Ali Baba

More phone cam pics.  I went over to the island for work a couple of weekends ago and a bunch of us were waiting in the ferry terminal for our boat.  I wasn't particularly starving, none of us were, but you do start looking at food when you're bored out of your mind. 

I was at my wit's end when I started to eye the pizza by the slice that had just come out of the oven. The name of the shop struck me as a weird place one might find pizza, but they had a hot and fresh pie that had just come out of the oven and I was tempted. Sucker born every minute because the last time I was in a ferry terminal and got pizza by the slice, I was severly disappointed.

This time, I'm not sure if it was because the pizza was literally seconds out of the oven, or if I was so bored, anything would have tasted good, but my slice of cheeze pizza (Yes, I had a slice of pizza with absolutely no meat in it whatsoever) actually wasn't bad, and definitely light-years ahead of Casa

Italia Pizza and Pasta. 

So, the pizza tasted good - fresh.  I seriously doubt it would be any good if it had sat under a heat lamp for more than 10 minutes, but as I had it, it wasn't bad.  One thing that I really didn't like was the price.  It came out to $5.25 for a single slice.  Heavily inflated pricing for what you get.  Next time, I think I will chose boredom.

FreshSlice Pizza

A new location just opened up around the corner from my workplace and I found a couple of coupons on the lunchroom table.

When we got there, it turned out that the large pop for $1.99 cost more than a slice of pizza. And here's where the wording on the coupon got on my nerves....Extra Large slice with purchase....all the slices were "Extra Large". I know I shouldn't harp on the clerk working there, but when I asked him where the "regular size" slices were, and he said there were none. So, Extra Large is not a comparison to any product they have. He feebly came up with how Panago and Pizza Hut had slices that were smaller....I didn't even acknowledge his explaination.

The pizza looked thin and shiny. My friend Rob ordered a slice and said it was just over the top greasy.  Pizza by the slice is pretty much the cheapest bit if food you can find in the area, but it would be complete and utter act of desperation for me to eat here.  I don't even have a picture to show for this review just yet, but don't hold your breath, it probably won't happen.

Pie R Squared

If you're a student at UBC, Pie R Squared is a great place to grab a quick and cheap bite to eat.  As far as pizza by the slice is concerned, it's ok.  It's nothing compared to Romano's downtown, but really, it's the best bang for your buck at this overpriced university.

After my Iaido class on Tuesday nights, I sometimes go with my sensei and other students over tio The Pit for a pint, and I usually stop by Pie R Squared to bring a slice with me.  Itès hit and miss, sometimes I end up with a slice that's been sitting there all day and pretty dried out, other times, I manage to catch them right as they bring a fresh pie out of the oven.  The service is usually friendly, the only crappy thing is they close around 9pm or so.

Romano's Pizza

Romano's Pizza has arguably the best bang for your buck by-the-slice pizza known to mankind. Quick and easy, ready in a minute, tasty as hell, and dirt cheap. Two slices for $3.57 and a can of pop, you really can't go wrong. I really have no idea how other fast-food (A la Rotten Ronnie's - who still have not brought back the ORANGE DRINK - DAMN YOU RONALD!) places can compete.
I have no idea what these two were, one of them had ground beef, seasoned to perfection...the meat was almost sweet. The other had some pesto, and I can't tell you the names of either of these flavours, but they were good. Note the sesame seeds on the crust....nice touch
Normally, I can't stand Hawaiian pizza, but I have to say that Roman's Hawaiian pizza really did it for me. I can't even describe in words why it it was so good, you'll just have to trust me on it. I didn't even bother taking a picture of it because I thought it would suck, so here's another picture of whatever I had myself......I'll defintely go back for more pictures.

Fried Chicken and Pizza...you can't go wrong.

Without a care in the world, my brother, our friends and myself would occasionally gorge ourselves on the worst possible combination of junk food.....Fried Chicken and Pizza. We would have events called wing night, or chicken night, or pizza night, but in reality, it was just get fat night. None of us were really grotesquely overweight, but not exactly healthy either.

Between the 3 or 4 of us, we would order two large Meat Lover's pizza from Pizza Hut, and 20 or so peices of fried chicken from L.A. Chicken in Richmond, and two buckets of their awesome gravy.

L.A. Chicken, formerly known as Lee's Chicken, has incredibly tasty fried chicken. Their fried chicken has the flavour of KFC, but the crunchy, chrispy style coating of Church's Chicken....the best of both worlds. L.A. Chicken also has the world's best gravy in that it tastes exactly like the skin/coating. It's like liquid skin......truly a beautiful thing. I have an image of my friend drinking this stuff and I'll post it if I can ever find it. We don't go there much because their hours are kind of wierd and there's only one location that we know of. Out of sheer laziness, we usually go to Church's. Anyways, again this picture is done with my crappy old Mavica so it's low quality. I think this image was taken on my brother's birthday, back in July, 2001.

L.A. Chicken has awesome fried chicken, no more needs to be said...

Actually, a side story on the aftermath of this event. We knew that we weren't going to eat all the food so in advance, we cut the pizza crusts off and put them aside. The next day, we took those crusts, chopped them up, and stir fried them in a frying pan with some chopped jalepenos. We threw them in a giant dish, crumbed some mozzarella chunks and poured the left-over gravy (that glorious liquified deep-fried-chicken-skin) on top of that - our own creation - Pizza-crust poutine.