I prefer Oregano and Red Pepper

December 6, 2010 3:28 PM

What free condiments are available at your local pizzeria?

In most by-the-slice pizza restaurants in New York you will find the same basic condiments available for free; Crushed Red Pepper, Oregano, Black Pepper, Garlic Salt, and Parmesan Cheese. Recently I have begun to see the occasional bottle of hot sauce too. I was eating a slice today and wondering what other condiments are available in other parts of the country/world. What's available in your locale besides the usual suspects?

Keep in mind, I'm not asking about toppings that you pay for. I'm asking what is available for free on the counter.

posted by soy_renfield to Food & Drink (29 answers total)

Marinara is free at Hot Lips pizza in Portland.
posted by klausman at 3:29 PM on December 6, 2010

Best answer: In Philadelphia it seems common to include ketchup in bottles that look like they should contain hot sauce. This was quite disconcerting when I first discovered it.
posted by 256 at 3:36 PM on December 6, 2010

Bay Area:

Available everywhere
Crushed red pepper
Grated Parmesan

Available most places
Ground black pepper
Dried oregano
Hot sauce*

Available at few places
Garlic salt
Salad dressing**

*Tabasco, usually
**Most places have it, but usually for a charge
posted by clorox at 3:39 PM on December 6, 2010

*Tabasco, usually

But Huy Fong sriracha is becoming more common.
posted by clorox at 3:41 PM on December 6, 2010

Alabama: (dried-out flavourless) red pepper flakes and Parmesan cheese.

I really miss oregano. And good pizza for that matter.
posted by hydrobatidae at 3:44 PM on December 6, 2010

Several places here in Kansas City have honey out on the table.
posted by piedmont at 3:45 PM on December 6, 2010

Best answer: Pizza Hut in Morelia, Mexico (2003)
Ketchup
Salsa Picante
Worcestershire Sauce

Here in Austin they put honey on the table 'for the bones'.
posted by jeffkramer at 3:53 PM on December 6, 2010

Asides from the already mentioned things, a good number of places in Seattle have nutritional yeast.
posted by Ideal Impulse at 3:54 PM on December 6, 2010

Not available for slices but my two favorite free toppings on delivered pizza are cilantro and sliced garlic.
posted by dobbs at 4:01 PM on December 6, 2010

The pizzeria I am one visit away from becoming Foursquare mayor of has garlic (not garlic salt, powdered garlic) and I think lemons at the counter, and salt, pepper, and grated Parmesan at the tables. This is in Ohio.

I've seen Tabasco and red pepper flakes and oregano at other places around town. A lot of places have weird stuff behind the counter for people who ask (let's just say I've seen ketchup and A-1 and spicy mustard at restaurants I can't believe anyone would ever need those condiments at.) Worcestershire sauce is probably the big winner in the "we've totally got some on a shelf here, bought five years ago for freaks that put it on their ice cream" category.
posted by SMPA at 4:15 PM on December 6, 2010

Best answer: In France, it's pretty common—in places I've been in the Sudouest, at least—to find a bottle of house-made "hot sauce," which is olive oil in which dried red chilis and herbs have been steeping for who knows how long. It's amazing, and I love it. LOVE IT.
posted by The Michael The at 4:24 PM on December 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

Wisconsin here, but at the place I typically go, the best-selling slice is mac and cheese :)

At Ian's Pizza, they have oregano (or a similar mix of Italian stuff), Parmesan and pepper flakes in shakers, with a large bottle of orange hot sauce (tastes kind of like Frank's Red Hot), some thick BBQ sauce and a bottle of honey. The honey is apparently for the crusts.

I would not mind seeing a bottle of olive oil around, but apparently even at the "we're certified by the Neapolitans" wood fired places around here they think nothing of chucking a rather hard rustic loaf at you with nothing to dip it in. Hmph.
posted by Madamina at 4:31 PM on December 6, 2010

Also Cholula (Tabasco, feh!), sometimes in a couple of varieties, and at Pizza My Heart it even co-exists peacefully with their own habanero sauce.
posted by wintersweet at 4:43 PM on December 6, 2010

It's been awhile since I got pizza (I'm gluten free now) but when we were getting Papa John's here in Northern Utah we could ask for a few different kinds of dipping sauce, Ranch for sure and I think the other one was some kind of garlic sauce. We'd also get a couple of little yellow peppers with each pizza, I'd have to ask to have them left out of the box.

