(SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska - Few things stimulate ravenous tendencies like a good pizza. Last night I picked up a wedge of crust sturdy enough to hold sauce, king salmon, olives, squash, onion, peppers, mozzarella cheese and even part of a lightly fried egg. It sounds a little out of control, and it was, but in a ridiculously delicious sort of way. Of course I had no part in the cooking process but that’s okay. One of the most important decisions you will ever make in life is who you choose to spend your time with, and spending your time with friends, one of whom likes to cook gourmet pizzas from scratch, will make your life better.

I love pizza, but I don’t love all pizzas. Back east, Sbarro franchises are everywhere but I really don’t like the pizza. It looks good, smells good, it just doesn’t taste very good. I think people eat there because they are expected to – out of some strange obligation rather than heartfelt choice. I have talked to others who say they don’t like it, but they don’t mind. Why slum it when it comes to a slice?

So anyway, if you’re not lucky enough to have a friend like mine, here are the best places to get your fix – just in time to ruin your New Year’s Resolution.

5. Fat Stan’s - Ketchikan

This list does not consider location or ambience. If it did, Fat Stan’s as an establishment, would be higher. It’s not your typical pizza shop. It looks like a sports bar that serves a tasty burger but instead you get this really good, thin crust pizza that’s hot and cheesy and a sauce that is original.

3-4. Papa’s Pizza/Zat’s - Craig

This totally goes against everything I am about. As an adult I need to make a decision and to have a tie for the best pizza might make some question the validity of this list, but here me out. This emotional quagmire exists because there are only two pizza joints on Prince of Wales, both in Craig, and while they are decidedly different in greasiness, ingredients, size, smell and taste, that doesn’t make one clearly better than the other. It really comes down to mood. Papa’s is good, but some days I feel like Zat’s and vice-versa. They tie not because they taste the same, but because they complete each other. On an island lacking choices, having two pies at your disposal is a bit of a luxury.

2. Stone Deck - Ketchikan

This is crazy, but does follow the principle that culinary excellence can be found anywhere. Just because it’s a couple steps from the unleaded pump, doesn’t disqualify it from being deemed quality. Of course contemporary society loves edgy things, and I could totally picture an anti-oil couple that doesn’t wear shoes, buying a gas station in Berkley, CA, and turning it into a gluten-free, free-range pizza place. There would be a place to fill your Nissan Leaf with electricity and the non-functional pumps would still be out front to complete the selling earth-friendly stuff out of a former gas station, eco-infiltration metaphor they were attempting.
Anyway, the pizza here is good.

1. Ward Cove Deli - Ketchikan (Ward Cove)

The winner is a place I pass every day on the way home from work. That’s scary because pizza is good any day, but it’s not good to eat every day. But it sure is tempting. There really are only two options when buying a slice here: you sit in the parking lot and eat it or, two, eat it as you’re driving. That’s dangerous, but I know, you can’t help it. For those who can exercise the rare option three and actually wait to get home, you have supernatural self-control and should be studied. The crust is bready but not filling and doesn’t sit in your gut like a garlic-butter rock. The meat tastes like meat and the cheese is greasy, the grease isn’t cheesy. You know what I mean? When grease does drip onto my seat, I want to wring it out back onto the pizza in a fit of irrational self-destruction. That’s how you know you’ve got a legit wedge.

Jeff Lund ©2015

Jeff Lund is a Teacher, Freelance Writer, living in Ketchikan, Alaska
Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @alaskalund
Contact Jeff at Email – aklund21@gmail.com

http://www.jlundoutdoors.com

SitNews ©2015
Stories In The News
Ketchikan, Alaska

Articles & photographs that appear in SitNews may be protected by copyright and may not be reprinted without written permission from and payment of any required fees to the proper sources.