Saturday, May 16, 2009

Shakey's Pizza, still a great place to be!

I can't remember the very first time that I ate Shakey's thin crust pizza.

But I might guess rightly that it was my Kuya Gene who may have first brought me to a Shakey's pizza parlor along with the rest of the family. I have an impression that it might have been the one on the corner of Morayta and Recto, on the mezzanine of the now gone Act theater that front the now shuttered Ever Gotesco Department Store.

I think I was barely 10 years old and my Kuya Gene was still with this huge advertising agency that had the account. I think, actually, Shakey's was one of his accounts as a copy writer.

I remember walking into the pizza parlor and being smothered by that particular and distinct aroma that only comes from Shakey's. It was blend of roasted garlic with sweet basil, freshly cracked pepper, thyme, oregano, and the smell of freshly baked pizza crust. The smell of it all made me really hungry.

I think we ordered a large Manager's Choice and back then, all of their pizza's were thin crust. You could even see them rolling the pizza dough to the required thinness using a pressing machine.

We probably also had a pitcher of root beer and some mojos.

The combination was nothing short of fantastic!

After a couple of years, Shakey's went into decline. There were a number of attempts to revive the brand but it never did recover from being supplanted by Pizza Hut (which is really just bread painted with tomatoe sauce and cheese) and then more recently, Yellow Cab (which is a favorite but a bit too oily for my taste). A lot of other restaurants opened up with their version of thin crust pizza but none of them tasted the the Shakey's pizza of my youth.

The last time my Kuya Gene was here, early this year, he treated me, my son Zac, my wife and Zac's yaya to Shakeys at the Sta. Rosa Commercial complex.

It was almost like dejavu.

Yesterday, I took Zac, my wife and Zac's yaya to Shakey's for dinner after shopping for a couple of articles. Zac loved the Chicken and corn soup, lunged at the pizza, and gobbled up a bit of the spaghetti before finally deciding that he was already full.

I drove my family home that night, thankful for all the times that Kuya Gene brought me to Shakey's and thankful that I can bring my kid to the same place.

One thing you can say about the Farol family is that wherever one or two of them get together, talk of great food will certainly crop up and within ten minutes, they're off to find it.

No comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...