Straw Hat Pizza

[Maserschmidt]

@scabpicker

If you’re ever in the DFW area and want the same style, Mama’s Pizza is an almost identical pizza to the one I remember getting at Round Table.

Is that the Mama’s up on Camp Bowie? 'Cause I do miss that place…it was directly across the street from where my wife worked.

[Amateur_Barbarian]

@Johnny_L.A

Amateur Barbarian: I’m so happy that I was able to provide a thread where you could post your opinion! I’m extremely gratified to have been of service! Do enjoy your day!

…did you intend for this to be in GQ?

[Johnny_L.A]

@Amateur_Barbarian

…did you intend for this to be in GQ?

Whoosh!

[Capt_Kirk]

So there is a Straw Hat Pizza way out in the Burbs of Houston, Katy actually. This would be a 45 minute drive for me on a good traffic day.

Should I make the drive to try it?

Capt

[Amateur_Barbarian]

@Johnny_L.A

Whoosh!

No, “Pleased to have served you this whoosh, sir!” :smack:

[Johnny_L.A]

@Amateur_Barbarian

No, “Pleased to have served you this whoosh, sir!” :smack:

Wish I’d have thought of that!

.

[scabpicker]

@Maserschmidt

Is that the Mama’s up on Camp Bowie? 'Cause I do miss that place…it was directly across the street from where my wife worked.

Yep, that’s the original location for the chain. The locations I grew up with are long gone, but they have locations all over Tarrant county again.

I have no idea what style of pizza you’d call it, and Round Table is the only place I’ve seen it in a similar style. Mama’s went through a period of only having a couple of locations in Fort Worth during the 90’s, and I was frightened I’d soon have to go to California when I needed to satisfy that urge. Thankfully, they’ve been bouncing back recently.

[Spud]

@nevadaexile

However, there’s a regional chain in the Midwest called Puccini’s Smiling Teeth which makes outstanding pies

I was about to post that this isn’t a chain since location #2 opened a few blocks from where I live and I thought that was it, but I Googled it and am surprised at how big it has gotten (still only 14 locations). I can’t swear to this, but the original was Bazbeaux in Broad Ripple in Indianapolis. Two partners or workers split off and one opened Some Guys, and the other opened Pucini’s Smiling Teeth. They are all excellent and I’m very happy I have one so close.

It is also in the same strip mall as a liquor store, drug store and grocery, so it isn’t uncommon when I’m told to run out for an errand that I happen to come home with a pizza along with what I was sent for. I keep telling my wife that they were giving them away for free with a purchase of wine/ibuprofen/bread or whatever I was sent for. She just never gets there for these same deals I always seem to find.

[Number]

As young as eight or nine, I developed a strong preference for Round Table. Whenever my parents got Straw Hat, I would complain that a pizza should taste better than the box it came in.

I may have been something of a contrary child.

Damn, now I could really go for some Round Table. Just plain cheese, with little burned bits right at the edge of the crust.

[aruvqan]

@nevadaexile

However, there’s a regional chain in the Midwest called Puccini’s Smiling Teeth which makes outstanding pies. And in the New York City metro area there’s a chain called Umberto’s which is also excellent.

Straw Hat (IMO) was never really that good. Shakey’s was better, but they apparently expanded too quickly and then flamed out. There are supposed to be 60 stores left; but I haven’t seen one in years.

@Amateur_Barbarian

Yes, a classic case of corporate overdrive killing the business. My parents knew Shakey Johnson and had a small hand in getting him started in Sacramento. The local shop was always our preferred pizza place until the chain crashed. I don’t think there’s one left on the West Coast; IIRC, the last time I looked there were a few stores scattered in the Midwest.

I miss Round Table. Frankly, I miss pizza as it is understood by the rest of the world - they just don’t have a clue here, despite there being a pizza place every 74-1/2 yards all the way across the state.

We ate at the Shakeys in Fontana 2 years ago, there are like 30 left [at least they are the same corporate owner. I found they still existed when I worked for their waste stream vendor.] I found they tasted pretty much exactly as I remembered, though the store format was different - they were more fast foody and less like a pizzaria if that makes sense.

What would happen if you asked for ‘New Haven’ style [extra long cooked so it gets slightly burnt around the edges? [for those who don’t like underdone pizza]