🍕 Stay up-to-date with the latest headlines and hottest conversations from the pizza world on Pizza Roundtable, part of the I Need Pizza Club Network!

Jim hosts this week's Pizza Roundtable. Chicago's tavern versus thin crust naming fight, a Tombstone candy corn pizza, a Pope Leo pizza box and a filet mignon pie on r/PizzaCrimes.

This week's top stories include:

🔪 Tavern Style or Thin Crust? Chicago Fights Over a NameBlock Club Chicago ran John Carruthers' piece on whether Chicago's square-cut thin pizza should be called tavern style or thin crust, including a 172,000-member Facebook group that bans the word tavern. Jim and Billy Z both say tavern style, since thin crust means something different outside Chicago, and refuse to get heated about it (Block Club Chicago).

🥩 Filet Mignon Pizza: Crime or Fair Game?A Brazilian filet mignon pizza with green olives topped the week's r/PizzaCrimes. Both hosts acquit it: Billy says the olive brine balances the rich meat, and both would slice the steak thin and add it after the bake (Reddit (r/PizzaCrimes)).

🎃 Tombstone's Candy Corn Pizza Is a StuntParade.com covered Tombstone's limited candy corn pizza, with more drops on the 9th and 23rd. Jim and Billy Z call it a clickbait stunt, with Billy arguing it is pure sugar with no flavor and Jim saying the brand name already fits Halloween (Parade.com).

⛪ Aurelio's Pope Leo Box Gets a Rare YesBlock Club Chicago reported on Aurelio's Pizza debuting a Pope Leo pizza box for its most famous customer, the Chicago-born pope and White Sox fan. Billy Z, who produced the White Sox World Series, and Jim both love it as one of those rare stories everyone agrees on (Block Club Chicago).

🎟️ New Haven Pizza Lands on a Connecticut ScratcherThe Stamford Advocate reported that New Haven pizza is now on a Connecticut lottery scratch-off. Billy Z likes New Haven's crisp texture and admits he dislikes Neapolitan, while Jim says Pizza Place would be the best pie in town if it were in New Haven (Stamford Advocate).

📚 Pizza Hut Brings Book It Back With Lil Hut LibrariesWFTV reported that Pizza Hut will launch Lil Hut Libraries in October, a nod to the Book It program, with books and personal pan pizza gift cards. Billy Z recalls Book It and the Pizza Hut X-Men arcade game, and the hosts say they back anything that gets kids reading (WFTV).

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Episode Timestamps:00:00 - Intro / Catch-Up16:07 - Tavern Style or Thin Crust? Chicago Fights Over a Name22:54 - Filet Mignon Pizza: Crime or Fair Game?26:32 - Tombstone's Candy Corn Pizza Is a Stunt29:52 - Aurelio's Pope Leo Box Gets a Rare Yes33:29 - New Haven Pizza Lands on a Connecticut Scratcher35:39 - Pizza Hut Brings Book It Back With Lil Hut Libraries

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🍕 Stay up-to-date with the latest headlines and hottest conversations from the pizza world on Pizza Roundtable, part of the I Need Pizza Club Network!

Jim Mumford and Will Dumas cover Domino's disappointing Detroit-style pie, an AI Ninja Turtle calling customers morons, and London topping the world's best pizza list.

This week's top stories include:

🍕 New Jersey Shop Piles Totino's Rolls on a Bar PieMola Lisa Pizza in New Jersey tops a well-made bar pie with Totino's pizza rolls, what Jim calls Inception Pizza, and also sells a Nutella and marshmallow fluff sprinkle pie. Both hosts say they would try it, with Jim wanting ranch on the side.

😬 Washington Post Calls Domino's Detroit Pie a LetdownThe Washington Post reviewed Domino's new single-serve pan pizza, called the Domino, and found the crust spongy and disappointing at eight dollars. Jim argues it should not even be judged as Detroit style since it skips the classic cheese and crust elements, while Will says visually it still reads as Detroit to most people (The Washington Post).

🔢 Scientific American Slices Pizza Into 31 PiecesScientific American explains Moser's circle problem, a 1949 number sequence showing how straight cuts can split one pizza into up to 31 unequal pieces. Jim and Will riff on the puzzle, then argue about cutting styles, from Frank Pepe's rough knife work to their own preference for narrow, even slices (Scientific American).

🐢 AI Ninja Turtles Call Chicago Customers MoronsDexerto reported that a 90s-themed Chicago pizza shop's AI Ninja Turtles phone agent called complaining customers morons and dorks, sparking a wave of review bombing. Will says this is exactly where AI ordering falls apart, while Jim thinks a cheekier, more in-character tone would have kept people from getting so upset (Dexerto).

📍 Domino's Pizza Tracker Started the Tracking TrendNPR's Planet Money traces how Domino's 2008 Pizza Tracker became the template for the delivery and rideshare status updates everyone uses now. Jim and Will agree it was likely the first tracker of its kind and admit they both stared at that screen obsessively back in college, even knowing it was never fully accurate (NPR (Planet Money)).

