Despite what Tom Monaghan (former owner of Dominos Pizza and the Detroit Tigers) said in his book "Pizza Tiger", this magic slice of artery clogging bliss did NOT originate on an english muffin. It originated in Italy and was nothing more than common folks taking every leftover they had, throwing it on peasant bread, and baking it. Nothing more. They used what they had. While I'm quickly dealing with dispelling myths....
I'll take a quick detour: People who don't bother doing the slightest amount of research drive me absolutely nuts with their self-induced ignorance. Take nachos as the best example I can think of, and fajitas right behind it.
Nachos: NOT a popular food in Mexico. Those were created in 1943 at a restaurant in Mexico being put on the spot by a group of military wives who were very hungry, and the restaurant owner wanted to make the women happy (and full). So, he took what tortillas were left and cut them into triangles. He had some cheese and a few peppers. He laid said triangular shaped tortilla slices out, threw the cheese on top of said slices, and tossed it in the oven to melt the cheese, then placed a slice of pepper on top of each one after they were pulled out of the broiler. The women loved them, went back to Fort Duncan raving about them, and the phenomenon grew from there.
Fajitas: Houston, 1973....A restaurant owner had some leftover skirt steak, chopped peppers & onions, a few tortillas, and had an idea for a quick meal. POOF: Off it went to this very day where cast iron skillets are stinking up dining rooms in various yuppy burger joints, coast to coast.
THE END. Detour over.....
Pizza brought several classmates and I to work at one place and while the work environment was rather nasty, life beyond that building was fun as could be. We were young, stupid, strung out on one substance or another, loved it, but on the job we made customers VERY happy. It's a shame that the owner of this certain chain ended up making us employees look like idiots by reducing the size of those pizzas while raising prices at the same time. See, when something like that happens, guess who catches hell for it? The closest person available either in person, or on the phone. Most customers aren't stupid or blind. Some.....well, maybe I should save 'some' for another post. Believe me, delivery drivers see it ALL. Boy, did we ever.
What my group of friends/classmates and I produced back then was not just a product for the masses but a personal box of "We made this as if we were making it for ourselves.", and that's exactly how we trained new people each and every single time. That method was effective, and should be used in every restaurant, no matter what. If it were, product quality would skyrocket and customers probably wouldn't end up sick.
We may have been a bunch of 20 something banshees, but we didn't mess around when it came to literally doing our jobs right. Somehow, we kept in the backs of our minds that if we didn't give the satisfaction that our customers were looking for, they didn't order again and we were out of a job. Besides, it was also a combination of work ethic and competition with a few stores in the next couple of cities. We were more than happy to kick their asses on a weekly/monthly basis and did exactly that. There are a couple of people who read this that are probably wearing a BIG smile, right about now. You know who you are, and you know I'm telling the truth.
My parents almost bought the store where all of us worked, but we never could come to an agreement on anything, collectively. Had it taken place.....eh, to hell with the could've, should've and would've. That settles no scores from the past. I just wish they had, because I know what kind of product has been coming out of that place for the past....20+ years (though I haven't eaten one bite of it), yet I've been told by enough people who had OUR product and have compared it, repeatedly.
I don't like the current owner, and do I ever have my reasons. In fact, were I to see that owner out somewhere, I would probably pick up the nearest object and beat the shit out of him with it. That's okay, however, because what goes around comes around.....and from what I understand, his sorry ass got put in his place well enough, for now. If I were the type to 'out' someone (Yes, I mean out of the closet), I would go ahead and let all those church members know that his wife is nothing more than an ornament and always has been. There have been more opportunities to do that than I can count. But as I said, what goes around comes around. The right church member will run across his sneaky ass doing someone other than his ornamental wife, and away his frameable life will go.
I learned from working at that place, all those years ago, how to make pizza on my own. To date, I have received not the first complaint from anyone about what I make. Still to this day, I make pizza...even though it's now just me in the house. Why? Hell, why not? If you know where I live and know me, come on up and gain a few pounds for a day or so. It actually surprises me, after what all us friends/classmates endured at that old place, that I'm still passionate about how I make one, and it probably wouldn't bother me to open a restaurant. Lots of competition though, and contrary to cheap phrases, there is not always room at the top.
Fino alla prossima volta! (Until next time!)
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