(Originally
published 5/14/21)
Forty-four
years ago, an older neighbor and friend with both a sense of high adventure and
an automobile decided to call on—for the very first time—a Pizza Hut
restaurant. Big stuff! It was a newly opened location in the city of New
Rochelle, a hop, skip, and a jump from where we called home in the Bronx. For
years, we had heard whispers about Pizza Hut and its singular dining
experience, but there was not one in the vicinity—until, that is, the summer of
1977, which was also, coincidentally, the “Summer of Sam.”
So, off we
went—four of us in total—to Pizza Hut. Heartburn notwithstanding, we loved the
place and the pan pizza, which was decidedly different from—our bread and
butter—traditional New York-style pizza. My paternal grandmother, though, made
a uniquely delicious pan pizza, with breadcrumbs sprinkled atop the mozzarella.
Yes, the 1970s and 1980s, too, were kind to the Pizza Huts of the world and—I
daresay—grandmothers’ home cooking as well. There were chains aplenty back then
that were considered must tries, from Beefsteak Charlie’s to Brew Burger to
Nedick’s. And while the aforementioned eateries may be in the compost of
history, Pizza Hut endures.
I
patronized Pizza Hut that summer’s eve in 1977 and, if memory serves, one more
time, but details of the second visit escape me. The chain—including Pizza Hut
Express locations—is still visible in the area. After recently viewing a
retrospective Pizza Hut history on You Tube, my curiosity got the best of me.
How is it faring all these years later, I wondered? In countless respects, 2021
is the polar opposite of 1977. Pizza Hut, for one, is no longer special. It is
competing with popular chains—with assembly-line pizza pie tastes—like
Domino’s, Little Caesar’s, and Papa John’s. Once upon a time, the charm of
Pizza Hut was sit-down dining—the soup-to-nuts restaurant shebang with pizza as
the main course. In the 1970s and 1980s, Pizza Hut décor was what one expected—and
what one considered an unbeatable ambiance—in that unmistakable colorful
snapshot in time. Pitchers of soda poured into red pebbled plastic tumblers and
pizza served with a smile. It did not get any better than that!
Honestly,
it came as no surprise to me that Pizza Hut has
evolved into a mere
shadow of its former itself. Nowadays, it emphasizes delivery and pick-up over
indoor dining. And from the comments I read on the YouTube video chronicling
the chain’s storied history, the quality of the pizza has precipitously
declined. So, what else is new? When in Rome do as the Romans do. When waging
war against fellow fast-food pizza chains produce a similarly inferior product.
Lamenting the Pizza Hut transformation, one former fan pithily remarked, “2021
sucks!”
Several
days ago, I purchased a box of Ellio’s frozen pizza, a brand that I regularly
consumed when, in fact, I sampled Pizza Hut for the first time. I liked the
pizza back then. It had a defining sauce—that is Ellio’s—ample cheese,
and a doughy crust. Now, it is three strikes and you are out—a non-defining
sauce, minimal cheese, and a cardboard crust—but it is still called Ellio’s.
For a while there it was known as McCain’s Ellio’s, which marked its transition
from memorable to insipid. What more can I say about the 1970s Pizza Hut
experience and others just like it? You had to be there to understand.
