Crispy Fries … on My Pizza?

The Weird and Wonderful Cuenca Pizza Shop

I think that the pizza shop in Cuenca is a wonderful, weird, fun place to go. At this pizza shop, you can buy normal plain old pizza. But you can also buy Pizza Americana that has French fries on it! Now that’s a little more exiting! Pizza Americana is very good. I love the French fries!

You can also get Pizza Tropical. This pizza has peaches on it! Pizza with peaches is really good. It gives the pizza another feel. Sweet and tangy, yum!

Once we went to a pizza shop in the small town of Santa Isabel, (about an hour away from my home town, Cuenca). The Hawaiian Pizza we had there even had grapes on it. Now I think that’s weird yet delicious!

Once, Mom had Hawaiian Pizza with Choclo on it (this was at Nice Cream, an ice cream store in the center of the city). Choclo is a kind of corn that they grow here. It is very hard and salty. I didn’t have any because corn makes me sick. We have had a lot of different Hawaiian Pizzas here!

We used to always get our pizza at Pizza Hut, but then we moved, and lived a block away from a different one. It was not as expensive (bonus) so we thought we would try it - and it was really good! The place we got it is called La Carroza Pizza (Spanish for, The Chariot Pizza).

As soon as I walked in, I could smell pizza and French fries. I was sooo hungry! We had gone on a trip that day, so I was famished.  It was funny, the pizza and French fries smelled greasy to me! I like it when I can smell textures in food, it makes me even hungrier!  As soon as I could smell the pepperoni and cheese, my mouth began to water. I could not wait any longer; I was starving!

It all looked very clean and well-kept in the kitchen and the main area too. The counters sparkled, and he wore gloves when he was making it. That might seem pretty normal in the states, but here it isn’t very common.
It was neat to watch him making the pizza. He had to pound the dough with a spiky metal thing which makes a neat sound like popcorn popping. This put little holes into the dough. The sauce looked sooo good when he was putting it on; and it smelled terrific! It was cool to watch the cheese go on; it was so fluffy at first. And then it came out the other side of the oven (it was on a conveyor belt) it was all stringy and sticky! When the pizza came out, I was getting so hungry; I almost jumped right in to grab it! But I didn’t, and that is probably a good thing! If I had done that, well you know! Something BAD would have happened.

And the taste! Oh it was sooo good! The French fries were really crispy and went great with the cheese on the pizza. Since it was fresh, the cheese was so stringy! I got tangled up in it a few times. The ham was fresh and salty – just how I like it.

I like to order a plate of French fries with my pizza. The French fries were really good. The sausage and mayonnaise made them even better! I know what you’re thinking, mayonnaise on fries? Well it’s my favorite! In fact, I don’t even like ketchup on them anymore! Here it is normal to have mayonnaise on fries.

It felt really cool. I have always been a little weird like that; I like the feel of greasy things. If you’re like me, than this is the place to come! I loved the feel of the pizza.  It was so slimy and smooth, all at the same time. But don’t worry, it didn’t taste very greasy. But oh! It felt so good and hot on the way down. At first, I thought I heard it go ‘clunk!’ when it slid into my stomach! I felt like I could eat buckets of it! Boy, talking about it now is making me hungry again!

Another good thing is the prices as I said earlier. Two giant pizzas are only $20.00! A combo with Coca Cola, Salchi Papas, and a pizza is only $14.99. I know I sound like a salesman but here it goes! Are you visiting Cuenca Ecuador? Here is the best pizza you will ever find! Phone number 40-48840, call now for your Pizza! How was that?

There were lots of sounds at the pizza shop: there was music blaring, the oven was cooking, the conveyor belt was rolling, and lots of cars were driving by outside.

So, I think that La Carroza Pizza is really good! If you are visiting Cuenca, you should try to find one!

Drew Haines is a member of the Youth Travel Blogging Mentorship Program.

Photos courtesy and copyright Drew Haines