Horrible Italian Food – Carls
by Mr. New to Denver on Sep.30, 2009, under Food, Libations & Music, Restaurants - or where can I get a decent meal in this city
How a mouse eats pizza
There times you have food so bad it boggles the mind. Coming back from the Great American Beer Festival I was looking for a late night place to eat. It was a Thursday night and the kitchen’s in my two typical spots Billy’s & Patrick Carrol’s were closed. Since its within walking distance I opted to try Carl’s Pizza. First rule, never go to a pizza place named Carl’s. Carl is a Scandinavian name, pizza joints should not be named after Scandinavians. Of course when you are looking for a place within walking distance and everything else is closed sometimes you have to violate the rules.
To summarize it was horrible, even for late night “I’ve been drinking” food. To start with the positive, the cheese was good. The meatball topping was nicely browned and had okay flavor. Moving on to the bad. The tougher than cardboard dough was absolutely horrible, as you can see from the picture. I also had spaghetti with meatballs and sausage. It was very cheap tasting pasta, presumably similar to what you find “in the joint.” It was slightly over cooked which not surprisingly didn’t help its taste. The heart burn inducing sauce was average at best. Why waste time making something from scratch if the result is only going to be average. I recommend they start using jar sauce if they are not already doing so.
What puzzles me the most is how has Carl’s been in business for years. Does Carl eat his own pizza? Does he say to himself “Damn I make a great slice.”?
Assuming he eats and enjoys his own pie, I have to wonder has he ever had good pizza? Does his palate not recognize the difference? How can you run a restaurant with such a horrible palate? If he has had a good slice in his life does he not want to replicate that? I believe the place has been in business for well over twenty years. Cooking is a skill and like any other skill you get better with experience. Is Carl’s food better today than it was five of ten years ago?
Having food that bad really makes me wonder. In the next few days I’ll most my review of the Great American Beer Festival.
