A Slice is Nice: UMass Pizza Critic Visits Franklin Dining Commons

Both today and last Tuesday I had the opportunity to visit Franklin Dining Commons, one of UMass Dining's #1 nationally ranked dining halls. Seeing as "Frank" is in the lower tier of the UMass DCs, compared to the upscale and recently renovated Berkshire and Hampshire, I had relatively low expectations. To my surprise, Franklin delivered a solid slice of pizza.

Crust: 9

The crust was the best part about this pizza. Warm and buttery with just the right amount of crunch. The bottom crust provided the perfect compliment and support for the sauce and cheese on top of it. The slice was structurally sound, with the right balance between bready crust and toppings. Perhaps my favorite part was the crust around the outside of the pizza, which was molded into a visually-pleasing weave that delivered satisfaction to the taste buds as well. The crust was chewy and buttery--the perfect finish for a very solid slice of pizza. The one downside was that it was a little bit airy--I would have preferred to sacrifice some of the puffiness for a more dense foundation.

Sauce: 7

The sauce was fairly tasty. From what I could taste, it was sweet and tangy, providing a nice compliment to the buttery crust that it lay upon. Unfortunately, the satisfactory taste could not make up for the lack of sauce on the pizza. I would have liked to have had at least 50% more sauce.

Cheese: 5

The cheese was nothing to write home (or blog) about. It was your average, basic mozzarella that pretty much served as a placeholder for a slice of pizza with toppings--except this pizza had no toppings. The blandness of the cheese was really the most disappointing part about Franklin's slice of pizza. Additionally, the cheese was slightly overcooked and brown, which made it more firm than I would have liked.

The Golden Ratio: 6

The ratio of crust to sauce to cheese, which ideally would be around 2:1:2, was more like 3:1:4. The crust was tasty and thick, providing plenty of support for the motherload of cheese. However, I felt that there was slightly too much crust and much more cheese than necessary. The cheese was very firm and chewy (as opposed to stringy) and overtook the sweetness of the sauce, to the point where you could hardly taste it.

Texture & Consistency: 8

I thought the texture of the pizza was pretty good. The crust was supportive and the the sauce was complimentary. While the cheese may have been somewhat overpowering, I was not disturbed on a textural level. The puffy crust and dense cheese actually meshed quite well together, providing a solid contrast that was fairly satisfying.

Overall: 7

Franklin provided a decent to good slice of pizza. While it is below the grade that I would look for at a restaurant, I thought it was solid for dining hall food. The DC's general reputation as being subpar due to its overwhelming stench (also known as "Frank stank") and old structure was proven to be untrue. The crust was very good and the rest was good enough for the buffet-style food of a dining hall.