Obama's Favorite Pizza Coming To Washington

The owners of the pizzeria that makes Barack Obama's favorite pies are heading to Washington, NBC 5's Anthony Ponce reports.

Italian Fiesta Pizza in Hyde Park is taking its spicy-sauced, thin crust pizza to D.C. for an event previewing the food at the inauguration:

The Ritz in Washington D.C. is paying to fly the pizzeria's owners to the nation's capitol for the inauguration expo to be held there next week to serve their pizza there.

A month before the election, owner Patti Harris-Tubbs got a phone call from the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C., asking if she would be willing to come to the nation's capital to make her pizza if Obama won. She thought it was a joke, Harris-Tubbs when Obama won, the hotel e-mailed back, offering to fly her and her husband out to serve their pizza next week at the Presidential Inauguration Expo, which is an event designed to preview the food that will be served at inauguration time in January.

The owners told NBC that Obama was introduced to their pizza by Michelle Obama, whose parents gave it to her as a reward for good grades.

Watch a WGN Report on the pizzeria:

Comments

[johnnygoodwud]

pan style,,,,,,,,,to much dough.

[dagnew]

Agreed.

[juan787]

Chicago thin crust is very different from New York style pizza. It has provolone cheese and it is usually seasoned and the crust is both crunchy and soft at the same time and we tend too overcook are pizza just a little bit and we cut are pizza in squares. There are atleast 3 types of Chicago style pizzas and my favorite is the double decker. We have some great pizza joints here in Chicago. So if you come to Chicago I recommend anyone to go to Baccis Pizzeria it is not commercialized and you can have a slice of each kind of true Chicago style pizza.

[cornchips]

new york pizza is the best...any true new yorker will tell you that...

[shelsay]

that's because you haven't had Italian Fiesta. I lived in NY for 5 years and I've never tasted pizza in NY that tastes like Italian Fiesta pizza...it­'s truly one of the best.

[Jahmekyah]

A "true New Yorker" would know that huh....hmm­m I wonder why???

[SouthernIL]

Ah, come on. What an honor for Harris-Tubbs! We all have our favorite pizza and the "debate" of who's is better? goes along with personal taste. Good Luck!! to Harris-Tubbs and being the favorite of the Obama's .... well I foresee a spot for them for 'inaugurational goodies". Just guessing. ")

[Takae]

I prefer to make my own "pizza". Favorite toppings: cheese of three types, pineapple chunks, tomato chunks, red/green/yellow pepper, apple chunks, and a sprinkle of herbs. Base: potato slices, eggs, flour and cooked rice. Yum yum yummy.

[Dystopic]

Home made is the best

Good Eat's (the TV show on Food Network) has and excellent dough recipe .. I usually make my dough the day before, and rest it in the refrig... really good. Around here I don;t have access to a good deli for topppings, but the local stores do carry Boar's Head. The Mozz and Provolone are pretty good as is their pepperoni.­. a few morels & ceps, some nice ital suasage (make it my self), finish off with Parmigiano Reggiano.. Cooked on a quarry tile.

[JonStewart4President]

Thin crust pizza? Ick. True Chicago pizza is pan style. Edwardo's stuffed spinach pizza, is the best. Though the original Pizzera Uno has some good ones as well.

But flat, boring, thin crust? Travesty to Chicago.

[DuPageDem]

Thick glop pizza didn't catch on until the '70s. Most Chicagoans grew up eating thin crust from the neighborhood joint, not downtown "pizza" marketed to tourists who don't know any better.

[Texas4Obama]

Chicago thin crust pizza is much thicker than the real good type of pizza made in fire ovens in Italy like in Rome or Naples or Sicily which most of the time the crust is almost as flat as a tortilla.

[nycelite]

Ewwww - flat pizza from Chicago? I haven't been to Chicago in a while, have Giordano's and Eduardo's been extinguished from the face of the earth? Are the Obama's really wannabe NY'ers? Is it too late to take my vote back?

Stuffed pizza, preferably with spinach please. I'll hit the gym tomorrow, promise.

