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Skies darken, the universe begins to dissolve. A giant sign emerges in the sky. DING! This is it – Level 2. The game has changed ladies and gentlemen, the human race has reached a whole new stage of evolution… with the invention of the ‘pizza cake’. A North American pizza chain has asked its customers to vote for their favourite from a catalogue of wacky pizza innovations. pneumatic pizza cutter A mechanical pizza cutter. Because traditional pizza cutters are so taxing to use (Picture: Boston Pizza) The long list of entries includes a pizza-shaped shirt pocket, a pneumatic pizza cutter...

In the walk-up to Easter this weekend, New Zealand pizza chain Hell Pizza, known for its saucy marketing campaigns, has put up a billboard that has stirred controversy among animal rights activists because it is covered in rabbit pelts. Boasting the tagline “Made from real rabbit. Like this billboard,” the sign advertises a new pie with “smoked wild NZ rabbit, toasted pine nuts, beetroot & horopito relish, cream cheese, rosemary & garnished with fresh spring onions.”

Australian pizza is now officially the best in the world. Well, sort of. Judges at last weekend's Campionato Mondiale Della Pizza (Pizza World Championship) held in Parma, Italy, awarded the world's top margherita pizza title to Australian chef Johnny Di Francesco, owner of the 400 Gradi restaurant in Brunswick, a Melbourne suburb. Di Francesco, 36, beat more than 600 competitors from 35 countries to take home the Specialita Traditionale Garantita pizza prize in the annual competition. The win and subsequent publicity has made the small restaurant he owns in his hometown an overnight sensation. "It's been an amazing reaction," Di...

mORE than 1,000 people have been vaccinated against hepatitis A after a Charlotte pizza place employee was hospitalized with the disease, according to health officials. Health officials in Mecklenburg and Cabarrus counties are urging anyone who ordered or ate a pizza from the Papa John's on Cambridge Commons Drive between March 28 and April 7 to get the vaccine. Free clinics have been giving shots throughout the weekend, and health officials say they have already vaccinated more than 1,000 people. Hepatitis A is a virus that attacks the liver and can cause nausea, vomiting and jaundice. Officials estimate 2,400 customers...

It seems the non-packaged food vending machine trend is not slowing, not one bit. We've all heard of cupcake vending machines. And of course, there was the rise and fall and resurrection of Burritobox. And now we hear word of Let's Pizza, a pizza vending machine. Because, of course there would be a pizza vending machine. You don't want a dystopian future with no pizza, do you?? Alright then. For now, Let's Pizza is only operating in the UK and Italy, but there have been rumors for years that the machines will debut in the U.S. any minute. Invented by...

Japan's Kit Kat fixation, it seems, has reached critical mass. 1P After numerous Kit Kat flavors and even a specialty boutique, Japan is getting Kit Kat pizzas from delivery chains Strawberry Cones and Napoli no Kama (which, yes, is owned by Strawberry Cones). Fret not, they're sweet. These are "desert pizzas" with mango and baked Kit Kats on pizza dough. A small Kit Kat pizza is 1,390 yen ($13.40) from Strawberry Cones, while Napoli no Kama has a medium for 1,680 yen ($16.20). There do not appear to be other sizes. P And how do they taste? According to Twitter...

Great art and great pizza: The seven easy, colorful pies here pay homage to modern-art masterpieces — and they taste great too. Use them as a starting point for your own edible artistic creations. Start with a great dough, the primed canvas that will let your other ingredients shine. Then comes the “paint”: toppings that bring delicious flavor, bright color, and contrast between both cooked and fresh ingredients. Last is the heat source, which for these pizza recipes is just a traditional oven and a basic sheet pan. Related: 14 New, Lighter Comfort Food Ideas

Be careful about ordering Pizza Patron's La Ch!#gona pie in mixed company. The Dallas-based restaurant group is making enemies with the name of the new pizza -- a Spanish descriptor questionable enough that Pizza Patron is giving it curse-word treatment by using symbols in marketing materials. The word "la chingona" loosely translates to an adjective like "bad-ass," explained several Spanish speakers, but it isn't a descriptor many were willing to utter aloud over and over. "This is a word you use in a very relaxed atmosphere with people of your same age or background," said Victor Arriaga, deputy consul at...

Let's just get this out of the way: Putting ranch dressing on your pizza is disgusting and foul and you should feel ashamed of yourself if you desecrate the sanctity of the holy union of bread, tomato sauce, and cheese. For shame! Anyway, Cane Rosso's in Dallas is doing it right and "charging" customers a sweet grand for the privilege to eat their pizza WRONG. Owner Jay Jerrier explained to Eater the type of people he usually encounters ordering this pghlemy subtance. It's weird, it always seems to be young, college-age girls that ask for it. Of course, when they...

