Shakey's - Oroville, CA

[Mad_Ernie]

As promised in my post in the American Style forum:

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,18418.0.html

Here are some photos of the pizzas were had on March 23, 2012.  We had a sausage with mushrooms (of course) and a vegetarian pizza.  Long and short review: Great!  I had not been here for 2 years, and before that, I had not had a Shakey's pizza in about 30 years, so the rare occasions I can have a true Shakey's pizza, I am in heaven.  The location in Oroville is today the closest location to where Shakey's first started in Sacramento, CA.  Most of the remaining Shakey's restaurants are in southern California in and around the Los Angeles area.

[SinoChef]

Man that brings back the memories.

They were always a little top heavy on ingredient. But that cracker crust made up for it.

[Mad_Ernie]

Man that brings back the memories.

They were always a little top heavy on ingredient. But that cracker crust made up for it.

SinoChef:

Actually, the 2 ingredient pizza was not too top heavy, but the veggie did seem to be a little overwhelming on the toppings.  However, you're right - the crust helped make up for it.  They still use the old big deck ovens at this location, too.  The sauce is another component that is even harder to crack for me than the crust.  It is on the sweeter side (sugar, corn syrup?), with definite hints of onion powder and some kind of red pepper or chili powder.  Beyond that, it escapes me, but it really complements the pizza very well.

The Oroville Shakey's has been there for 29 years.  Th

[SinoChef]

Maybe "top heavy" was wrong. But just looking at the sausage pie, if it was a NY style, all of that meat is sliding of if you try eating it by the slice.

Shakey's, yes. At least 30 years for me. God, that was the high light of ones existence back in the day. When the original Pac Man game came out, they had it!

Also, I remember that smell of walking into the place. Cigarettes and pizza.

[DNA Dan]

Man that sausage pizza looks like some animal took a dump on it! Sheesh. Can they cut it up and spread it towards the rim a bit?  

The crust looks a bit deflated, although I am not fully educated in the Shakey's reference standard. How was the yeasty taste in the crust? overpowering? about the same? I think this is one thing that has definitely changed over the years.

[Mad_Ernie]

Maybe "top heavy" was wrong. But just looking at the sausage pie, if it was a NY style, all of that meat is sliding of if you try eating it by the slice.

Shakey's, yes. At least 30 years for me. God, that was the high light of ones existence back in the day. When the original Pac Man game came out, they had it!

Also, I remember that smell of walking into the place. Cigarettes and pizza.

And beer.  

Which brings up an interesting point: the Shakey's closest to where my family lived in Overland Park, KS in the early 80's closed, and it became a children's preschool, "Creative World" or something like that.  I was wondering how (or if) they managed to get those aromas out of that place before they opened.

-ME

[Mad_Ernie]

Man that sausage pizza looks like some animal took a dump on it! Sheesh. Can they cut it up and spread it towards the rim a bit?  

The crust looks a bit deflated, although I am not fully educated in the Shakey's reference standard. How was the yeasty taste in the crust? overpowering? about the same? I think this is one thing that has definitely changed over the years.

Dan:

My memory on Shakey's is poor, as this is only the third time in 3 years I have had a Shakey's pizza.  Before that, I have to go back ~30 years.  This particular Shakey's pizza was not all that yeasty to my tastebuds.  There are two things I noticed about the pizza at this visit: 1) it was not quite as crisp as I was expecting (undercooked just a tad?) and 2) the taste of the crust was more overpowered by the rest of the pizza.  I suspect this is because the dough flour now has no more fat in it (see my post in the American Style forum mentioned earlier).  Having said that, it was still a very good pizza, but I would have to say there was something missing in the overall taste from the crust, mainly that it had less taste in general than I could remember.

-ME

[TXCraig1]

When I think back to eating pizza as a kid, that first picture is what I remember. Ironically, I don't remember eating at Shakey's where we lived in SoCal. I want to say it was in southern Oregon where my grandparents lived?

[jeffereynelson]

Man that sausage pizza looks like some animal took a dump on it! Sheesh. Can they cut it up and spread it towards the rim a bit?  

That made me laugh a lot. Especially since the OP just explained how much he likes it.


I'm from los angeles and didn't realize people were jealous of those located close to many locations.

[SinoChef]

Man that sausage pizza looks like some animal took a dump on it! Sheesh. Can they cut it up and spread it towards the rim a bit?  

Dude! that was the magic of Shakey's pizza! lol

I don't remember slice's. I think they did squares in MN?