Run-of-the-mill pizzas like hand-tossed crust with pepperoni, mushroom, olives, etc. don’t count. I’m talking about the kind of pizza that’s either just a bit out of the ordinary so it sounds interesting, or so weird that nobody but you would eat it. It can come from a pizzeria, or be homemade, as long as it’s different.
Mine is Pizza Pizza’s Meditteranean Vegetarian pizza. Whole wheat crust, sundried tomatoes, feta cheese, broccoli, zucchini, red onion and kalamata olives. God I love that pizza.
There was a place around here years ago that made a pizza with maraschino cherries and shrimp. It was certainly different, but it didn’t suck. I had it once just to try it, and ended up ordering it a few more times. If you like pineapple on pizza, the cherries are ok.
Also, small squids are not uncommon for pizza in the Adriatic sea area. Not bad if you like squid. But my favorite is Dalmatian Prosciutto. Mmmmmmmmm.
I had an amazing “gourmet” pizza once with jerk shrimp, barbecue sauce, smoked gouda cheese, red onion, pineapple, and diced jalapenos. It was pretty freakin’ good.
I’m generally a sucker for roasted red peppers, fresh basil, prosciutto, jerk chicken, and genoa salami on pizzas as well.
There’s a spot in Belevedere Square called Egyptian Pizza that makes a fantastic brick oven seafood pizza. It has shrimp, crab meat and scallops atop cheese and pizza sauce. It is divine.
You brought this on yourself, you know. And you’re bringing the rest of us down with you! I’m supposed to go to a friend’s for a BBQ supper, and now I have to figure out how to get them to BBQ me a pizza with smoked gouda and peppers.
There’s one I make - lessee. Broccoli, sundried tomatoes, chicken, and mozz cheese, accompanied by olive oil (brushed over the crust) and romano cheese, spooned over the crust and smooshed out. There’s some garlic in there too. It’s outstanding.
And the California Pizza Kitchen’s Wild Mushroom pizza is excellent.
Another pizza that’s great is a baked potato pizza. Chunks of potato, bacon, chives, and cheddar, served with sour cream. It’s really worth trying, if you can find it.
I guess that would be one of my nominations. . .a grilled pizza with grilled toppings.
We’ve made a prosciutto/peach/gorgonzola pizza before.
There’s a place in town that makes some Indian type pizzas, like pizza with tandoori chicken on it with a chutney dipping sauce, but I don’t think it’s great.
I made a pizza with shrimp and a coconut-peanut sauce on it once. Not my greatest invention. I don’t actually like shrimp on pizza too much. . .too much of a a clash of textures - you need to “rip through” the shrimp too much to avoid eating the whole piece, and invariably you’re left with a strand, so you pull the whole shrimp off anyway. Too much hassle.
(*) Primer: Any meats, grill separately. Use a thin pizza dough, well-oiled. Keep the dough away from direct heat. Slide it onto the grill, then top it immediately with sauce and cheese. When the dough has risen and the cheese has melted (only a few minutes), remove and top with the grilled meats. It’s good, but more work than it’s worth.
Japanese pizzas are a famous subject of conversation and humor on the Internet, and there are many pages devoted to them. The toppings are usually weird to the point of scary, and the pizzas themselves can cost upwards of $50 U.S. Here’s the first page I Googled up: http://www.chachich.com/mdchachi/jpizza.html