaiolo

Date: 5/25/09

In Attendance: garretthubb, bflo, obama, andy g, Micaela

After a marathon session of Terminator movies (I, II and III Sunday Night, IV Monday mid-morning) we decided to get some post movie Pizza. This place in Alexandria was recommended by obama's coworker. It is a little off the beaten path, in a strip mall on the first floor of a large apartment building. We sat outside on the patio and the weather was quite nice. Three different pizzas were ordered. Bflo got a napoli pizza, garretthubb and obama split a white pizza and andyg and Micaela got "el diablo" but only sausage on half. There were also salads and beers consumed. Bflo got some gelato.

The white pizza was very good. The crust was hot, thin and crunchy. My only slight complaint would be that some of the cheese was clumped together too much, so you got a mouthful all at once. Overall I would say the white pizza was excellent. I also had a slice of the "el diablo" pizza (without the sausages). The Pizza was a little cold by the time I had a slice. The pizza was very good with a variety of peppers. It was "a spicy meatball" (Insert bad Italian Amercian accent here).

My overall rating for Cafe Pizzaiolo would be very high. It's location leaves a little to be desired but I would definitely return for more pizza!

Trader Joe's Frozen Pizza

Location: My Living Room

Date: 5/4/09

On The TV: Pens Vs. Caps Game 2.

I gave a potential ticket for this game to my buddy Elliot, to enjoy in person with the rest of pizza club. It looked like it was a good time.

I got my frozen pizza at Trader Joe's after work. There was some angry people in the store due to long lines. I think letting people with more than 15 items in the express lanes got certain customers around me very angry. I though I was in for my first grocery store riot, but I was able to escape unscathed.

I got a margarita pizza. It was solid, motz and grana cheese. I am a little unsure about the optimum baking time for said pizza. I let it go longer than suggested and it was almost two crisp on the edge, but nice in the middle. As frozen pizza goes, this was pretty darn good. The fact that our boy Dave Steckel scored his 2nd goal in two games and Ovie had a hat trick to beat the pens 4-3 for a 2-0 series lead was pretty great as well.

Z Pizza

Date: 4/30/09

Place: Z Pizza on Richmond Highway (aka Rt. 1, aka The Highway), Alexandria Va

Present: garretthubb, David Fink

I had to grab a quick pre-game meal before getting on the bus to coach an away soccer game. My buddy Fink, who need to grab a quick meal before a home soccer game, suggested Z Pizza. I had gone to one before in Silver Spring with bflo and maybe one other time to the one on Duke St. I was not impressed previously.

I got the "meal deal" type thing where you got 2 slices and a soda pop for $6.99. Not bad price. The soda fountain had Dr. Pepper, which I see as a +. Many times I have thought about making Dr. Pepper the only soda I drink. My two cheese slices came out of the oven shortly after sitting down so they were nice and hot. I felt like the cheese was a little runny and bare, and the crust was not crispy enough. In defense of Z Pizza I will say that for it's proximity to school and a pretty good price it was OK. Obviously any other choice would be superior. In other words, I might go again in a similar situation, but I would not go out of my way to go there.

to the victor goes the spoils

Date: 4/30/09

Location: 8500 16th St., Apartment 424, Silver Spring, MD

Attending: bflo

Consumed: Giant store brand Rising Crust 4-Cheese Frozen Pizza.

Notes:
I had purchased two of these pizzas since they were on sale with my bonus card. I ate the second last night after returning home from my softball game. And everything tastes better after you win. The work co-ed softball team had not won a game in quite a while, having rivaled the Detroit Lions and gone 0-14 last year. Thankfully this year we switched into the informal league and are facing competition more on our level.

I was also able to enjoy the NBC Thursday night lineup, minus My Name is Earl. Parks and Recreation has been good for a decent amount of chuckles, despite trying a tad too hard to be like The Office. And The Office and 30 Rock are always solid.

Pizza Club Eats in My living room

Date: 4/20/09

Location: My living room.

In attendnace: Obama, garretthubb, bflo

On the TV: Caps vs. Rangers game 3.

