Year Of The Pizza

Another day, another pizza adventure

Karin is something of a big deal in the pizza blogosphere these days.  She has a guest blogging gig on Slice, the undisputed go-to pizza blog.

Her latest foray is an attempt with her friend Ian to try every non-chain pizza place in Austin and review it on Austin Pizza Adventuring. When I first saw the blog, I invited the reclusive writers to Home Slice to try the best pizza in town, unaware that previous YotP guest Karin was behind it.

So they came.  I was very curious about their rules and how strict they were.  Who picks the toppings (they alternate, but it’s always a special combo of the house)?  How often (once a week)?  Which place is the best (House Pizzeria on Airport Blvd, so far).

They’re very big on bread and bread products, so they always get garlic bread or its equivalent if they can.  The found Home Slice’s garlic knots a little too chewy, but that’s fine, it’s not EXACTLY like they’re calling my grandkids ugly or anything.

We ordered a half eggplant parmesean pizza, and half meatballs, pepperoni, mushrooms and black olives.  Ian reviewed the former, Karin the latter.

The waitress asked if we wanted romano sprinkled on the eggplant parm side, and Ian affirmed that he did, if that was what the house recommended.  A few minutes later we saw a guy at a different table dousing his pizza in grated parmesean before he tried it.  Ian said that a great pizza should stand on its own, and that guy was obviously not living by his code.  I pointed out that it’s not much different to have the staff sprinkle romano before Ian tried it.  That stopped him for a hot second, and I could see the hamsters in his head spinning his wheels before he reasoned that he was offered the romano, which is not on the tables, by the waitress as a part of the pie.  Quasi-touche.

Despite the gravity of their endeavor, Karin and Ian don’t take themselves or their project too seriously, they’re just out to have some great pizza and become the local pizza experts.  They seemed pleased with Home Slice’s overall performance, but I don’t think it blew their socks off.  Nonetheless it was nice to be in the presence of such pizza aficionados.

Ian’s 25th birthday was right around the corner, and the plans sounded pretty epic.  Skydiving, chicken fried steak, tattoos, perhaps some drinking, etc.  I don’t know how it turned out, but there’s been posts since then, so I guess he lived through it.

Cost: $25.00 (I guess)
Total this year: $748

Damien, Colin and Analiese

Some of my friends from my capitol days have been loudly dropping hints about being taken to pizza for a while, so a few weeks ago we made it happen.  Despite Austin’s reputation as a liberal, politically active city, I find there’s not actually that many people that want to don fancy clothes and bear the hurricane-force winds of conservatism and lobbying that steamroll good ideas at the state capitol.  The number of lefty political types in Austin who know that “sunset” isn’t just isn’t always pretty is actually quite small.

And for those who actually want to make a real difference, the capitol can be a hard place long term.  The true-believers tend to get co-opted and absorbed or frustrated and defeated.  The life of a staffer is thankless and low-paying, and temptations to cash in through lobbying or getting some cushy state job can be strong.  But the legislative session is the only place where 20-somethings truly have the illusion of being to affect great change.

During the legislative session, we’re drowning in free food (provided by lobbyists), which we confuse for “happiness” or “work/life balance”.  When the session ends, however, free food becomes a lot more precious and exciting.

As the liberal wing of staffers, we tend to get depressed at our constant defeats, thus the need to drink.  So we went out for pizza and beer, although I think I passed on beer this time for some reason.

Damien was about to leave for Guinea to work as an election observer for the summer.  Naturally, as he was leaving his luck with the ladies increased, just when he was least able to enjoy it. He had a party a few weeks before and I stayed at his house until 5am drinking wine and tequila alternately while talking about social change, technology and girls.

Analiese and Colin (not to be confused with this Anneliese and Colin) just moved into a new house.  I give them shit for becoming suburban, quiet, boring types, but that’s mostly because I can’t afford to buy a house.  Colin gave me a few job leads which was nice, and Analiese was charming as always.  They rode their bike to Home Slice, which wins them a gold star in my book.

They were amenable to trying anchovies, and while I don’t remember if it was much of a hit, I do remember enjoying this pizza more than most.

Cost: $25.00 (I guess)
Total this year: $723

Erin seems happy enough

I really don’t remember much about this pizza, except that it had been a while since Erin had come along.  She enjoyed it.  Bas.

Cost: $25.00 (I guess)
Total this year: $698

Marcie and Elizabeth

That was the first line of an email from a girl I’d never met before.  For the record, when I was single, girls from around the country weren’t inviting themselves out to dinner with me too often.  Now they are.  Amazing how popular free Home Slice pizza makes you.

I was really curious to meet Elizabeth and her friend Marcie.  It takes cojones to invite strangers out to dinner just because you’ve read their blog.

