Z Pizza is 'z' pizza

If you're lucky enough to have a Z Pizza store near you, then you've encountered one of the premier pizza chains in the country. They aren't everywhere (sorry Mom, none in Michigan yet), but it seems like they have appeal to pizza fans of all types. Riding the organic wave, this eatery is filled with organic ingredients, but also healthy ones too. (Yes, organic does not equal healthy.) With items like the 100% certified organic Montana Winter Flour whole wheat crust, which is highly flavorful but even more highly fiberful, you can instantly replace some empty pizza crust calories with fiber and nutrients. They also have a gluten free crust available and one of the best white pizza crusts I've ever tried.

Their low-fat Wisconsin mozzarella is a charmer among their selection of at least six cheeses. This includes parmesan, feta, gorgonzola, ricotta and even soy cheese. The mozzarella for being low in fat tastes just as good as any other pizza mozzarella, which was a nice surprise.

They seem to care not only about health but about flavor. Their available sauces include a 100% certified organic tomato sauce which was delicious, along with barbecue, pesto (basil or chipotle), roasted garlic, and Thai.

And their premium pizza topping list is impressive to say the least, complete with all the regular toppings, but shining brightest with kalamata olives, three kinds of wild mushrooms, four kinds of chicken (grilled, barbecue, lime and chicken sausage), pine nuts, avocado, artichoke hearts, truffle oil and even veggie sausage. To make the pizza really pop, they will add fresh cilantro, basil, oregano or oil on to your pizza for no additional charge.

It is so fun to build a pizza at Z Pizza, because you can customize it to be just how you like it – as healthy or unhealthy as you want, as complex or simple as you want, as vegetarian or meaty or vegan as you want, even as gluten free as you want. And the pizzas look gorgeous and taste fresh every time. So maybe it's a few dollars more for our pizza nights now that we go to Z Pizza. But as Julia says, “I'll always pay a couple more dollars to get something that's exactly what I want...and perfect.” I couldn't agree more.

My Seasick Crocodile

I'm one of the millions of Americans who no longer eat fast food. And the fast food industry doesn't really care about us. Why care when there are even more millions who think fast food is wonderful, convenient and if nothing else, unavoidable.

I think I discovered this recently when Julia was interviewing me as part of an assignment for her Consumer Behavior course. I had to talk about brands I “hate” and why. Inevitably, the conversation degenerated to fast food brands. The brands we all began internalizing even as toddlers when words like “happy meal,” “whopper” and “biggie” became parts of our early vocabularies. “Why should I care about fast food brands,” the twenty something me who hasn't eaten fast food in more than a year asked me. “They're all roughly the same -- unhealthy, unnatural and oh yeah, really unhealthy.” And instead of the reassurance I was expecting from myself, the eight year old me replied to Julia, “I like Wendy’s best, then McDonald’s second and I hate Burger King!”

Huh?! Are you meaning to tell me that after four years of fast food abstinence that I still have a taste for it, and even a preference? I disgust myself a little.

Well okay, I guess those images we glean as children stay with us, no matter what common sense prevails. And I suppose that means that I still like cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets and French fries, and given the hypothetical fat-free choice among the three of them, I'd take the least worst – the seasick crocodile. Which I guess in my case is Wendy’s. Why? Probably because my parents liked it the best growing up? And McDonald’s second. Why? Probably because my parents liked it least when I was growing up. (Hey, I had to rebel somehow!) And Burger King least. Why? I have no idea. Because one had to be the worst to me? Because of some bad birthday party experience with an super scary clown? Or a Burger King perhaps forgot to make my burger “plain” one too many times. Or maybe my unsophisticated tastes hated that “burned” taste of Burger King actually attempting to grill their burgers (whatever that means). Well who knows, but somehow Wendys’ and McDonalds’ mega advertising/branding campaigns (likely hoping to reel in youths for life) succeeded on me, but BK’s failed miserably.

And now all is left of my fast food consumption is a skeleton preference ranking with Burger King still squarely last. I guess their chances of winning my business when I was a little kid and actually “hated” them was actually better than now when the three are as close to indifferent as my childhood prejudices can possibly allow.

“Could Burger King do anything to gain your favor over the other two, at least in your hypothetical,” Julia asked inquisitively.

BK ever become by seasick crocodile? “Sure,” I responded facetiously. “Become healthy. Honest to goodness, top to bottom, 100% healthy without losing the taste and I'd be there every day. From whole grain buns to no trans fat ever to everything in between. Do what you need to do. I don't care, but make it healthy.”

If it's impossible, then none of them will ever get my business (or any of the other millions of fast food naysayers’) and Burger King will never get my hypothetical vote. It never won me over with taste, so if it can’t win me over with health then Burger King will never be my seasick crocodile.

Unchain Thyself

We all end up going to big chain restaurants sometimes. You know what I mean: the super chains. As you can probably tell from what and where I typically eat, it's not my favorite. In theory, a restaurant being successful enough to have multiple stores should mean that the place is (at least at some point) good. Why would a place open more stores if it didn't have success in its model? I would hope that some element of goodness would indicate success in the ultra-competitive restaurant industry. Given this assumption, it's the gradual deterioration over time and size that makes most of these restaurants rather abhorrent.

I find that there are several exceptions to the rule that chain restaurants are bad. Don't worry. Not for fast food. Not for any of the true super chains either. The real exceptions come in several areas.

Nice places: I'm sure by this time a few chains have probably popped into your head that are lovely counterexamples to my current claim. You would love to go to these places! Places like fancy steakhouses Ruth's Chris, Morton's and Capital Grille, seafood places like McCormick & Schmick's and Legal Seafood, or nicer novelty places like Benihana and Melting Pot. I have been to many of these places, and they are all quite enjoyable. Would I choose one of these over a smaller steak or seafood place with a possibly more unique, creative and/or personal vibe that I may not be able to get in every city, the answer is no. But all the same, I am not lumping these into the bleak abyss of the super chains, because at least these ones try.

Chef places: Celebrity chefs and chef-restaurateurs often create a brand of restaurant after themselves. While these are not always good, I don’t believe these deserve to fall into the Avoid-Me chains by face value alone because these are usually nicer places, and usually have a real person/chef/owner that cares about the reputation of, well, his or her OWN name. Not always. But as a rule of thumb, these places are worth trying.

Smaller places: By this I mean more localized chains. Usually when there is more than one of a local restaurant that is a good sign. It means it has done extremely well and is extremely popular with locals and tourists alike. This means it is just an expanded version of the original, rather than a completely corporate, profit-driven, stripped-down, boring and unhealthy option like most. You might be surprised by how good these places are. For now. How do you think some of the super chains got started?

In my quest to deride super chains without mentioning any specifically, I feel the need to shout out to a super chain I have just recently tried. And enjoyed. Quite a lot! We went twice! Don Pablo’s. If you haven’t heard of it, that’s okay. It’s not the hugest of super chains (if that makes any sense). But it does have $2 drafts, $3 margaritas; they also make their own fresh corn chips and freshly made tortillas to go along with their tasty, fresh entrees. That pretty much makes a Mexican place a winner for me, and strangely, most small, authentic Mexican places don’t even make their own chips/tortillas. It makes so much difference, plus the cheap drinks, that they have actually moved away from the realm of bad super chain restaurants into a full-fledged recommendation from me.

Armed with my rules of thumb, I imagine you’ll be all set to face the scary world of chain restaurant selection. Or if you get bored, go find a DP’s.