pizza quest

One thing that's definitely different about my lifestyle here in New Zealand is that I don't go out to eat as much as I did in the states.  I love making dinner, experimenting with recipes and local ingredients, and it's always nice to have leftovers for lunch.  But, of course, every once in a while, I crave a quick and easy meal, and pizza is a go-to.  In Omaha, I am a huge Sam and Louie's fan, dousing their New York style pepperoni pizza in their seasoning and hot sauce.  I thought it wouldn't be too hard to find quality pizza here in NZ, but I thought too soon.  My notes:

• One Red Dog-gourmet braised lamb and pumpkin pizza.  Truly kiwi.
  
• Domino's-our main choice the first month we lived here.  Crazy flavors like chicken and apricot sauce, cheeseburger with mayonnaise swirl, and pepperoni that looked like hot dog slices...we settled on thin crust cheese which is different than U.S. pizza because the tomato sauce is sweeter and the cheese isn't as mild
• Pizza Hut-similar flavor selection to Domino's, so we stuck with the cheese pizza, lack of sauce
• Cocopelli-our favorite, is a gourmet pizza restaurant, where our pizza of choice is packed with chicken, red capsicum (bell pepper), onion, green onion, and pistachio sour cream, which is a crazy but delicious combination
• Papa's Pizza-self-proclaimed 'best pizza or your money back', we ordered it for delivery (can't even remember what kind) and it was delivered half folded on itself in the box, looking worse than day-old Totino's pizza, and tasting just as bad...didn't get our money back but saved their brochure to show everyone back home
• Hell Pizza-all of their pizzas are titled with references to hell and the devil, we ordered a meat pizza (eh) and Bret concocted a sushi-inspired salmon, aioli, avocado, and seafood sauce pizza which was surprisingly yummy
  
• Spagalimi's-Italian style (whatever that means here in NZ), classic crust pizza.  Took a risk with New York Pepperoni, and was very pleased.  As close to American pepperoni as I've found so far.  Would definitely order delivery from there again

It's safe to say that none of the New Zealand pizzas come even close to my classic American favorites at Old Chicago, Don Carmelo's, or Sam and Louie's,  but the research has been satisfying for the most part!