There are some things in life that are reserved solely for Sundays: studying, calling home to Mom, doing laundry for the month. Most important, though, is football. Whomever you cheer for-the Packers, the Bears-at around noon, the gridiron glory begins and lasts far into the night.
It is during this time that phones begin to ring off the hook at restaurants that deliver-even hunger and hangovers are not justification for getting out of that easy chair when your team is ahead 14-0. It is at this hour that a pizza parlor is at its worst-and most likely to suffer defeat in a little challenge we like to call The Daily Cardinal Pizza Poll.
A Daily Cardinal tradition dating back to the '70s, the Pizza Poll has long served as a guide to all purveyors of the perfect pie. This year, our group of taste testers analyzed five local pizza producers unique to Madison-no corporate giants here.
We called each restaurant and asked them to deliver the best pizza they had to our offices. We timed their delivery, waited for our pies, and tipped well. Then, we ate until sauce stained our shirts and cheese clumped in our stomachs, all the while evaluating each bite for the sake of our readers. The results are below, in order from best to worst.
1501 Monroe St., 250-4797
Delivery Time: 27 minutes
Price: $6.85
Typically, ordering a pizza is a pretty boring task. The Urban Pizza Company, though, made the task a little less dull. The employee who took our order was pleasant, and for one reason or another, seemed genuinely happy to be working that day. The real delight, however, came when the pizza arrived in less than a half-hour-time to dig in.
\This is, for sure, the prettiest pizza,"" exclaimed taster Luisa before taking a bite of the Adoris. Not only was this pizza the most visually appealing, it was also the best tasting. With unique ingredients like a pesto-smeared tomato slice, roasted red pepper, fresh spinach, and an olive oil and garlic sauce, the Adoris impressed the critical tasters with its robust flavor. It was much less greasy than most of the other pizzas, and even the crust was seasoned to perfection. The zealous attention to detail scored big points with the tasters. Clearly, The Urban Pizza Company is doing something different with their pizza, and they are doing it right. As the only pizza without tomato sauce or haphazardly-placed toppings, the Adoris really stood out from the competition. Even though the ingredients may seem intimidating to some, this pizza would impress even the pickiest eater.
319 N. Frances St., 257-0597
Delivery Time: N/A
Price: $2.75 per slice
Ian's Pizza, a popular late-night palate-pleaser, came through and pleased the crowd once again. Of their large variety of pizzas offered to please every individual taste, testers tried the Spicy Chicken pizza which was loaded with spicy chicken, chopped green and red peppers and onions. The chicken was of great quality and there was plenty of it. It was very spicy as well, so for anyone with a low tolerance for spicy food, opt for another of Ian's wide variety of pizzas. The vegetables were fresh and tasty, and their various colors added to the visual appeal. The other draw to Ian's pizzas is their amazing crust. It is crunchy, chewy, flavorful, and consistently resembles the perfect pizza crust. The combination of the crust and the toppings made for a pizza that was pleasing to the palate as well as the eyes.
5003 University Ave., 218-9000
Delivery Time: 46 minutes
Price: $9.00
Glass Nickel offered their Feta-licious pizza for testers to try. Reigning as their ""No. 1 pizza,"" this comes loaded with chunky tomato sauce, spinach, red onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, their special blend of cheese plus feta cheese. The abundance of toppings, some of which were difficult to identify, was a bit intimidating at first, however appearance is only part of a pizza, and as one tester put it, ""tastes better than it looks."" The sauce was tasty and was one of the stronger points of the pizza. The vegetables weren't as fresh as possible, but were acceptable. The signature ingredient, however, was the feta. While it is a matter of personal taste whether you appreciate feta cheese, it seemed to go over fairly well with testers. While Glass Nickel wasn't the overall favorite, it was acceptable and does seem to cater to more individual, unique tastes.
1301 Regent St., 256-0600
Delivery Time: 29 minutes
Price: $14.99
First things first. Rocky's should not be penalized for lack of effort. This was the only place that supplied plates, silverware, napkins, parmesan cheese and mints with the order, but the order itself was another story. A piece of plastic was clinging to the top of pizza, serving no apparent purpose other than drawing attention to its excessive greasiness. Underneath the plastic was, as a taster put it, ""a pretty mundane pizza."" Made with Rocky's secret pizza sauce and a combination of real Wisconsin cheeses, the Cheese Works left the tasters a bit confused. The dough had a strange sweet taste that did not compliment the rest of the ingredients and the cheeses were far less than impressive. The only thing that saved this pizza was the sausage. Although overwhelmingly large, it was the only ingredient with an appetizing flavor. This order also came with free breadsticks and a funny-tasting dipping sauce but we'd rather forget about those...
406 S. Park St., 255-9090
Delivery Time: 2 hours, 17 minutes
Price: $10.12
The man who answered the phone at Falbo Bros. Pizza seemed to be having a bad day-he was utterly unenthused and didn't seem to know much about the menu. Next, because one of the Falbo deliverymen broke down on the Beltline, we received our pie more than two hours after ordering. We decided to give Falbo the benefit of the doubt and hoped the pizza was worth the wait.
It wasn't. Opening the pizza box alone proved to be a feat, and when we tasted what sat inside, we knew why Falbo wanted us to keep the lid on. Falbo gave us The Works, a pie topped with mushrooms, peppers, olives and other unrecognizable veggies. Although the ingredients looked fresh and colorful, we had had enough after a few bites. Strangely, a slimy substance coated the bottom of the pizza, generating a feeling of abhorrence among the group. This was a deep dish pizza, yet the dough was weak, causing the pizza to droop and toppings to fall off when we picked up a slice. Due to odd textures and unagreeable flavor, the tasters decided that nothing ""Works"" about this pizza.