[doschi]

There is such a thing as "Chicago-style thin crust pizza." It is VERY different from NY-style. It is characterized by a cracker-like crust, and is usually cut into squares, not triangles.

[LiberalUnderYourBed]

Eduardo's & Giordano's are "ok" but not as good the big three in Chicago:

1. Pizzeria Uno & Due for pan pizza (Chicago downtown, don't fall for the satellite locations around the world that don't use the same ingredients)

2. Home Run Inn for thin and variations on thin (Chicago southwest side, original location on 31st st. best but satellites are also remarkably good)

3. All the other great neighborhood pizzerias around Chicago such as:
- The Art of Pizza in Lakeview
- Pete's Pizza on Western Avenue near Wrigleyville
- Chesdan's which used to be on the southwest side but has moved to the 'burbs.
- .... and your own.. I'd love to hear about other Chicago favorites

Yours truly,
the PizzaLiber­alUnderYou­rBed

[coolmaiden]

Good call on The Art of Pizza. I also enjoy Ranalli's as they have Gorgonzola (!) as one of their toppings. Venice Pizza (on Fullerton and Halsted, kind of new) make a fabulous shrimp and pesto 'za I crave every few months, along with a can't-be-beat deal of an x-tra large cheese pizza for pickup Mon-Wed for 7.99. But my hands-down favorite is Pequod's on Webster. The one with the carmelized cheese on the crust. I dream about it often.

[WowJones]

Thin crust pizza was famous in Chicago long before Giordano's or Eduardo's deep-dish pizza.

[dizmo4]

*sigh*

I really want pizza now.....

[Judyisacutie]

You know it's some good pizza when you don't mind letting people see you make an ugly face while you eat it.

[nisha]

I don't suppose you look great while eating anything, let alone pizza.

[Chaucea]

*boggles*

Wow, settle down!

[ChiGuy]

Gino's East, or Uno.

[Madmac]

Get used to it...Chica­go Style Baby!!

[taceva]

No comparison to NY PIZZA

[WFV]

Yeah, right. Get a grip. Folded pizza is disgusting.

[ChiGuy]

You're right. There is no comparison.
NY pizza is minor league compared to ours.

[Jeff1958]

You're way off base here. Chicago pizza is damn good (I agree that Edwardo's stuffed spinach is the b0mb, as are pizzas from Malnati's, Aurelio's, Uno's and Due's) but NY pizza is the standard by which pizza should be judged.

[nisha]

Best thin crust pizza in the whole wide world is Pintaile's
http://www.yelp.com/biz/pintailes-pizza-new-york-4

[StephenJK]

John's Pizzeria in the village is pretty good.

[SurrealPumpkin]

If you have to put stuff on it to make it taste good it isn't pizza. NY all the way. Northeast, I guess, I've had some really good pizza in Massachusetts.

[LiberalUnderYourBed]

Ya know, I've been to a couple of NY pizza joints that are supposed to be considered the best (cannot remember their names but one is at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge on the Brooklyn side.. Frank Sinatra's favorite I understand).

In all cases, NY pizza is damned good but NOT, I repeat NOT anywhere the caliber of the pizzas we have in Chicago. NY pizza is tasteless in comparison.

That's my biased taste-test opinion and I'm welcome to it! ;-)

[esgabel]

new York and New Jersey have great Neighborhood Italian Restaurants--but their pizzas can't hold a candle to Chicago--in this we are the First City!

[BeavernBuff]

Italian Fiesta Pizza in Hyde Park might be good, but in the picture he's chowing on the best pizza in the country, at the American Dream in Corvallis, OR! http://www.adpizza.com/
His visit there alone might have won him Oregon:-)
I say bring some of their pies east for the inauguration! I think Obama was quoted as saying " there's something metaphorical going on here" when he walked in.
With his brother-in-law (Craig Robinson) at the helm of our men's hoop team, Beaver Nation anxiously awaits its newest fan in the White House!

[rdiaz921]

That looks good.