She was sweet and perky, and this seemed somewhat out of character for her.  She’s an admissions officer with the University of Maryland at College Park, and was in town to recruit at a college fair and visit her friend Marcie who moved here recently.

They were super nice, and they seemed thrilled when I told them of my love of Baltimore.  I’m a big fan of hictchhiking as a means of transportation and adventure, and Baltimore has an ad hoc local hitchhiking ethos.  People just stand on the corner and wave their hand, and anyone with a car and a spare seat can pick you up and take you where you want to go for a small negotiable fee.  Love it!  Marcie said “it’s more of a crack whore thing”, but she’s tried it, and my crack-whore-dar wasn’t beeping too loudly around her.

I forget the toppings because it’s been so long, but they both loved the pizza.  I loved the beer, and we both enjoyed the meeting of fun strangers.

The very next night was an election, so Erin and I were working late running the receving substation for all the machines, paperwork, etc.  We got done and went to Doc’s for Texas beer night, and found Marie and Elizabeth there!  They were playing (and winning) gringo bingo while enjoying some local brews.  Marcie invited me to help her take care of a “$50 worth of free tacos on $1 crispy tacos night”, and we’re still trying to fix our schedules so it works.  Doc’s tacos aren’t very good, but I have a hard time turning down free food, so I hope we work it out soon.

I love meeting random people, but I frankly, I find it hard.  The people on the bus are generally not as excited to converse as I am.  Ditto the airplane.  I’m not a big bar person and think it’s easy to chit chat for five minutes, but hard to actually make plans with them later.

So this whole Elizabeth-out-of-the-blue thing worked real well.  She (and Elizabeth) were cool, the pizza was hot and delicious, the beer was cold and paid-for-by-them, and the conversation was fun.

Cost: $25.00 (I guess)
Total this year: $673

Buy me more pizza, I'll tell you how to get hired...

I’ve been trying to break into the alternative energy industry for about two years.  Bad timing, I know.

I met Will Ferguson who works in the biz and invited him to pizza a while ago, and he forwarded me an opening at a local start up.  I applied, and they wanted to interview me.  The night before I took Will out to pizza to pick his brain about what to expect and avoid.

The interview went pretty well (I thought), but I didn’t get the job.  I was REEEEEEEALLLLLY bummed for a while, it was really my dream job at a perfect little company.  It’s hard not to take such rejection personally, and frankly, my career/resume ain’t looking so hot these days.

But when I get bummed out, I remember that I’m the reigning back-to-back HOES champ, and things seem better.  I dab my tears on free pizza, and they go away.

Cost: $25.00 (I guess)
Total this year: $648

Kendle and Bryan, revisiting awesomeness

Year Of The Pizza vets Bryan and Kendle came back to visit Austin after their move to Dallas.  They’re really happy there, which I was a little surprised about.  I’m from Dallas too, and can’t imagine moving back.  I think they’re just good at finding the positive in any situation they find themselves in, which is a wonderful character trait.

So we had to hit up their fave foodie things: cupcakes at Sugar Mama’s, wings and beer at Shady Grove, pizza at Home Slice.  The wait at the ‘Slice was over an hour and a half, so we went to Shady Grove for beer and wings while we waited.  I recognized our waitress from the last HOES contest.  At first, I didn’t think she recognized me, and I wanted to say hi and reminisce, so when she came back with the drinks I said “Hi!  I’m Seth, from the HOES competition, how are you?”.

She already knew who I was.  “Hi”, she tersely said to me, before asking Bryan and Kendle if she could get them anything else.

Thus began the awkwardness.  She wouldn’t make eye contact with me the rest of the meal, always asking B&K if THEY wanted anything else, or how THEY’RE wings turned out.

It was so uncomfortable; I wasn’t aware that I had enemies since I left middle school.  Our personalities didn’t really connect at the contest, but I just chalked it up to lots of everything deprivation.  Guess not.  The wings were good though, thanks for asking!

So was the pizza.  They hadn’t had one in a while, and loved it.  It’s fun taking exuberant people to Home Slice.

Cost: $25.00 (I guess)
Total this year: $623

Ever get behind on a task, then put it off until it metastisizes and turns into a bigger task?  One that seems like more and more of a bear to tackle?  Shut up, yes this happens to you, I don’t care who you are.

Anyway, that’s me with this blog.  I was busy with work, then busy losing my job, busy with my bachelor party, and busy with wedding planning.  Good excuses or not, I’ve got a pile of posts I’ve been meaning to write, and in the meantime I’ve forgotten many toppings and details.  So in an effort to clear the deck without declaring pizza post bankruptcy, the next few posts will be short, sweet and vague.

