I have already talked about Greco, but recently they had a special that was so ridiculous I had to try it. As expected, it proved worthy of its own post.
Behold the Double Decker:
From the photo, I’m sure you’re all thinking, “That must be a stuffed-crust pizza.” And you would be right. But also so very, very wrong. For look upon what is revealed once a slice is removed!
That’s right. It’s a stuffed pizza pizza. The entire inside of the pizza has toppings throughout, and then it’s like another pizza was slapped down on top.
It should come as no surprise that I went for the six-meat variety of Double Decker pizza. Much like the oft-maligned KFC Double-Down, this was so ridiculous that I had to try it. And like said ridiculous foodstuff, it turned out to be a bit disappointing. I mean, it tasted good in my mouth, and I’m glad I tried it, but I probably wouldn’t do it again.
My Double Decker experience did offer some crucial insight into pizza, however.
Its key drawback, I felt, was the drastically imbalanced ratio of toppings to crust. There were bites where all I could taste was ground beef, because the middle toppings leaned heavily in that direction and the top and bottom layers of crust were so very thin—I might as well have been eating a hamburger instead of a pizza. Now, I loves me a hamburger, but it is not pizza and not an equivalent experience.
That was the insight. The importance of balancing all the aspects of the pizza: crust, sauce, cheese, toppings—if any one of these drastically overpowers the rest, then it doesn’t really come across as pizza. The delicious awesomeness of pizza is in the balancing of those factors against each other.
(To be clear, even pizzas with those main factors imbalanced can still be—and usually are—delicious, as was the case with the Double Decker. Such concoctions do not achieve the pizza perfection that I seek, however.)
All in all, I would have preferred a regular Greco pizza to the Double Decker, but now I know. And knowing is half the battle.
The more you know, the more you grow. With the selection of pizza in St. John’s, I don’t think I would ever pick Greco. Not that I dislike to any extent, just more awesome townie pizza abounds.
Here’s a confession. I’m tired of all-meat pizzas now. I like a good variety of toppings. Stuff that doesn’t feel like it’s going to clog up my arteries is what I like now.
I’m glad you tried the double decker pizza. Now I don’t think I never need try it myself.
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