Pizza Madness

It’s March, which means we’re on the cusp of March Madness and endless hours of people talking about their brackets and arguing about whether the NCAA selection committee messed up with its seeding decisions. But hey . . . why limit the madness to a bunch of athletes running around in shorts and shooting hoops? Why not expand the madness to something really important–like pizza?

CBUSyoday, a local website that focuses on all things Columbus, has filled this obvious void by sponsoring its inaugural “pizza shop bracket.” After an initial round of voting last week, the website placed the top vote-getters into the bracket, and head-to-head competition starts this week. JT’s Pizza, which I think unquestionably makes the best pies in town–and I’m not alone–is pitted against Rubino’s Pizza in a tough first-round match-up. Other contestants in this Columbus Pizza Madness contest include Tommy’s Pizza, which has been a Columbus pizza mainstay going back to my high school days, Harvest Pizzeria, and Sexton’s Pizza, which like JT’s gets a lot of buzz.

You can see the CBUStoday bracket and vote for your choices here. Participation is easy, and I’ve cast my votes for the first-round match-ups. If you’re a pizza fan, I urge you to got to the website and vote, vote, vote for JT’s Pizza. And if you’re on the fence, head to JT’s and try one of their selections. You won’t need any more convincing.

Good News For Grandview

What makes a great community like Grandview even greater? Why, having a top-notch pizza and pub open up shop there, of course. So I’m pleased to see the announcement that, in 2024, JT’s Pizza and Pub will be opening a new location in the Southern Station in Grandview. This is wonderful news for my friends in Grandview and in the nearby downtown area, and it’s good news for Columbus generally: since the original location of JT’s Pizza at 2390 W. Dublin-Granville Road will continue to serve awesome pizzas and appetizers, the Columbus area will be doubling up on its ability to scarf down great food, quaff an adult beverage, and enjoy a fun atmosphere. Not to overstate it, but this news is bound to move Columbus up in the national rankings of the best places to live in America. (Let’s face it– great pizza is that important.)

You can follow the announcements and developments about the upcoming Grandview location on JT’s Facebook page or Instagram posts. And if you haven’t been to JT’s yet but want to get a taste (and I do mean taste, literally) of what Grandview will be enjoying in 2024, you can head up to the original location to try what was voted the best pizza in Columbus this year by the Pizza Connoisseurs of Columbus Facebook group.

Columbus-Style Pizza?

I belong to a devoted (and happily apolitical) Facebook group called Pizza Connoisseurs of Columbus. Recently I learned a surprising fact from that group: there is such a thing as “Columbus-style pizza.” Indeed, the fact that Columbus has its own distinctive pizza style is so widely recognized that pizza lovers have written about it and people actually come to Columbus looking for the best places to to sample it.

So, “Columbus-style pizza” is a real thing. You can put Columbus right up there with New York, Chicago, and Detroit in the ranks of cities with an iconic form of pizza.

So, what is a “Columbus-style” pizza, exactly? The key identifying ingredients seem to be an ultra-thin, cracker-like crust, edge-to-edge toppings, sliced pepperoni that curls up so it looks like a small bowl after baking, and a pie that is cut into small, easily handled squares, rather than larger, potentially floppy triangles. To people like me who have lived in the northwest part of the Columbus area, that sounds like a description of a Tommy’s Pizza offering–so I guess I’ve had “Columbus-style” pizza before without explicitly knowing it.

Having a specific “style” could be both a blessing and a curse. It’s nice to have an approach to pizza that is so well-recognized it has become iconic, but you don’t want the need for pizza chefs to conform to the “style” to crush innovation and creativity. Fortunately, Columbus is such a strong pizza-loving town that doesn’t seem to be a problem, and great new options like JT’s Pizza–which has been recognized as a leading local pizza emporium in articles about “Columbus-style pizza”–can establish their own styles and introduce Columbus taste buds to new options and flavor combinations.

All this talk about pizza makes my hungry for a pie.