Two alternative links from their website. 1. Pa La Raza http://www.pizzapatron.com/chingona_3/ 2. Menu in english? I and my family live in San Antonio for decades. Will . . . unless offered free samples and apologies from this guy . . . will never buy some pizza not offered in french nor german . . . more close to San Antonio history prior to the Mexican revolution. Something new is okay. Just don't brand it as traditional San Antonio.

A pizza delivery woman thwarted an armed robbery attempt at a house off Rosehill Road on Thursday by producing a weapon of her own, Fayetteville police said. (snip) The man put something to the back of Hurd's head and demanded money, Joyce said. "Unbeknownst to them, she had a weapon," Joyce said. "She pulled out a gun, and when she did, the suspects fled and they didn't get anything."

Sbarro has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization for the second time in just three years as the pizza chain struggles to turn its business around amid a drop in traffic at shopping mall food courts. The bankruptcy filing on Monday comes after the company shuttered 155 of its U.S. locations last month. The Melville, N.Y., company still has about 800 locations globally, half of those in North America. The pizza chain isn’t alone in hurting from the decline in traffic at shopping malls. Earlier this year, the owner of Hot Dot on a Stick also filed for bankruptcy protection,...

<p>KERMIT, W.Va. (AP/KDKA) – Health officials have temporarily shut down a southern West Virginia pizza restaurant after a district manager was caught on surveillance video urinating into a sink.</p> <p>Local media reported that the Mingo County health department ordered the Pizza Hut in Kermit, about 85 miles southwest of Charleston, to shut down.</p>

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia struck down Chicago-style deep dish, ruling that the overflowing mess of sauce and cheese can’t be considered pizza. The conservative stalwart, speaking at the Union League Club of Chicago’s 126th annual George Washington’s Birthday celebration, said he enjoys Second City pie. But in his supreme opinion, it “shouldn’t be called pizza.” The bizarre deep-dish offering calls for vats of tomato sauce to be poured over cheese, before it’s then baked into a boiling monstrosity.

<p>Slices aren't an option at Whitney Aycock's Rockaway Beach pizza shop, as he will happily explain to anyone who orders one: “If you want a slice, go to Elegante’s. I don’t give a fig,” he told one customer late on a recent Friday night. Next in line was a pair of teenagers. One was eager to sample Aycock's handcrafted creations. The other was scared to try something new. She asked for plain. “Plain pizza?” Aycock asked, sounding offended. “What is ‘plain’ pizza?” After a playful yet testy exchange, both kids turned around without making an order and fled out the door. Aycock was fine with losing the sale if it helped him make his point.</p>

Pizza delivery people have a very dangerous job.  I do not know that anyone has quantified how often they get in vehicle accidents, or how often they are held up, beat up, or killed by robbers, but it seems to be a regular occurrence.  A little known fact is that the modern bullet resistant vest was invented because of a pizza delivery holdup that turned into a shootout.   Richard Davis, who invented the Second Chance vest, and made a company and a fortune out of it, used to deliver pizzas.   He carried a gun in a spare pizza box...

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Bill Bruton spent Super Bowl Sunday delivering pizzas all over Indianapolis for Aunt Polly’s Pizza. But when Bruton hits the road to make a delivery, he’s carrying more than a pizza. He’s also carrying a gun. “I’ve got a lifetime permit and I carry,” he said. The manager at Aunt Polly’s said their drivers have carried for years. “As long as they have gun permits,” said manager Jeff White. Not everyone allows their employees to carry weapons. But restaurants are reviewing their safety policies after two pizza delivery drivers were shot and killed in Indianapolis in two...

Hot, cheesy and fresh out of the oven — exactly how a girl wants to smell, right? Demeter’s new Pizza perfume re-creates the sensation of diving into a slice of ’za, with a strong scent of dough mixed with notes of tomato sauce, mozzarella and oregano. In testing, Daily News olfactory workers deemed it “intoxicating and a little off-putting,”“as romantic as a cheese slice at 2 a.m.” and “great, if you want to smell like garlic.” The most dangerous side effect for your diet: “It makes you constantly think about pizza,” said one tester. The good news: The fragrance isn’t...

A Central Texas man has been accused of stabbing his girlfriend after she brought home pizza instead of a chicken sandwich he wanted for lunch.

