While there may be 120 Pizza Factories in five different states, the original Pizza Factory has humble roots in the town of Oakhurst, just outside of Yosemite National Park. And after a long day of staring at and walking through giant sequoias, very little sounds better than some greasy pizza. I hoped Pizza Factory would be able to deliver said pizza. Plus, with a tagline like “We Toss ’em, They’re Awesome” it’s hard to go wrong.

We ordered a large to split with 3 people (one of whom swore to only eat one because she was eating a dastardly salad as well) and got pepperoni as our topping. Then we took a seat out side in their sukkah to wait for our pizza to be ready.

When ready, the beautiful pizza looked almost too good to eat. Almost. Dripping with grease and topped with loads of pepperoni, I pulled off a slice. And what I found was delicious. Purely delicious. The crust was the perfect thickness and had the best texture for a round pizza like this, and did I mention the loads of pepperoni? Loads! So much so that my dad was pulling them off because he couldn’t handle them. I had no trouble handling them, though. The only problem, and it pains me to say this, was that there actually was too much grease. I don’t mind a ton of grease on my pizza, but when there is so much that it fills the whole pan with oil and makes the bottom of the crust soggy, it’s a problem. Not because of the grease, but because nobody wants a soggy pizza.

So for the first couple slices the pizza was grand, but as the grease began to pool and soak in the pizza began to deteriorate. It didn’t ruin the experience, but certainly didn’t help.

EDIT: What once was Todd’s is now Alice’s. No idea if it’s the same or different. Hopefully different.

In the small town of Oakhurst, just miles from Yosemite National Park, there is but one BBQ joint, and it goes by the name of Todd’s Cookhouse Bar-B-Que. Todd’s is one of your old-fashioned order at the counter type of BBQ places and the menu is quite staggering for being up in a small town of the Sierra Nevada. From sandwiches to wings to jambalaya, everything looked great and well-priced. But would it taste great?

I settled on the Chopped Beef Brisket Sandwich, which was fit for an unvegan because it was described as “Just meat n’ sauce.” It came with a side and some fries. For my side I went with chili, then headed over to the sauce counter to load up on some dippings. What I found seemed to be disappointing. Their traditional BBQ sauce looked like a glorified ketchup, while their hickory smoked BBQ sauce looked like real sauce, but there was barely enough to fill up one little sauce cup. We asked the kitchen if there was any out back and they sadly responded, “No.”

The meal arrived shortly after, and armed with just short of two BBQ sauces, I dug in. The brisket sandwich was totally devoid of vegetables, as advertised, and I poured a little of both sauces on to give it a go. I found that the hickory sauce was better than the traditional, but not enough to hold its own in a BBQ sauce competition. A better sauce really would have made the sandwich great, but instead it was stuck being just decent. The chili was an interesting story as well, because aside from having a little kick and some meat here and there, it was basically baked beans. Good baked beans, mind you, but still not much more than that. Finally, the fries were quite delicious. In fact, the traditional BBQ sauce made for great fry-dipping because it was so much like ketchup. Look, with sauces like this you enjoy them any way you can.

The highlight of the meal, however, was the dessert. At the end of it all, we got a Bread Pudding for the table. Because I only wanted one bite, I didn’t get a picture, and that proved to be a mistake. This delectable dessert just may have been the best bread pudding I’ve ever had. Hands down.

But was it enough to make up for the lack of delicious BBQ sauce and twisted baked beans? Not quite. I’m a sauce man, and when I get BBQ I’m expecting some tasty sauce. Unfortunately Todd’s didn’t get theirs quite right, but as long as they remain the only BBQ joint in Oakhurst Todd’s will be worth a visit for anyone craving brisket, ribs or pulled pork.