After a couple of year spate of new spots pushing the slow fermented crust, Neapolitan style pizza, it’s inevitable that some new wave would sweep through this pizza obsessed city. Currently, it’s the opening of very “North American” style pizzerias. I’ve mentioned a couple in recent posts, like TouchDown Pizza Neoyorkina, Chicago Style Pizza, and Togni’s Pizza. I’m waiting for someone to open a Detroit style pizzeria, I just know it’s coming.

Now, what is “North American” pizza? Setting aside specific regional variations, like NY, Chicago, Detroit, California, etc., etc., there is a style that’s sort of instantly recognizable to most Americans as “our” pizza. It’s basically the style offered up by the big chains – Domino’s, Little Caesar’s, Papa John’s, and the like. It’s usually more of a delivery pizza, in many cities these places don’t have onsite dining available. It’s got a soft crust, usually slightly crunchy on the bottom, a somewhat sweeter style tomato sauce with a decent amount of garlic and herbs, but not generally spicy, often a mix of mozzarella and other cheese, like provolone or brick or white cheddar, and toppings that are cooked either under or over the cheese, but at the same time as the rest of the pizza.

Pizzas by Kansas, Araoz 991, Palermo – This is identified on the map as a location of Burger 54, the norteamericano burger chain owned by the folk behind Kansas, the Houston’s knock-off chain that’s been here for around two decades now. I’m not sure if they’ve just added pizzas to their menu, or if they’ve dropped the burgers and are just offering pizzas for delivery and takeout. Now, they don’t advertise as an American style pizza, but given their other ventures, and just the general style of the pizza delivered, that seems to be what they’re going for. Unfortunately, it’s just not a very good representation. The crust is pillowy and flavorless, though nicely browned underneath it’s almost raw on top. The sauce is reasonably good, albeit too sweet for my tastes. The cheese is decent, but the pepperoni is awful – it has little flavor, it’s almost like little rounds of baloney that have, maybe, some paprika added to them. After trying a couple, I just picked off the slice and tossed them in the trash and ate about half the pizza. The rest sat in the refrigerator a couple of days and then got tossed.

 

Power-Up Pizza, Av. Córdoba 1840, Once – A new three-location chain (one in Palermo on Honduras and one in Belgrano on Superi). This one just popped up on my Instagram feed, and it looked good, good enough that I’ve ordered from them twice now. I’ll say this, it reminds me immediately, of Domino’s pizza, but in the best possible way. The dough is flavorful, it could use a little longer in the oven to get browner, but it’s cooked through. The sauce is zesty and abundant. And the toppings are spot on.

The first one is half “Beef Beast” which probably is a bad translation of “Bestía de Carne”, and should have been translated as “Meat Beast”, since it’s a mix of pepperoni, ham, bacon, and salami, each of which was a really good version. The other half is the “Spettacola”, Italian for “Spectacular”, and is a mix of mini-meatballs that were decent, and really good Italian fennel sausage. The second pie (which apparently the delivery kid stuck in his bag on a tilt, is half vegetable (mushrooms, green peppers, red onions, black olives), and half pepperoni, with a mix of mozzarella and provolone. I liked it too, though the first combo was more my speed. Overall, while Togni’s here in town is easily the closest to NY style pizza, this is probably the best, and closest, I’ve seen to generic American pizza.

 

Sbarro, Av. Corrientes 1267, San Nicolas – Oh boy…. You know, I lived in New York City or surrounds for a bit over 23 years. I’m fairly certain that in that time I never once set foot in a Sbarro. Though I’d never tried NY style pizza before moving to the city to go to grad school, there was something about the shininess of the place that screamed “tourist trap”. And, in short order, new friends, New Yorkers all, confirmed that no Big Apple denizen would ever willingly set foot inside one. Whether or not that’s accurate, I’d have to say that I never heard anything about the place other than from visitors, and usually followed by something to the effect of, “if that’s what New York pizza is, you can keep it”. I was amazed, for years, that the chain continued to exist, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say anything good about it.

So, I approached the newly opened branch here in Buenos Aires with not only trepidation, but bias. I have to say, the bias was born out. The crust is flavorless. The thin slice was like biting into a shirt cardboard and the Romano square may as well have been sinking my teeth into a cotton ball. The cheese is burnt and chemical tasting, like it was whipped up in a lab rather than from milk. The meat toppings are simply awful. The vegetable ones are fine, but basically just raw and warmed up sitting atop the pieces. I couldn’t even bring myself to have more than a couple of bites of either before just shoving the tray onto the trash counter and walking out. Neither style is anything like New York style pizza other than in image, and both are about as disgusting as pizza can get.

Not a great round for pizza sampling in the city, though I’ll definitely order from Power-Up again.