Papa Murphy's Take and Bake Pizza

Good pizza at good prices; not as fast as delivery, but the Beast loves it

My hubby loves pizza with a deep and abiding love that is, if not quite as burning as the throes of erotic passion, certainly its close cousin. I have a strong suspicion that if I weren't around to hold him back occasionally, he would eat pizza literally every day of his existence. There are days when his inner Pizza Beast can barely be contained.

Back in the day, we used to tame the Beast by dialing Pizza Hut (aka Cholesterol Hut) and ordering a deep-dish pan pizza (aka The Pure Abomination). This concoction easily carries—and leaks—more oil for its size than the Exxon Valdez, but the Beast found it mighty tasty. Nonetheless, we started looking around for an alternative that was somewhat lower in price (and grease) while still meeting with the Beast's approval.

It wasn't too long after this that we came across Papa Murphy's for the first time. A friend of ours had ordered one of the monstrous Chicago Stuffed pizzas for a party. All it took was one bite for the Beast to roar with joy, and we started occasionally picking up pizzas from our local Papa Murphy's (usually when we had a coupon). Since that time we've tried nearly every combination on the menu. (My personal favorite is the TPK Special—the Gourmet Vegetarian with chicken added. Mmm mmm good.)

Since Papa Murphy's is a franchise, the menu will vary a little from location to location, but there are some things that will hold true just about everywhere—you order on the phone or in person, pick up the uncooked pizza, take it home and bake it in your own oven. Most locations have at least three basic items on the menu—regular pizzas (in small, medium and large sizes), stuffed pizzas with the toppings set between two crusts, and gourmet pizzas with extra goodies. Our local Papa Murphy's also offers calzone, lasagne and cookie dough as part of its take-and-bake menu.

There are a couple of disadvantages to take-and-bake pizza. By definition, it takes longer to get a pizza from Papa Murphy's than to call up some place that bakes and delivers the pie for you. If you have a cranky oven, you may find that you've just burned your pizza or that it's only cooked properly around the edges, while the inner ring is still soggy dough—bleah. However, you can also doctor up take-and-bake pizzas in unusual ways. Hubby was able to re-create a perennial favorite from his time in North Dakota—a "Happy Joe's Special" pizza. (Canadian bacon and sauerkraut—no, I'm not joking. You'd be surprised how good this is. I certainly was.)

In sum, if you're looking for decent quality pizza that doesn't cost a lot and is guaranteed to be hot out of the oven, Papa Murphy's isn't a bad choice. Plus it gets a thumbs-up from the Pizza Beast.

Pass the sauerkraut.

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