We ordered a Chicago Stuffed Pie from Alberto's. I have several qualms with what happened. First we ordered the pizza as the game started and I didn't arrive until the beginning of the 3rd period (about a 1.5-2 hour delay). I understand that Alberto's is pretty up front about their pizza not getting there quickly, but that was excessive. The dough was solid, good deep dish. However, I felt that the cheese was a little underwhelming. I generally like Alberto's for slices, so I think that they remain an option in that regard, but I am pretty sure I will not order from them again.

On another note, this was as of this point, the only good game the Caps have played in the series. Maybe they will win tonight and force a game 6 in New York, but aside form Monday they haven't played well at all.

"As mayor of the Altered State of Drugachusettes, I declare this Pizza to be... AWESOME!"

bflo eats pizza like he will die, alone.

Date: 4/22/09

Location: 8500 16th St., Apartment 424, Silver Spring, MD

Attending: bflo

Consumed: Giant store brand Rising Crust 4-Cheese Frozen Pizza.

Notes:
I've been trying to be slightly better about eating at home and not eating out so much. Obama posts here, and he will be the first to tell you times are tough. Sometimes this results in me eating less than ideal meals. Last night was no exception.

The store brand also tends to be the cheapest in the freezer. So this is what I bought. As members of our club can attest, I am not a toppings man, so the 4 Cheese was the easy choice. All in all, the pizza was pretty decent, considering what it had going against it, though I probably undercooked it by a minute or two. I had just done a run, so i was feeling pretty good. Unfortunately, i ate the whole pizza by myself in one sitting, since I just might hate leftovers almost as much as toppings. That pretty much cancels out all the hard work i did running.

In conclusion, this consumption was against the spirit of Pizza Club, in that no friends were involved. I ate by myself, then watched the Capitals and Orioles lose. All in all, sort of a bummer of a night.

Pizza Club Goes to Pete's APizza

Date: 4/19/09

Location: 1400 Irving St NW Washington DC
Next to the Columbia Heights Metro and next to DCUSA (every ones favorite part of DC)

Attending: Garretthubb, bflo, brbonner

Purchased: Standard Cheese Pizza, 3 Soft Drinks, spinach salad (garretthubb), house salad (bflo)

Notes:

Initial Pizza Club was attempting to go to Radius in Mt. Pleasant, but they are closed for renovations. We made our way down the road to Pete's. Brbonner and I had both gotten slices here before, but never a whole pie. This was bflo's first time there. The pizza only comes in one size so we got a standard cheese pizza. I was unaware until after looking on the website today that soy cheese was an option, if we had a vegan friend with us.

The seating layout is a little convoluted in Pete's. They have several big tables and a few small ones, and then a bar along the window to sit at. It seems that they bigger tables are intended for either a large party, or for several parties to sit. However, when I tried to sit near a family eating dinner I got the stink eye from one of the daughters so we moved to the bar by the window.

I thought my salad was solid (spinach, pine nuts, goat cheese, dressing and two tomatoes). I think bflo also enjoyed his.

The pizza was definitely good. The crust was crispy and the cheese was hot. I also liked that there were a lot of red pepper and cheese shakers so it was easy to find one to use. The cheese was solid. I would like to go and try a pizza with toppings at some point, and I think that the quality of the cheese pizza was good enough for a second visit.

The biggest downer of the evening was that the members of Pizza club were waiting for our friend Greg. Greg moved to Colorado a few years back and was back in town for work. Unfortunately, Greg was unable to really hang out because his seminar for work and spending time with his family took up his whole weekend. It was a bummer not to see him because we don't see him to often not that he lives 2,000 miles away. Pizza club is not only about delicious food, but more importantly good dudes.

I hate pizza and I hate America!

Initial Post

Welcome to the Pizza Club Blog.

Pizza Club is about pizza, friends and good times. We also would like to answer serious questions such as:

"What is the best Pizza Place in DC?"
"What is the best Pizza Place in suburban Maryland?"
"What is the best Pizza Place in Northern Virginia?"
"What is the best Pizza place in Baltimore?" (if we have time)

Sweet times bro!