Buck's Pizza

I've finally had a Buck's pizza. This is a pizzeria that's been in business since 1960. The eponymous "Buck" is the legendary George Backus, who founded the pizza place, and later became heavily involved in the game-day Badger football stadium pizza making. He's been dead since 1986, and I doubt Buck's has changed much since. They don't have signature pizzas or any nonsense with non-tomato sauce. If you want a pizza, you specify every topping.

I got a sausage, onion and extra cheese pizza. I sort of think they forgot the onions, but the extra cheese was evident, especially in the middle, where I'm pretty sure the cheese was thicker than the crust. This thin crust style is reminiscent of Milwaukee's famous thin crust pizzas, e.g. Pizza Man. And also similar, I carried the pizza out atop a circle of cardboard inserted into a paper bag, rather than the typical pizza box. On an August evening with the temperature in the 80s, this certainly made no impact on the pizza's trip home. It was nice and hot when I got home.

Sometimes this kind of pizza is described as being a "cracker thin". Yeah that's how I'd describe the edges, but the middle isn't crispy. I mean how could it be? It's covered in sauce and cheese. If the middle is crispy then the edges are charcoal. So what we're left with is a nice and chewy cheese/topping vehicle. I have no complaints other than this description of this style of thin crust pizza being inaccurate – or at the very least – incomplete.

I think I'll have Buck's again this year. I'd like to try some more variations on toppings, starting with pepperoni.