"Why I Love" Wednesday

Today's topic: "Why I Love Pudgy's Pizza"

Yes, I realize I have already mentioned Pudgy's pizza in at least one other post. But every time I go there, I fall in love all over again.

If you live in the Omaha area, you MUST go and check out Pudgy's Pizza. I realize for some of you who live further away like we do (it takes us about 30 minutes to get there, 45 if the traffic is bad) it is a bit of a drive, but it is WORTH IT!!!!

You don't need to be a Celiac (gluten free) to enjoy their food. For the non-celiacs, I have heard that they have the BEST Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza in all of Omaha. In fact, every time we are there I would say at least 75% of the orders are for the Chicago-Style Deep Dish pizza. They also have Chicago-style hotdogs (with all the fixings) AND Chicago-Style hot beef sandwiches (think similar to a Philly Cheesesteak). Popular specialty pizzas include Cheeseburger and The Austrian Delight, which is an Alfredo-sauce pizza with several meats on it.

Their prices are VERY good - they easily beat out any of the chain restaurants when you compare size and topping choices/amounts. Their service is even better - the owner is almost always there and a part of every order!!! In fact, I don't think that we've ever been there when he wasn't there - but I'm sure he must take a day off every once in a while. "Mr. Pudgy" (not his real name lol) is possibly the nicest guy you will meet, and he always makes it a point to get to know his customers personally. We have noticed when we go that almost every customer ends up being a repeat customer!!!!

For Celiacs like myself, this place is a slice of pizza heaven! You can get just about any size of crust except 7", and you can get ANY topping combination!!! That's right - unlike some other places that limit you to just cheese or only a few toppings, you can get ANY topping combination! I personally love the Cheeseburger pizza, and my own Hawaiian creation of ham, pineapple and cream cheese (yeah it sounds weird, but once you try it you'll never go back to not having cream cheese on the pizza!!). Not only that, but you can get BONELESS CHICKEN WINGS! That's right, actual food. They are fried and delicious, and something that you often have to miss out on when you can't have gluten. They also have breadsticks and cheesesticks that are gluten free.

They also have a rewards program for their customers - you can collect pizza slice magnets, and once you have 10 you get $15 off your next order!! You only get magnets for 15" pizzas and above I believe, but still a heck of a deal.

Since it is a bit of a drive for us, we have discovered a solution that works well for us - we go once per month, eat one pizza in the store (and usually wings, sometimes cheesesticks or salad) and then order 3 more as "take and bake" pizzas! :) Then we have the equivalent of about one Pudgy's pizza per week for the rest of the month (I could possibly eat pizza every day, but we know that we 'shouldn't' so we try to limit ourselves lol). This way Pudgy's still gets our business even though we can't afford to drive out there every week.

Anyway, enough rambling on and on for now. Just do me a favor and stop by there to check them out if you are in the area. :) Trust me, you won't be disappointed.