Around here it's pretty common to order a side of Ranch to dip your pizza in. Crushed peppers and Parmesan are also easy to get.
posted by TooFewShoes at 4:45 PM on December 6, 2010

Central New Jersey: crushed red pepper, mostly flavorless grated parmesan, sometimes dried oregano.
posted by rachaelfaith at 4:48 PM on December 6, 2010

Austin, Texas: all the good places have the exact same as you listed. Not as good places have Parmesan and crushed red pepper (and salt and black pepper). Some places have ranch ad an option for dipping, but the good places typically don't.
posted by elpea at 5:03 PM on December 6, 2010

Here in Vancouver pretty much every slice place has a big bottle of ranch dressing, which I was initially averse to but now can't live without. I was surprised to see this is not ubiquitous everywhere. There's also always parm and oregano in shakers, and sometimes different kinds of hot sauce, from the flavorful to the very spicy.
posted by kaspen at 5:20 PM on December 6, 2010

Toronto: usual shit. Crushed red pepper flakes, oregano, parm, tabasco or sriracha, sometimes olive oil (rosemary if you're lucky).
posted by Beardman at 5:48 PM on December 6, 2010

Salvador, Brazil: red pepper flakes, parmesan cheese, olive oil, ketchup, sometimes oregano and/or mayo.
posted by wallaby at 6:10 PM on December 6, 2010

Here in Austin they put honey on the table 'for the bones'.

What pizza place in Austin does this? I definitely wouldn't call it standard; in fact I don't think I've ever seen it at all.
posted by nebulawindphone at 6:13 PM on December 6, 2010

DoubleDaves
posted by jeffkramer at 6:15 PM on December 6, 2010

Best answer: In Baltimore you get the usual array--red pepper flakes, parmesan "sawdust" cheese, dried oregano, garlic powder, salt, black pepper--but at local joints you're almost guaranteed to find Old Bay as well.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:53 PM on December 6, 2010

I'm from NJ, and expect oregano. Here in New England, in most places, you have to request oregano. Usually you get salt and pepper and crushed red pepper. We've even had people bring out the giant plastic container of oregano from the kitchen for us when we've asked - they just don't have it in shakers as you'd find in NY/NJ.
posted by Miko at 7:21 PM on December 6, 2010

Best answer: Nutritional yeast is found in Portland pizza places, sometimes (okay one place) labeled "hippie dust."
posted by vespabelle at 8:57 PM on December 6, 2010

ooh, hit post too soon! Two of my favorite places have bottles of Secret Ardvark Habanero Hot Sauce on the tables. It's yummmmmy!
posted by vespabelle at 8:59 PM on December 6, 2010

In South Africa, many, but not all places serve:
- cut green chilli
- chopped garlic
- parmesan

Black pepper grinders are a feature at most restaurants, not just Italian ones.
posted by Gomez_in_the_South at 9:45 PM on December 6, 2010

In RI, just red pepper and skanky generic parmesean, and really, only the tourists put that stuff on. Some of the nicer places to get pie - Sicilia's, Hope St. Pizza - don't even put them on the table. Request only. Generally, if you want it hot, you ask for hots as a topping (pickled banana, cherry and jalapeno peppers,) and if you want more cheese, you order extra cheese - parm will be in the mix with mozza and fontina. The sauce tends to be good enough to stand on its own without extra garlic or oregano.

In Boston, we have the red pepper flakes and parmesean, as well as oregano and garlic salt, sometimes onion salt and dried parsley or basil. It looks like half the spice aisle from the supermarket in some places. The pizza is pretty terrible, so it's needed.
posted by Slap*Happy at 5:23 AM on December 7, 2010

DC: Red pepper, parmesean, oregano (most of the time, though I did go to a place the other day that tried to sell me oregano).
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 7:27 AM on December 7, 2010

In France, it's pretty common—in places I've been in the Sudouest, at least—to find a bottle of house-made "hot sauce," which is olive oil in which dried red chilis and herbs have been steeping for who knows how long. It's amazing, and I love it. LOVE IT.

They have this in Brittany, too, though there I've never seen it homemade but in fast-food-style packets.
posted by threeants at 9:30 PM on December 7, 2010