Pizza tour of Asia

My name is Rich Amoroso, and I am a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra violin section. Each year the orchestra tours a different part of the world. I have been a member of the orchestra for ten years now and have traveled to many parts of the world. This year marks my 3rd trip to Asia (Japan, Korea and China.)

I find that one of the most important events when you tour is what you find to eat. Now I will try most anything, but what I crave most is pizza. Ever since I can remember, pizza has been a very important part of my life. Just about every Friday evening in an Italian-American household is filled with pizza. When I was a young child, I remember fondly my grandmother letting the homemade dough rise in the afternoon and then eating some of the most incredible pizza later that evening.

To this day my wife and kids and myself have pizza just about every Friday from the same brick oven place in West Chester. (However this is not my favorite) So going on tour (especially to Asia) somewhat crimps my style in this department. So I decided that on this particular tour I would sample different pizzas from each city that we travel to and rate each one. I prefer plain pizza, so it will be pretty simple to compare each one.

Each pizza will be rated by the amount of slices.
For example 8 out of 8 slices will be a perfect rating (the whole pie)
The categories will be:
1. Crust/Bread
2. Sauce (or gravy as I grew up calling it.)
3. Cheese
4. Presentation (thickness, freshness, or other wildcard factors.

So today is Friday May 23rd (morning) and here I go. (I will most definitely have pizza later today, after all it is Friday.)

Baseline pizza
My favorite:Lorenzo's Pizza (3rd and South in Philly)
1. Crust/Bread 7 slices out of 8
2. Sauce 8 slices out of 8 (wonderful natural sweet taste.)
3. Cheese 7 slices out of 8 (never greasy)
4. Presentation 8 slices out of 8 (wonderful large thin slices, 2 is a meal, 3 and I'm stuffed)

Overall 7.5 Don't see how any pizza in Asia will beat this . (I would have given it an 8 (the whole pie) but my friend Burchard said that I should leave room for the miraculous)

Villa Pizza Kitchen (at Philly International Airport) have to have one more go around before I leave for Asia
1. Crust 5/8
2.Cheese 5/8
3. Sauce 6/8
4. Presentation 5/8

Overall rating is a 5.
This pizza was OK, a little thick and greasy, but after 3 weeks in Asia, this might taste like Lorenzo's.



American Airlines pizza. Yup, they offered it on the plane so of course I was going to have it and rate it. I will never turn down pizza.

1. Crust 5/8
2. Cheese 4/8
3. Sauce 3/8 thick and pasty
4. Presentation 3/8 It was a deep dish (Chicago style). Yo, I'm from Philly, now c'mon.

Overall 3.5 and that was being generous, especially given the fact that my Flight Attendant was nasty, my tray table was lopsided, and the plug for my earphones was broken on a 13hour flight. I will post later today after I eat pizza. I am looking forward to pizza in Tokyo. Wish me luck.