It was a time when Pac-Man was sweeping the nation, when people were obsessing over who shot J.R., when the U.S. hockey team defeated the Soviet Union for a miraculous Olympic gold, when viewers first got their MTV (and video clearly did kill the radio star).

It was also when I formed one of the longest-lasting relationships in my life – with Pat.

Let me clarify. While there was an actual Pat, it was his pizza that I fell in love with.

It was my junior year at the University of Maine. After two-plus years and too many meals at the dining commons (oh, that the food then were at least common), I discovered that I had an option.

I had no car, so getting to the handful of eateries on the fringes of the campus was out. It was such a long walk to the Union, especially on a cold night. But then I found Pat’s Pizza, which delivered. Problem solved.

Two or three times a week, I’d pick up the phone and put in a call to Orono for one, or maybe two, double pep-double cheese pizzas. An interminable time later, there would be a knock on the door of my room at Estabrook Hall. As was happening at dorms across campus, money exchanged hands, and I had a meal fit for the gods (or at least a fit meal).

I’d crack open the familiar staples sealing together the saucer-shaped boxes with the pencil-hole vent in the top, and the smell would waft up to set my (soon-substantial) stomach a-rumbling. It wasn’t an easy food to eat, what with the greasy cheese and pepperoni sliding off the thin crust (how much depended on how rough a trip it had had), and I’d rapidly go through the pile of paper towels I’d torn off from the bathroom dispenser. Even though the cheese may have been congealing, it was heaven. Soon, I’d let out a contented burp and, with a sigh, settle back into whatever homework I had been putting off that evening.

That was my pizza epiphany. It’s 25 years later, and my mouth still salivates. I’m always happy on those days when I’m in Orono and I have an excuse to go worship at my Mecca.

Everyone has their Pat’s, that one special pizza place. Pizza is comfort food, one to which people have an emotional attachment. I mean, how many of you long for that takeout order of asparagus?

Pizza has seemingly been around forever. Both the Greeks and the Italians claim to have created it, although I’d bet the Egyptians had some kind of dish using dough covered with toppings (“Yeah, gimme a Pharaoh pie, hold the eel”).

It has been documented that Gennaro Lombardi imported pizza to New York City’s Lower East Side from his native Naples in 1905. Since the fuel of New York was coal, not the wood used to fire the pizza ovens in southern Italy, the dish immediately began an evolution that continues to this day.

Many favor one type of pizza, to the dismissal of all others. It’s OK to pan pan, to deep-six deep-dish, to be pitiless about pita, to not be dreamin’ about California (style), to not be thrilled about grilled. Just don’t let tempers rise like dough, before pushing them back down.

As anyone who knows me can attest, I’m no nutritionist. But pizza has to be a perfect food nutritionally. With crust for the bread group, tomato sauce and maybe toppings for a veggie, cheese for dairy and meats on top for protein and fats, it covers most of the parts of the daily nutrition pyramid. (At least I think it does. They keep tinkering with that pyramid, veering further and further away from my actual diet.)

What makes a good pizza? To paraphrase the Supreme Court, I know it when I taste it.

Most pizzas consist of four parts: the crust, the sauce, the cheese and the toppings.

My perfect pizza is pretty basic and no-frills.

It needs to have a crispy but not too crispy crust, with a little snap to it. It needs to be thick enough to keep the hot toppings from scalding your lap. But it can’t be too thick and doughy. If you want chewy, go gnaw on a baguette.

Next comes a thin layer of sauce, to keep the crust hydrated. It should be spicy (that taste of lead always added to my Pat’s pizza). That’s sauce, as in liquid. If you want chunks, have some salsa and chips.

Now it’s time for cheese, glorious cheese. Throw those fistfuls of mutz on there, enough to obliterate any view of the sauce. Another cheese that works is packaged, seasoned Mexican cheese for some extra zing. If you want mold, check out a lab.

Last come the toppings, the crowning touch. For me, that’s pepperoni, with bacon or sausage if I’m feeling adventurous. If you want veggies, get a side salad.

Build all this on a floured peel. Then let’s get stoned. No, get your mind out of the ’60s. I mean keep a baking stone in your oven, for a firmer crust. As for temperature, I favor Buster Poindexter’s approach: make it hot, hot, hot. Bake it until the crust is crispy and the toppings and cheese are browning.

Bring it back out on the peel, divide it with a wheel, then see how a slice makes you feel.

Either that, or do what harried consumers every day do – pick up the phone and order some culinary relief.

Embrace a pizza. It’s the circle of life.