On The JT’s Rave Train

JT’s Pizza and Pub has done it again. The premier Columbus-area pizza emporium and sports bar, located in Linworth, has received another rave, this time from Jim Ellison of Columbus Underground.

As Mr. Ellison explains in the article linked above, he treats pizza as a serious culinary experience. In fact, his wife and son basically demand nothing less. And his approach to pizza analysis is intriguing. He thinks it is important to use a tried and true standard as the starting point for evaluation:

“The standard order for evaluating a new pizza place is large pizza, half pepperoni and half cheese. This is Columbus so the need to evaluate the quality, quantity and pairing of pepperoni with the rest of the pizza is critical. For any pizza, regardless of style, location, philosophy, etc., it is important to be able to try it plain sans toppings. A cheese pizza without any other ingredients – lets me evaluate the base pie without anything else to interfere in my assessment. A plain cheese pizza has nothing it can hide behind.”

This rational approach to comparative pizza analysis makes a lot of sense to me, as does the Ellison clan’s focus on the crust, which I think is a crucial element of any excellent pizza. And I’m happy to report that JT’s passed the Ellison family acid test with flying colors. You can read Mr. Ellison’s detailed analysis of JT’s offerings–as well as an interview of proprietor (and my nephew) Joe Hartnett and a shout out to my brother-in-law, the namesake of JT’s legendary Big Al pizza–at the link above. Congratulations, JT’s!

Best In The State

What makes a great sports bar?  You know, the kind of place where you want to go watch your favorite team play a game?

Clearly, there are some basic elements.  Great sports bars aren’t white tablecloth and fine china venues.  You’re looking for tasty food favorites at reasonable prices, an ample selection of beers to stoke your competitive spirit, and a friendly and attentive wait staff that won’t leave your glass bone dry during the key part of the game.  You want to have plenty of TV screens in the room, so any table or chair will have good sight lines to the screen carrying your game of choice.  And, equally important, you’re looking for an energetic atmosphere and a setting with lots of fans watching their games, where you won’t be shushed for letting out a cheer, giving a few high-fives, or blurting out a random curse at a bad play.

Whatever the qualities that make a great sports bar, JT’s Pizza & Pub here in Columbus clearly has them all.  The MSN website just named JT’s the best sports bar in Ohio.  Given the sports-obsessed culture in Ohio, that’s incredibly high praise, but it’s really not surprising.  JT’s has great pizza, appetizers, wings, and sandwiches — exactly the kind of fare you want from a sports bar — an extensive beer and drink menu, and a raucous atmosphere come Game Day.  Stop by for an Ohio State game, an NFL Sunday, or March Madness if you don’t believe me.

Congratulations to my nephew Joe, the proprietor of JT’s, and my nephew Danny, who works there, for making JT’s into a sports bar that has won Best in the State honors.

Winging It

The Super Bowl is the greatest chicken wing-consuming event in America.  The National Chicken Council forecasts that Americans will chow down on 1.3 billion chicken wings during the game tomorrow.  That’s four wings for every man, woman, and child in America.  As the vice president for communications of the National Chicken Council aptly stated:  “Any way you measure it, that’s a lot of freaking wings.”

So, if you’re going to eat chicken wings tomorrow — and chances are, if you are a red-blooded, football-loving, commercial-watching American, you will be — and if you live in the Columbus, Ohio area, why not get your wings from a place that the Only in Your State website recently announced was one of the 11 restaurants with the best wings in Ohio?  The wings from JT’s Pizza & Pub made the top 11 list, and I can tell you from firsthand experience that the JT’s wings are excellent.

In the interests of full and fair disclosure, please note that JT’s is owned and operated by our nephew, Joe Hartnett, who’s been doing a bang-up job as a small businessman.  Now that the conflict of interest disclosures are out of the way, why not stop at JT’s to satisfy that Super Bowl wing craving?  You’ll find JT’s and its magic wings at 2390 West Dublin Granville Road — also know as Route 161 — in Columbus.