Joey's Supreme Pizza in Okeechobee, FL

Okeechobee. Located between Florida's biggest lake and miles of sugar farms to the south and endless cattle farms to the north, it's a pretty isolated town. The drive along 441 through this nothingness is a great ride, but there really isn't too much in terms of food along the way. That is, except for in Okeechobee. The last time I took the scenic route down south, I stopped for dinner in Downtown Okeechobee at a place called Joey's Supreme Pizza.

We started out with garlic knots at Joey's Supreme Pizza. These knots were way bigger than what most Italian restaurants serve when it comes to garlic knots. I unfortunately filled up on these so I didn't have much room left for the pizza! They tasted alright, although I thought they could have used less oil and more garlic.

I find Florida has far too much mediocre pizza, so I honestly wasn't expecting much for pizza in Okeechobee. When the pizza was delivered to the table, I was plesantly surprised. This pizza was a thin crusted NY style pie. It was cooked to perfection and had just the right amount of sauce and cheese. The sauce was a little too thick and pasty in spots for my liking, but otherwise I have no complaints. I love it when I find a totally unexpected good pizzeria!

Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza in Orlando, FL

I've read plenty of good reviews of Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza in the Whole Foods Shopping Center in Orlando's Sand Turkey District. Anthony's slogan is "Pizza Well Done." When the waitress came over, she gave us a speech that broke down to "We burn our pizza. Warning you now so you won't send it back when the crust is black." It seemed like a funny gimmick to me, to specialize in burnt pizza, but I gave it a try anyway.

The cheese pie was served, and the crust was indeed black around the edges. I gave it a try, and it was a really tasty pizza. The crust was thin and didn't really have the burnt taste I was expecting, the coal oven actually gave it a really nice flavor. I did find it a bit strange having black hands from all of the charcoal after picking up the slice, but I guess that's part of the novelty of coal oven pizza. The cheese wasn't overloaded, the pie had a good amount of the salty mozzarella. The sauce was slightly spicy and really tasty. Anthony's makes little pools of their sauce rather than spreading it evenly around the whole pizza. I guess this makes the pizza look more gourmet, but I know a few people that have issues with pies like this. I personally don't mind the sauce puddles, as long as the sauce tastes good.

I was really quite surprised with the pizza. My hopes really weren't all that high, but it was really tasty. It wasn't necessary the best around, but it was still pretty good. I'd eat here again! Although there is one complaint I had. I know Anthony's is sandwiched between the tourist attractions and some of Orlando's most expensive restaurants, but that is no excuse not to give free refills on drinks. People expect free refills...