Pizza de la Casa

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons cornmeal

Dough for 16-inch crust

1 pound sweet Italian sausage links

1 large sweet yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 large green or yellow bell pepper, julienned

1 hot red or green chile, minced (or to taste)

1 pound fresh mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tablespoons minced fresh basil, or 2 teaspoons dried

1/2 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds

3/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

8 ounces (2 cups) shredded Mozzarella cheese

12 ounces pepperoni, thinly sliced

1 cup Quick Tomato Sauce (see below)

1 cup sliced Kalamata or other black olives

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees for 30 minutes. Brush 1 tablespoon of the oil over the surface of the 16-inch pizza pan and sprinkle with cornmeal, shaking out the excess. (If using pizza stones or tiles, place them in the oven before preheating, and heavily flour a pizza paddle.) Pat, stretch, or roll the dough in the prepared pan or on the paddle and set aside.

Heat the remaining oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Pierce the sausage links with a fork and add to the skillet. Reduce the heat to low, cover the skillet, and cook the sausage, turning frequently and piercing occasionally, for 10 minutes. Uncover and continue to cook until golden brown on all sides (5 to 7 minutes). Transfer the sausage to power towels. When cool, slice into thin rounds.

Remove all but 3 tablespoons of oil from the skillet. Add the onion, bell peppers and chile, and saute over medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Toss in the mushrooms and garlic, increase the heat to medium, and saute, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms are golden brown (about 10 minutes). Stir in the basil, fennel, salt and pepper, and set aside.

Scatter the mozzarella cheese over the pizza crust and top with the sauteed vegetables. Arrange the sausage and pepperoni slices over the vegetables, and drizzle with tomato sauce. Top with olives.

Bake the pizza until the cheese has melted and the crust is golden (13 to 18 minutes).

(Reprinted by arrangement with Avery, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. from “The Pizza Gourmet” by Shea MacKenzie, copyright 1995 by Shea MacKenzie.)

Quick Tomato Sauce

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 large sweet yellow onion, chopped

1 can (32 ounces) plum tomatoes, drained and coarsely chopped

1/4 cup red or white wine, or vermouth

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano, or 1 teaspoon dried

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon crushed dried hot red chiles

In a large saucepan, heat the oil, garlic, and onion over medium heat. Add the tomatoes and wine. Bring the ingredients to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer the sauce for 15 minutes.

Transfer half of the mixture to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Return this pureed mixture to the saucepan. Stir in the basil, tomato paste, oregano, salt, pepper and chiles.

Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer 15 minutes more while stirring occasionally.

Use immediately. To store, refrigerate in a covered container for up to seven days, or freeze until needed.

(Reprinted by arrangement with Avery, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. from “The Pizza Gourmet” by Shea MacKenzie, copyright 1995 by Shea MacKenzie.)

Pizza Rosa Al Bianco

Makes two 9-inch pizzas

2 pizza dough balls, 6 ounces each

Unbleached all-purpose flour, cornmeal or semolina flour for dusting peel

1 red torpedo onion, thinly slice

11/2 cups freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

24 pistachio nuts, very coarsely chopped

2 teaspoons fresh rosemary leaves

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Place a baking stone on the middle shelf of the oven (unless you know your oven well enough to place it on a different shelf) and preheat on the highest setting for at least 1 hour. Make one pizza at a time unless your peel and oven can accommodate both pizzas. Shape the dough ball on a floured counter, and transfer it to a peel or an inverted sheet pan that has been dusted with flour.

Spread half of the onion slices over the surface of the dough. Sprinkle half of the cheese over the onion slices, then scatter half each of the nuts and the rosemary over the top. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over the top, spiraling it out from the center.

Carefully slide the pizza from the peel onto the baking stone. It should take 7 to 9 minutes to bake. When it is done, the crust should be puffy and slightly golden. The underside of the crust should be brown and crisp, not white and soft. If the underside is not ready when the top is finished, lower the shelf for the next pizza.

Remove the finished pizza from the oven and serve it whole (usually one pizza per person), or let it cool for about 2 minutes before slicing and serving. Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make the second pizza.

(Reprinted by arrangement with Ten Speed Press from “American Pie” by Peter Reinhart, copyright 2003 by Peter Reinhart.)

Eyes on the pies

What’s your favorite pizza place in central, eastern or northern Maine (excluding the national chains)? And why? The NEWS would like to know. We’ll collect the responses, report the results and visit the five places garnering the most votes.

Respond in writing, either by e-mailing dmcgarrigle@bangordailynews.net (write ?Pizza? in the subject line) or by mailing to

Pizza, c/o Dale McGarrigle

Style Desk, Bangor Daily News

491 Main St., Bangor, ME 04401.

Deadline for responses is March 16.