Ever since it was brough to the U.S. back in 1905 by Italian immigrant Gennaro Lombardi, pizza has gone to become one of the most bought, most enjoyed foods in the country. Today, over 120 years later the love for pizza shows no signs of slowing down with over 80,000 pizza places of all kinds throughout the U.S. There is also another reason why pizza has become even more popular today because of one big change that we will get into shortly. First a little history and personal observations.

Lombardi opened his pizza shop in his grocery store in the lower west side of New York which would become known as Little Italy. It didn’t take long for others to follow and soon there were pizza places all over lower Manhattan. Today Lombardi’s still stands and is doing as good as ever in the exact same location and still using the same coal fired oven he began with all those years ago. In those early years, pizza was pretty much confined to the tri state are of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, but also would make its way to Boston, Detroit and Chicago, each creating their own style. It really wasn’t until after WW II that pizza began to take on a national look and could be found coast to coast. Then in the 60’s Pizza Hut began the move to pizza franchises of every description for the next 30 years. How some are still going is beyond me.

My first experience with pizza came in 1948 when Giovanni’s Pizza opened in the town in New jersey where I lived. It was a small place only a few tables and mainly people coming in ordering their pizza and then leaving with it. I remember the menu was very small. There were about 6 different kinds of pizzas, a meat ball on Italian bread, soft drinks and that was it. A large pizza cost $1 with sausage it was $1.25. That became a go to place through my teen years. Today, Giovanni’s is still there but now takes up the entire block with a huge restaurant, banquet hall, etc. The rest of my years was experiencing pizza in various areas of the country some good and great, some not so good or great. Down here, we became big fans of Hungry Howie’s and that was always our go to place. Today, the Hungry Howie’s I went to was 5 minutes from the house, not expensive and always good, However, after 30 years they shut down because the greedy landlord wanted to double their rent, so now it’s another empty store in the strip center.

With no Hungry Howie’s in the area and only the worst of the worst in the area (you know who they are). I decided to go in a totally different route I swore I would never do. That was to give frozen pizzas a try. I was in for one hell of a shock and surprise by the taste and money saved going this way.

At my local Family Walmart, one entire aisle in the frozen food area is devoted to pizza and almost every brand you can think of. The first thing I discovered was that the prices were under $8 and one brand Red Baron, had some that were under $5. At that price how good could they be? Not very I thought and that’s when I got another surprise. So, I bought four, a Great Value brand (Walmart) Meat Lovers that was $6.77. a Red Baron 4 Cheese that was $4.88, a Home Run Inn Sausage Pizza that was $6.88 and a Screamin’ Sicilian Pepperoni that was $6.98. Pizzas for les than $10, $15 or more? Will they even come close to a pizzeria place?

That was back in February after the Hungry Howie’s closed and I have since tried a couple of other brands and varieties and for the majority have been very pleased with the texture, the taste, the ingredients and most of all, the big savings dollar wise and a time when saving money is a must when shopping. So my advice is to stop being a pizza snob, give the frozen pizzas a shot and you will not regret it and love the money you save. In closing let me just say we enjoy a few different one, but our number one favorite of all of them is the Screamin’ Sicilian Pepperoni pie, second is Home Run Inn.. The sauce is out of this world, the amount of pepperoni will blow you away, the cheese melts perfectly and the crust is flaky and great crunch. For the price you can’t go wrong.

Hmmmmm, wonder what we’ll have for supper tonight while we watch the Rays-Jays game?

Art Koch, National Features & DVD Editor, NightMoves Magazine and AAN