Evan’s Neighborhood Pizza in Fort Myers, Fla., is known for its Everglades pie — a crazy concoction that includes of frog, alligator and snake toppings.Would you like a ssssslice? A Florida pizza joint is offering a special slithering pie topped with virtually every creature that lives in the swamp. Evan’s Neighborhood Pizza in Fort Myers, Fla. tops its Everglades pie with a curious amalgam of animals including hog, alligator, tomato, frogs legs, swamp cabbage — and, for good measure, python. “I'm very adventurous when it comes to food, that's for sure,” owner Evan Daniell, 52, told the Daily News on...

Pizza Patrón executives intend to roll out multiple new strategies designed to bring the brand closer to its core Mexican-born customers in 2014. The company plans to execute an array of updated branding programs that include new product development, unique promotions, traditional advertising, digital, social media and public relations, according to a company press release. This marks a significant narrowing of focus for the brand that started franchising in 2003, with the objective of becoming the nation's premier Latino pizza brand. The company gained notoriety from its unconventional programs like "Pizza Por Pesos," where customers could use pesos as a...

A West Side man accused of stealing a pizza at gunpoint was tracked down by the phone number he used to order the football-shaped pie, police and prosecutors said. Jamokae Smith, 22, allegedly held the two people delivering his pizza at gunpoint on Nov. 9 in the 5000 block of West Wabansia Avenue in the North Austin neighborhood. As the delivery workers approached the home, prosecutors said, Smith emerged from a nearby gangway and pointed a gun at them while another robber ran off with the pizza and $13 cash.

REDFORD, MI - When James Wethers heard three gunshots around 11 p.m. Monday night, he looked outside and saw a frantic pizza delivery driver and a man face down on the driveway across the street from his Michigan home. Redford Township police say the pizza delivery driver opened fire as he was being robbed by 20-year-old Tajuan Boyd.

Food companies understand that Americans are increasingly interested in buying food that actually seems worth eating. We want food that's some degree of fresh, healthy, natural or otherwise of higher quality. It's for this reason that you see images of plump fruit decorating packages of cereal bars and the greenest broccoli you've ever laid eyes upon appearing on boxes of frozen dinners. At Burger King, you don't order a mere salad - it's a Chicken Caesar Garden Fresh Salad. Those chips aren't just cheese-flavored - they're Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips, with "harvest cheddar" an entirely meaningless term. Few companies have...

Late-night cravings for pizza may soon be satisfied not by all-night delivery, but by this huge vending machine. Invented by Italians and just now arriving on our fair shores, the Let's Pizza machine actually creates the pizza more or less from scratch, and then bakes it as you watch. The future is here, and it's a bit carb-heavy. Unlike the frozen and reheated affairs you're likely to find at a 7-11, this pizza is actually created when you order it, from "fresh" ingredients. The dough is mixed and flattened, the sauce spread, the cheese and toppings sprinkled. Some items are...

Since the dawn of restaurants, mankind has been plagued with one unanswerable question: Should I eat a burger or a pizza? Kyoto pizza parlor Pizza Little Party has saved humanity countless hours of counter confusion with the new MegaBurgerPizza. It’s part burger, part pizza, and all mega. Seriously, this thing features two 11 inch pizzas, a couple of ground beef patties and weighs more than 2.5 pounds. According to Rocket News, the MegaBurgerPizza is topped with Pizza Little Party’s original meat sauce and a special cheese blend. But don’t worry, the pizza parlor knows how to make a good burger...

You’re just dying for a pizza: gooey cheese, sweet tomato sauce, blistered crust. One problem: You’re millions of miles away from a pizza place, flying in some sort of spaceship toward Mars. Domino’s definitely doesn’t deliver up here, pal, so how do you satisfy your pizza craving? Print one out. Working with researchers from the Systems and Materials Research Corporation (SMRC), a materials and technology development company based in Texas, NC State researchers are figuring out the best ways to use a 3-D printer for printing pizza in outer space. NASA, you see, wants to provide space travelers some good...

What a bunch of meatheads! New York pizza-lovers got a black eye from users of the travel megasite TripAdvisor, who rated the city’s slices a paltry fourth in the country behind outposts like San Diego and Las Vegas. Perhaps most offensive was the third-place choice of Boston, where reviewers gushed about pies with oddball toppings like shrimp scampi. “Get out of here, that’s crazy! Boston is No. 3?” said Jackson Heights resident Andrew Silverstein, 31, while enjoying lunch at famed Patsy Grimaldi’s new Brooklyn joint, Juliana’s. “I’ve had pizza in Boston, and it was a horrible experience.” Users of the...