Umarah and Omar and pizza

My best friend from the Michael Skelly 2008 congressional campaign, Omar Zakaria, came into town with his awesome wife (and my new facebook friend) Umarah this weekend.  Naturally, we hit up Home Slice.

Like me, Omar was looking for a new challenge when he heard about Skelly.  We both signed up for a low-pay, long-hours, high-stress gig that almost accomplished something no one thought possible: get a Democrat elected in Houston’s richest district.

We bonded over shared dietary restrictions, cultural self-deprecation, crazy donors and a shared love for the Dallas Mavericks.  Even though Omar’s from Houston, he knows greatness when he sees it ;).

One day, a Muslim restaurateur brought over a couple dozen halal personal pizzas.  Omar’s Muslim, I’m Jewish, and we were both hungry, so we tore up those pizzas.  I remember having at least three a day a few days in a row.  That period was not a pinnacle of health (No sleep and constant fundraising make Seth something something!), but it introduced me to a lifestyle where free pizza brightens an otherwise long day.

I met Umarah at the decidedly un-victorious Victory Party, and probably didn’t make too strong an impression through my drunken, teary lamentations.  So it was much nicer to enjoy a pizza with Omar and Umarah in more pleasant circumstances.

Like me, Omar hitched himself to a California girl, which means he gets to hear all about how Texas sucks all the time (except for Austin).  Omar and Umarah seemed to be having a nice time in Austin, although with the weather we had this weekend, I don’t know how anyone couldn’t enjoy themselves.

They liked Austin, and they loved Home Slice.  The topping deliberations were much easier since none of us eat pork.  They decided on garlic, kalamata olives, fresh mozzarella, fried eggplant, half spinach and half roasted red peppers.  It was a pretty good combo, I’m not sure which side was better.  I think the red pepper half has a slight edge.

Umarah is finishing up her MBA, and Omar’s looking to get one.  We talked about career stuff, long distance relationships, and the inevitable Dallas vs. Houston debate.  Just before I left Houston, Omar took me to get some tikka, which was pretty damn good.  So I took him to Home Slice, we’re even.  Omar, get into UT so you can move here.  My free pizza beats your un-free tikka any day.

Cost: $22.50
Total this year: $598

Free Pizza!

Erin’s high school friend and bridesmaid Paula came to Austin during SXSW with her friend Nata. They like to party. We got along well.

Even after dating Erin for nearly ten years (I know, I know), I’d never met Paula.  She was rumored to doubt my existence.  Well, I exist, as does free Home Slice Pizza.  She came to see both.

I met Paula and Nata when they caught up with Erin and I at Home Slice’s Music By The Slice.  We saw The Movits! kill it and owner Joseph sing onstage another band with lyrical help from his phone.  The Movits! were great, but I wasn’t feeling $20 for a CD, especially after my cuter and more female friends from out of town got ’em for $10.  Nevertheless the music was good, the weather perfect and the chillaxin’ was a maxin’.

The next night was pretty frigid, and we went to Homeslice before seeing Mos Def and DJ Jazzy Jeff downtown.  The wait was pretty intense, so we went out back to catch the last bit of the music.

Nata ordered a glass of wine, the rest of us had beer.  The pizza was great as usual.  I especially treasured Nata’s praise since she comes from Chicago and most visitors/immigrants from traditional pizza meccas know their pizza.  Paula liked the pizza as well.

Paula seemed quite smitten with Austin.  Sadly, not all of Austin (and Home Slice) offers up a free SXSW bounty year-round.  Although I don’t know if I could handle perma-SX.  It might be too much.

I had an unusual experience the day after Paula and Nata left.  I went to the corner store to buy some groceries for dinner, and looked in my walled expecting to see around $20.  Instead, I was quite surprised to see well over $100 happily occupying my wallet.  What happened?  Did I find tons of money on the ground again like I did that one time outside of Ego’s?  Did I rob a stripper (or my checking account)?  Quite a bit of my SXSW memories blur together, but I think I woulda remembered finding so much money.

I came home and told Erin, and she filled me in on the story.  The previous night we all bought too many pitchers of margaritas, and as I stepped outside to talk to my folks on the phone, Erin put them on our card while everyone else reimbursed us by putting money elusively into my wallet.  Mystery solved, although I’m sure I’ll reopen the case when I see a $150 bill for margaritas on my next bill.

It was nice to finally meet Paula, and Nata was a bag of fun as well.  I’m sure Erin’s told Paula lots of embarrassing stories about me through the years (if there are any…), so it was nice to take her out for pizza to bolster my reputation against any past or future character assassination.

Cost: $27.50
Total this year: $575.50