domino's

Domino's Pizza sure is focused on moving forward. First, it completely overhauled its pizza; now, it's clucking about newly revamped chicken. The pizza chain added boneless chicken to its menu and updated its chicken wings, launching the new poultry items yesterday with its first national chicken promotion in nine years.

The boneless chicken — made with "100 percent white breast meat" — is served with dippable flavors Kicker Hot Sauce, New Sweet Mango Habañero, BBQ, Ranch, or Blue Cheese. The first three sauce flavors are also available with the traditional chicken wings.

"Over 80 percent of our menu consists of new, permanent menu items introduced since 2008, so the desire to continue getting better goes well beyond our pizza," the company said in a statement. Those of you who've been to Domino's lately: can you attest to the truth of this?

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Domino's isn't just toying around with breakfast pizza — it's also trying something new with the release of its latest specialty, the Wisconsin 6 Cheese pizza. The new pizza, which launched yesterday, is the chain's first new product since it overhauled its core pizza recipe late last year. The Wisconsin 6 Cheese is topped with mozzarella, feta, provolone, cheddar, parmesan, and asiago cheeses; most but not all of the cheeses will come from dairy farms in Wisconsin.

In conjunction, Domino's is running ads that focus on American dairy farms and launching an interactive site, "Behind the Pizza," that will highlight the stories behind the ingredients that go on Domino's pizza. Domino's is pushing the envelope with the introduction of a nationwide pizza that highlights ingredients from solely one state. The Badger State does have some of the country's best cheese.

My only question is: wouldn't it be that much better if all the cheese in the pizza came from Wisconsin? What do you think of the pie? Does it seem like something you'd buy?

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• Must make: all-natural, homemade cheese sauce. — Serious Eats
• The 16 restaurants that have mattered most, from 1995 to today. — Epicurious
• Q&A with Twitter mashup and Chow 13 nominee Ruth Bourdain. — Chow
• The first-ever Chick-fil-A hits Chicago, with more already on the way. — Grub Street
• Jamie and Jools Oliver have welcomed a new son, Buddy Bear Maurice. — Eater
• In the age of the gastroclub, restaurants are the new nightlife. — Details
• The forthcoming Noma cookbook is attainable and inspiring. — The Atlantic Food
• Would you eat a Domino's Square Puff pizza? — So Good

Domino's Pizza claims to have taken the pie in a blind taste test against competitors Papa John's and Pizza Hut. According to the fast food chain, an independent, blind taste test of 1,800 consumers in eight different markets conducted by Lieberman Research Worldwide showed that Domino's pizzas were preferred to other pizza chains "by a wide margin." The study indicates that eaters prefer Domino's extra cheese, pepperoni, and sausage pizzas all by at least 58 percent over Pizza Hut and Papa John's. While Papa John's didn't respond to the results, a skeptical representative from Pizza Hut countered by saying, “If you do some research into other taste tests, you’d be hard-pressed to find one in which Domino’s won." Although the study was supposedly conducted by an independent research company, it feels rather like a publicity stunt. I'm more inclined to believe the results of the Serious Eats delivery pepperoni test — although admittedly we did see improvement in the new Domino's formula.

Do the results seem rigged to you? Who would come out on top in your personal taste test: Domino's, Papa John's, or Pizza Hut?

Domino's Pizza ended the year with a big bang! The pizza delivery chain acknowledged that its current recipe for pizza was less than ideal and announced it had given its core product a complete overhaul. Execs promised the new pie would have a sweeter sauce with a red pepper kick; shredded, rather than diced, mozzarella with a hint of provolone; and a butter, garlic, and parsley crust. We ordered a cheese and a pepperoni of the new version to see whether it really lived up to its lofty promise. Did it? Find out when you read more.

This year KFC had its moment in the spotlight, but 2010 could be all about Domino's Pizza. The fast food delivery chain announced yesterday that it will be changing its core pizza recipe. Beginning on Dec. 27, all US Domino's locations will offer pizza with a new crust, with added butter, garlic, and parsley; a sweeter sauce, with a red pepper kick; and a mozzarella cheese that's been shredded instead of diced and blended with a hint of provolone. "We're basically relaunching Domino's Pizza," remarked Russell Weiner, Domino's marketing chief. The development process involved 18 months of testing dozens of cheeses, 15 sauces, 50 crust seasoning blends, and heavy consumer research. Look out for a strong TV and Internet marketing campaign beginning Dec. 28, when the chain offers two medium, two-topping pizzas for $5.99 each. Considering pizza is the core of Domino's, this recipe rollout will either pay off in spades or have steep repercussions. Are you curious to try it? Is Domino's keeping up with the times — or are they messing with a good thing?