New Yorkers would like to give the people behind these rankings a "pizza" their mind. The travel site TripAdvisor issued a list of the Top 10 cities for pizza - and New York came in fourth. The Big Apple's best pie makers - like Di Fara's, Totonno's and John's of Bleecker Street - apparently didn't stack up to the pizzas prepped in culinary destinations like San Diego, Las Vegas, and Boston, which represent the top three. Chicago didn't even make the list. But reached on the phone, the manager of Bronx Pizza in San Diego said there is no comparison.

As your personal data from hospitals, insurance companies, banks, retailers, phone carriers, traffic records and every other manner of electronic interaction is merged into massive databases, it will soon be possible for not just the government, but companies you patronize on a daily basis to know your most intimate secrets. All of this information will be used to build detailed profiles of your personal habits and qualifications for certain services. Just as your credit report is used to determine your financial worth and capability, a computer will soon determine what you are or not allowed to do. It sounds like...

A hospital had to emphatically ask people to stop sending pizza after a child being treated for cancer received more than 20 pizzas from Internet strangers in one day. Reddit user “ashortstorylong” posted a photo of a sign in the window of a hospital that said: “Send Pizza RM 4112″ with the headline: “Photo taken outside Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles. Smart Kid.” The post reached the front page of Reddit, and other Reddit users later commented and said they’d taken the liberty to send pizza to the hospital room. On Saturday, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles posted a picture of...

Charges have been filed in the death of a Cicero restaurant owner who was shot in the chest after he confronted a robber who was holding a gun to his wife's head near the cash register, police said this morning. Matthew A. Brown-Turner, 25, has been charged with murder and attempted armed robbery in the fatal shooting of Giovanni Donancricchia, 64, early Thursday morning. He is due in bond court this morning.

Domino’s Pizza has hired a creative agency called T + Biscuits to test the feasibility of octocopter drones that deliver a hot, delicious pizza to your doorstep. Heavily branded as the DomiCopter, the current prototype can deliver two, large pizzas in about ten minutes within a four mile radius of the store. While future versions could hypothetically use GPS coordinates to deliver the pie, the existing model is piloted from the ground by someone experienced in drone flight. Other names previously batted around for the DomiCopter included the Pepperdroney and the Flyin’ Hawaiian. The DomiCopter has eight spinning blades and...

"My first ever pizza 'slice'. Please note: the authentic NY fold," the Park Sloper tweeted today. How is this possible? We don't know. It is incomprehensible that a man — particularly one who has spent much of his adult life in Los Angeles and New York — could go 72 years without ever consuming a single slice of pizza. Stewart does emphasize the word slice in his tweet, so perhaps he's eaten plenty of whole pizzas. Still, though. You'd really have to go out of your way to pull that off. One guy we know went so long without having...

NASA is funding a 3D food printer, and it'll start with pizza By Aaron Souppourison May 21, 2013 07:24 am NASA is funding research into 3D-printed food. As Quartz reveals, Mechanical engineer Anjan Contractor received a $125,000 grant from the agency to build a prototype 3D printer with the aim of automating food creation. It's hoped the system could provide astronauts food during long-distance space travel, but its creator has the loftier aim of solving the increasing food shortages around the world by cutting down on waste. The software for the printer will be open-source, while the hardware is based on...

It was once an honorable artisan trade passed from generation to generation. But despite record unemployment levels, today’s Italians are too proud to make pizza. In the land that invented the calzone, the capricciosa and the margarita, there is a severe shortage of skilled pizza makers or pizzaioli. At least 6,000 are desperately needed, according to new figures from business federation FIPE. But despite youth unemployment of 35 per cent the young Italians no longer want to do the job. Because of the long hours and low pay it is seen as work for immigrants. Enrico Stoppani,of the Italian Federation...

The following was posted at the Daily Currant yesterday: Bloomberg Refused Second Slice of Pizza at Local Restaurant New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was denied a second slice of pizza today at an Italian eatery in Brooklyn. The owners of Collegno’s Pizzeria say they refused to serve him more than one piece to protest Bloomberg’s proposed soda ban, which would limit the portions of soda sold in the city… “Hey, could I get another pepperoni over here?” Bloomberg asked owner Antonio Benito. “I’m sorry sir,” he replied, “we can’t do that. You’ve reached your personal slice limit.” Get it? They...

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was denied a second slice of pizza today at an Italian eatery in Brooklyn. The owners of Collegno's Pizzeria say they refused to serve him more than one piece to protest Bloomberg's proposed soda ban,which would limit the portions of soda sold in the city.....

London Pizza Named Most Delicious Food, Beating Italian

Graffiti artists The Yok and Sheryo swear they’re not on drugs. “It seems like we’re just taking acid and putting all this s--- together, but it really is a collection of what we’ve seen,” The Yok said. The duo, who now live in Brooklyn, just put up a city-commissioned mural along 16th and Morgan streets as part of 25th Ward Ald. Danny Solis’ public art initiative. The viaduct wall now sports a Vulcan-eared monkey eating deep-dish pizza along with a sunglasses-wearing skeleton head wearing a hat that says “Zap Rap.” The Yok and Sheryo won’t give their full names because...

