Leah’s a big fan of taco pizza. It’s all right. I never really ate it at all before I met her, though I knew it existed. Now, we get one every couple weeks or so when our schedules don’t allow a home-cooked meal.
Happy Joe’s is an interesting chain, at least insofar as they’ve really pushed the envelope on unusual pizza toppings. I was browsing their menu online today (don’t ask), and some of their pies sound like they were created by a frustrated pizza chef who fled Italy for Mexico via Hamburg. Witness the “Matador,” with its refried beans, taco-seasoned beef, sausage, onions, and your choice of jalapeno peppers or mild chile peppers. Served with Spicey Joe’s taco sauce. Or the “Spaghetti Joe,” a monstrosity topped with spaghetti egg noodles, garlic-herb butter, Italian spaghetti sauce with beef, smothered with 100% real mozzarella, provolone, and cheddar cheeses on a pan crust. And of course there’s the relatively tame “Happy Joe’s Special,” with canadian bacon and sauerkraut. “Sounds unusual, tastes great!”
Shudder.
The thing I like best about ordering from our local Happy Joe’s is the service we get. During our most recent order, the young fellow who talked to Leah on the phone simply hung up on her after she told him what we wanted and gave him our address and phone number. How happy is that?
A car pulled up in front of the house not 15 minutes later, and out hopped our delivery guy. I was thrilled to see it was my favorite one, whose sullen, angry face is turned perpetually to the ground. No doubt he’s the same guy Leah talked to on the phone. When he got to the door I explained that our check wasn’t even ready, and that he was welcome to step inside.
“No.”
That was it. Just, “No.” Leah dashed off the check, and I handed it to the driver. He turned on his heels and practically ran back to his car without a word.
The pizza was passable. Barely. It was no Pagliai’s with sausage, anchovy, and onion, but it was a pizza, and for that we were both thankful. Some entrepreneur with a car and some free time on his or her hands could make a killing in this town doing nothing more than offering a delivery service for Pagliai’s.