Come for the Pizza, Stay for the Turkey

According to the folks over at pizza.com, the night before Thanksgiving is one of the top 5 days for pizza sales. The others are, in no particular order, Super Bowl Sunday, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and Halloween. We thought we'd take a quick survey of our staffers, to see what recommendations they had for a pizza pairing. Please note that every product mentioned is linked to the Joe Canal's website page for that item. This will allow you to learn more about that product, and see the pricing as well.

Here are their suggestions:

Toni Carver, Lawrenceville Store Manager: "I love an imperial IPA with an extra cheese and garlic pie!! In general, an IPA will pair very well with cheese. The crispness of the IPA cuts the pizza grease and heightens all of the flavors."

Her recommendations:
Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
Elysian Space Dust IPA
Victory Vital IPA

David Rudd, Woodbridge Store Manager: "I love a Zinfandel with meatsapizza! The spicy, jammy character absolutely compliment the seasonings used in cured Italian meats and sausages. Like a party in your mouth, gotta gotta get up to get down."

"Try the Dashe Dry Creek Zinfandel or the St. Francis Old Vine Zinfandel."

Brandon Bartfalvi, Lawrenceville Senior Wine Manager: "No question, it's Poggio Anima Samael Montepulciano D'Abbruzzo. Ripe, flavorful and generous with ample spice notes. This is my comfort wine and it is awesome with a good tomato pie. Delish!!!"

Kevin Saunders, Woodbridge Wine Manager: "I am a firm believer in the idea of 'what grows together, goes together.' When I'm eating Italian food, I'm drinking Italian wine. One of my go to wines is the Cerro Manero Rosso di Toscana 2014. It's only $9.96 in the Bottle Club® and it's rated 90 points. How could you not?

General staff consensus also says that you should consider the following wines. The links will go to the Lawrenceville store page; for our Woodbridge shoppers, just note the item number when you toggle back to the Woodbridge page.

Tivo Primitivo. Zinfandel's Italian cousin. Well-integrated red and black fruit, with enough tannic structure to balance the cheese.

Cantina Zaccagnini Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is a really good example of an easy-drinking and affordable red from central Italy. Of course, that small grapevine they have tied to the bottle is one of the greatest marketing tools ever created !!! People come back looking for a delicious, nameless Italian wine 'with the stick'. Just to give representation to other worthy pizza pairings from elsewhere in Italy, Mastroberardino Aglianico - from the home of 'Napolitano' - is a mouthful of fruity, soft velvet.

Whether your choice is wine, beer, or something else (sangria, anyone?), you can find the best selections and lowest prices at Joe Canal's in Lawrenceville and Woodbridge.