Because of the events of the day at the Vatican, perhaps it would be nice to bring back this classic. FIND THE POPE IN THE PIZZA

INDIANAPOLIS - A 15-year-old is in critical condition after being shot by a pizza delivery person, later identified as Michael Andrews, police said. Police were dispatched to the 3600 block of Richelieu Road, near Franklin Road and East 38th Street, around 7:15 p.m. Friday. Metro police said the shooting happened during an apparent attempted robbery.

Papa John’s pizza has been hounded by the media for comments supposedly made in response to Obamacare — that food prices were on the rise, that franchises would face closure due to escalating health care costs, that workers’ hours and positions would be sliced. Only problem: The comments, attributed to CEO John Schnatter, were never made. That’s according to a Politico report about the efforts of Papa John public relations firm Sitrick and Co. to track down bloggers who’ve covered the supposed comments and ask for edits.

Army National Guard Maj. Shawn Fulker is thousands of miles away serving in Afghanistan, and when his wife's birthday came around, he decided he wanted to do something very special. Josephine Fulker loves Mellow Mushroom pizza,so her husband emailed Mellow Mushroom's corporate website on Thursday to ask whether one of the company's Jacksonville stores could deliver a pizza and a $50 gift card to his wife at their Jacksonville, Fla., home.If they could, he said, he would call the store and pay for it with his credit card. Mellow Mushroom did one better. Unbeknownst to Shawn Fulker,a local Mellow Mushroom...

INDIANAPOLIS - Multiple suspects were caught after an attempted robbery Thursday evening. Police were dispatched to a robbery in progress where the victim was following the suspect vehicle near Shortridge and Washington streets. ....clipped.... When the victim exited his vehicle for delivery, he noticed five individuals sitting in a car with one individual wearing a mask and holding a gun, police said. Police said the victim drew a gun he legally possessed and the suspects fled the area.

A 26-year-old man has been charged after police say he fired shots at a pizza delivery guy, after the man claimed the pizza he ordered was “too small.” Officers were called around 11:31 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 21 to a residence on the 2100 block of Russell Avenue North. The victim, a 45-year-old man, said he was delivering a pizza to the residence when the customer began arguing with him. The customer, identified as Demetrius Patterson, of Chicago, IL, said the size of the pizza was too small and demanded the delivery guy give him both of the pizzas he...

Pizza Hut may have discovered a new route to a man’s heart — through his nose. The chain is releasing the limited-edition scent, which smells of “freshly baked, hand-tossed dough,” in response to an Internet joke that began last August. According to a company news release, Pizza Hut Canada’s marketing firm, Grip Ltd., asked the chain’s Facebook fans what they would name a perfume that smelled like “a box of Pizza Hut pizza being opened.” When the post went viral — earning more than 300 frenzied comments — they decided to make good on the gag. (Pizza Hut) An aromachologist...

New Obamacare regulations will force pizza chains like Domino's to post up to 34 million nutrition signs in its stores -- one for every pizza combination the company makes. The rules require fast food and grocery stores that have more than 20 stores to require labels for each product they produce. Jenny Fouracre-Petko, the legislative director for Domino’s, said mandated signs will cost Domino’s nearly $5,000 per store. Even worse, the cost will get passed down to the consumer, many of whom will never see the signs since “10 percent of pizza customers never enter a Domino’s store” because they...

Posted By Bryan Preston On November 20, 2012 @ 9:35 am In Culture,Economy,News,Politics | 37 Comments When Rep. Nancy Pelosi infamously declared that we have to pass ObamaCare in order to find out wha's in it, she wasn't kidding. Buried in the mammoth 2700-page law that most in Congress did not bother to read before passing is Section 4205. That section requires any pizzeria, grocery store, or convenience store with more than 20 locations to post calorie information in their stores on menu boards. The way the law is written, it requires the national pizza chains to post fixed information...

The health-care law’s treatment of larger employers is almost laughably complicated. If you’ve got fewer than 50 employees, nothing is asked of you, and if you’re willing to provide insurance for your employees, you get a giant tax credit, at least for awhile. But if you’re a business with more than 50 full-time employees, matters become considerably more complex. If you’ve got more than 50 full-time employees and you already offer them health insurance, you can stop reading now. You’re in the clear. If you’ve got more than 50 full-time employees and you don’t offer them coverage and you don’t...