BBQ sauce on a pizza? You bet!

Byline: FOOD DUDE By Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard

Ever notice that men and women have different eating habits? Mrs. Food Dude, for example, doesn't like to eat after 9 p.m., but Food Dude can easily tackle a three-item Mexican combo platter and watch Conan O'Brien at the same time.

It isn't just "when" that's an issue, but also "what." Cheese is something many women enjoy in moderation, but the average male can burn through a loaf of pepper jack faster than Napoleon Dynamite's brother. The same goes for burritos, which could easily be breakfast, lunch and dinner for many of us with Y chromosomes. My father-in-law once wrapped spaghetti in tortillas and called it a meal.

Despite the apparent gender gap in eating habits, Food Dude isn't just for guys. This is a column for all sorts of people who eat all sorts of things, so send us your food questions and we'll supply the answers, dudes and dudettes.

Dear Food Dude: I love BBQ chicken pizza. My wife, who loves BBQ chicken and pizza, will not eat BBQ chicken pizza. She thinks it is wrong for pizza to have BBQ sauce on it. I tell her she is just being narrow-minded. Do you know who invented this kind of pizza? And is it wrong to eat pizza with BBQ sauce on it?

- Thanks, dude.

Pizza Lover

Dear Pizza Lover: Of course it's not wrong to enjoy BBQ chicken on your pizza, says Kevin Cohen, owner of Bene Gourmet Pizza, which offers a BBQ chicken pizza with Cheddar, mozzarella, red onions and bell peppers.

"The proof is in the pie," Cohen says. `My first question is, `Has (your wife) tried it? What we've found with most people is that if they like a particular kind of food, they like it on their pizza as well."

Even if your wife won't try it, don't feel bad, P.L., you're not the only one who likes a little dirty bird on your pizza. BBQ chicken is one of the top sellers at Bene, and it's still the top menu item at California Pizza Kitchen, which claims to have invented the flavor combination in 1985.

As legend has it, BBQ chicken pizza was born when CPK founders Rick Rosenfeld and Larry Flax began playing around with pizza ingredients in their Beverley Hills test kitchen. In a scene right out of the 1985 film "Weird Science," the air filled with smoke, Oingo Boingo played in the background and a great beauty emerged from the haze.

Much like '80s sex symbol Kelly LeBrock, BBQ chicken has generally shown to be more popular among men than women, says Mary Parks, owner of Track Town Pizza on River Road, who declines to speculate on the cause of the gender divide.

"A lot of people say, I am so hooked on that pizza, that's all I want," says Parks, who has been called the Eugene Pizza Queen. "I never was into it."

Track Town has been serving BBQ chicken pie since 1991. In one year, the pizza became the top selling menu item without any advertising, Parks said. At one point the restaurant chain was going through six tons of chicken a month and had to hire two full-time workers to handle chicken duty. Today, BBQ chicken is second only to pepperoni at Track Town River Road, accounting for 38 percent of the restaurant's pizza business. Track Town also offers a Hula Pizza with BBQ chicken and pineapple.

Probably the first pizzeria in the area to experiment with poultry was Pegasus Smokehouse Pizza, which opened in 1989 and hit a grand slam with its signature smoked chicken pizza. The restaurant still has Pegasus chicken pizza on its menu in teriyaki and BBQ flavor, but it is now prepared without a smoker.

Almost all variants of BBQ chicken pizza substitute barbecue sauce for marinara, but there do appear to be some variations in preparation and ingredients. While Pegasus uses thigh meat marinated for one day, CPK used white breast meat. Pegasus serves its pizza with red onions and green peppers and CPK adds sliced red onions and chopped cilantro. Bene uses mostly breast meat and some thigh meat and glazes the chicken. Track Town marinates thigh meat for three days, chills it and then runs it through a grinder.

BBQ chicken pizza has evolved from a specialty item into a staple that's now available in the freezer aisle of your grocery store. Even Chuck E. Cheese now offers the flavor, and, says Pegasus co-owner Lori Reader, it's entirely possible your wife just hasn't found the right recipe that appeals to her.

"It's good," she assures. `The first time (I encountered it), I thought, `Chicken and pizza? Does not compute. Does not go together.' But it's delicious.'

Send your questions about food via e-mail to [e-mail]. Or, send mail to Food Dude, The Register Guard, P.O. Box 10188, Eugene, OR 97440-2168.

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Pizza that includes BBQ chicken is popular.