🏆 Napoli on the Road Tops the 50 Top Pizza ListThe new 50 Top Pizza world rankings, covered via Condé Nast, put London's Napoli on the Road at number one, with Una Pizza Napoletana falling to second. Jim and Will are surprised by how much of the list is non-Italy and non-US, pointing to spots in Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Madrid and Los Angeles cracking the top ten (Condé Nast).

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Episode Timestamps:00:00 - Intro / Catch-Up04:52 - New Jersey Shop Piles Totino's Rolls on a Bar Pie08:18 - Washington Post Calls Domino's Detroit Pie a Letdown12:01 - Scientific American Slices Pizza Into 31 Pieces15:24 - AI Ninja Turtles Call Chicago Customers Morons20:15 - Domino's Pizza Tracker Started the Tracking Trend23:48 - Napoli on the Road Tops the 50 Top Pizza List

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Connect with the I Need Pizza Club Network► Subscribe for weekly pizza news updates!► Follow I Need Pizza Club on Instagram and YouTube: @Ineedpizzaclub► Follow Will Dumas: @FunnieWill► Follow Jim Mumford: @JimCooksFoodGood

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

🍕 Stay up-to-date with the latest headlines and hottest conversations from the pizza world on Pizza Roundtable, part of the I Need Pizza Club Network!

Anna Crucitt, Will Dumas and Jim Mumford welcome Chicago's John Carruthers to Pizza Roundtable for Ohio Valley pizza crimes, a flour fight over Tokyo-style Neapolitan, and Domino's million-dollar giveaway.

This week's top stories include:

🚨 Ohio Valley Pizza: Crime or Comfort Food?In the recurring Pizza Crimes segment, the panel looks at a Reddit r/PizzaCrimes photo of Ohio Valley style from a Fayetteville, NC food truck; guest John Carruthers, author of a book on Midwest pizza, says the cold-cheese, room-temperature style is Ohio spreading into West Virginia and Tennessee, citing chain DeCarlo's, which has more locations there than in Ohio (Reddit (r/PizzaCrimes)).

🍶 Anna: Swap the Flour, Drop 'Neapolitan'Covering PMQ's look at Tokyo-style Neapolitan pizza, Will says he's excited to see more of it open in New York and John says Chicago eaters haven't caught on yet, but Anna argues that if the dough isn't made with flour milled in Naples, it isn't Neapolitan, and shops should just call it Tokyo style. John agrees, dubbing any flour-swapped version 'sparkling pizza.' (PMQ Pizza).

🗽 NYC's First-Ever Pizza Week Debuts Sept 20Time Out New York previewed the city's first-ever Pizza Week, running September 20 through October 4 with more than 20 shops including Paulie Gee's, Stretch and Slicehaus each running a one-off slice (Time Out New York).

📸 Was This 1976 Photo Chicago's First Slice Shop?PMQ's Pizza Hall of Fame piece asks whether a 1976 photo shows Chicago's first pizza-by-the-slice shop; John loves the yellow-t-shirt, mustache and wallpaper aesthetic in the photo but says it depends on what counts as a 'slice.' Anna counters with her own family stake in the debate, her cousin's Frank's Pizza in Ambridge, PA, which has sold New York-style slices for 67 years and where the founder's wife still makes pizza there in her nineties (PMQ Pizza).

🤖 Papa John's Is 85% Digital Orders NowRestaurant Dive detailed Papa John's turnaround, a new POS system, AI demand forecasting and an AI ordering assistant, with 85% of orders already coming through app, website or third-party delivery. John calls the AI-assistant coverage obvious PR-firm copy but says he's glad to have a machine to blame when an order goes wrong, while Will says he'd welcome a suggestion for a pizza he has never tried, based on his past orders (Restaurant Dive).

💥 Domino's $1M Giveaway Crashed in a DayPMQ Pizza reported on Domino's promo sending customers to buy a Big Mac, Whopper or Crunchwrap Supreme first, then upload the receipt at IsTheDominoWorthIt.com for a free single-serve Domino pizza; the site burned through its $1 million budget and crashed in 24 hours instead of running the planned month (PMQ Pizza).

From whether Ohio Valley pizza deserves the crimes label to whether swapped flour disqualifies a pie from being Neapolitan, this one has sides.

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Episode Timestamps:00:00 - Intro / Catch-Up08:41 - Ohio Valley Pizza: Crime or Comfort Food?14:46 - Anna: Swap the Flour, Drop 'Neapolitan'20:40 - NYC's First-Ever Pizza Week Debuts Sept 2029:23 - Was This 1976 Photo Chicago's First Slice Shop?33:45 - Papa John's Is 85% Digital Orders Now39:29 - Domino's $1M Giveaway Crashed in a Day

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Connect with the I Need Pizza Club Network► Subscribe for weekly pizza news updates!► Follow I Need Pizza Club on Instagram and YouTube: @Ineedpizzaclub► Follow Anna Crucitt: @Anna.Crucitt► Follow Mercurio's: @MercuriosPGH► Follow Will Dumas: @FunnieWill► Follow Jim Mumford: @JimCooksFoodGood

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.