Yummm
By Kevin Williams
Nothing is better than homemade pizza. Well, actually, I’ll eat any pizza, homemade or store-bought….I’ve never really met a pizza I didn’t like. Probably my least favorite is “Dayton style” pizza, which is a type of pizza found here in Ohio that instead of cutting it into pie wedges, it is cut into little squares. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still eat it. That’s just the kind I like least. But even then there is an exception, a tiny little market in my hometown called Shaddock’s. Mmmmmm, their Dayton style pizza is buried in so much sauce and thick cheese…..In fact, that might be my absolute favorite of all pizzas (and I’ve tried a ton so that is saying something)…of course sometimes it just depends on my mood….sometimes I’m just in the mood for the factory food of a Papa John’s slice dipped in garlic butter. I feel like I’ve been on a lifelong quest for the perfect pizza and I’ve still not found it…but Shaddock’s comes close….and I am a huge fan of a Cincinnati area chain called LaRosa’s…..
Marie Mast makes the pizzas…
Another worker adds toppings…
Okay, all of this pizza pontificating leads me to stumbling upon an “Amish pizza kitchen” when I was visiting Gloria last week. Her friend Marie Mast works in the kitchen of Villa’s Country Store, an Amish owned bulk food store in the area, and once a week they make some homemade pizzas and put them in the store’s freezer so customers can grab one at their convenience through the week. A large “deluxe” pizza with all the toppings is $14.99, which is not bad for a handmade, homemade pizza. And they will do other pizzas upon request, like cheese pizzas or “hold the banana” peppers.
8 Comments
Linda from KY
We like LaRosa’s too. In fact, that was my birthday supper back in May. Yummy! Nothing touches homemade, though, not even LaRosa’s.
BTW, I just saw that you and your wife are expecting daughter #2. Congratulations! I’ve been out of the loop because in addition to working full time, I’m also a full-time college student. When is she due?
Kevin
Thanks, Linda…sounds like you have been busy! Due date is 25th, what are you studying?
Tiffanie of Truly Skrumptious
Wish we could have tried it when we were there last year! That store is where we met Gloria’s cousin and he “took us” to meet her once he heard why we were visiting their tiny area. We actually drove the three of us over. 🙂
Kevin
She remembers you well, Tiffanie, you are always welcome back!
Linda
Being raised north of Dayton, pizza cut in little squares is what I know. Best pizza? DJ’s in Tipp City and Indian’s Pizza in Pleasant Hill. Little squares of heavenly goodness!
Kevin
Linda, thanks for sharing, I’ll have to put those two places on my “pizza radar”!
June W. Cos
Hi Kevin,
My cookbooks arrived last week and I am soooo Happy with them. MY maternal grandmother had a background in either Pennsylvania Dutch or Mennonite. I recognize recipes that were handed down to my mother and now to me. Pot pie was Bot Bei, cottage cheese was schmeer Kase and Old Fashioned Cream Pie was and is the favorite of family and friends.
Thanks you for the blogs, books and recipes. Incidently, my grandmother was born in 1850, my mother in 1901 and I was born in 1932. You can see how old our family is and we can remember the old time recipes. I can only hope that my 50 year old daughter will use the cookbooks, so the chain of wonderful dishes will not be lost.
Kevin
Thanks for this June, those food memories you have precious, they serve as a “culture link” to earlier times that we can all experience through taste, pass those recipes down, they are treasures!