6 Spots for Friday Night Family Pizza Time

It's Friday, and if you're skipping tonight's Treme versus The Wire Battle of the Bands at Tipitina's, it can mean only one thing: pizza night with the family. Who can blame you? What better, more American way to celebrate the arrival of the weekend (and the successful completion of Pizza Week) than by forgoing leftovers from Tuesday's Taco Night for a steaming hot pizza pie? That's a trick question of course?there is no better way to celebrate Friday than by getting pizza. Pizza Fridays are like mini-Fourths of July, only instead of fireworks, there's pepperoni.

Ordering a pizza at the end of the work week embodies the most quintessential American characteristic: compromise. For instance, while some might want a huge, porky, meat-tastic pizza, Uncle Joe will probably ruin that pork fantasy by insisting that such a pizza would give him terrible heartburn. Somebody else will probably want veggies as a last-ditch effort to be healthy, and a creepy second cousin will probably whisper, "Anchovies" in your ear right as you're dialing. Between deciding on an On Demand movie that nobody will make it further than twenty minutes into and haggling over pizza toppings, it looks like you've got a long Friday night ahead of you. For these situations, here's a helpful cheat sheet highlighting the places in New Orleans that sling the best family pies.

1) Venezia:

Going to Mid-City's Venezia on a Friday night either to pick food up or dine in (they don't deliver) is probably a lot like waiting in a last minute gift line at a department store on Christmas Eve. (Read: it's busy.) Still, if you steel yourself for the crush of people and the cacophony of a busy wait staff, you can indulge in a veal parm pizza, because it's huge, delicious and totally not excessive.

2) Theo's:

Going to pick up a pizza sounds like zero fun, but it actually gives you a chance to get out of the house and fantasize about driving to the airport, dying your hair, and jetting off to South America, where you can start a second life as a professional canasta player. Theo's is a reliable choice, with Uptown and Mid-City locations, and a pizza for just about anyone.

3) Domenica:

Don't forget, Domenica delivers! Just within the CBD, but still, it's a pretty awesome service, especially if you're trying to impress your kids' weirdly cosmopolitan friend who lived in France for a year and already reads Sartre, eats bleu cheese, and recommends fine wines with unnerving confidence.

4) Lazaro's:

Lazaro's delivers, too, which means that you can enjoy the dying embers of Friday television while waiting for their inert staff to summon the will required to make and deliver a pizza. The biggest knock against Lazaro's is its apparent inefficiency, but it's a pizza place, after all, and who can blame anyone for not wanting to shuttle pizzas to hungry families who've been arguing all night over toppings?

5) Reginelli's:

Reginelli's is all up in New Orleans and reliable, with locations scattered around town. It's basically can't-miss, like a big brick wall of pizza.

6) Pizzicare:

Thought this last one would be Slice, eh? Wrong. Instead, here's the new spot on Tulane Avenue, which delivers, meaning you don't have to go anywhere to experience it. Gather around the television, play Monopoly and cheat your unsuspecting relatives out of money, and enjoy some foldable, New York-style pizza from Pizzicare.

?Doug Barry

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