Okay.

Bare with me here, because I can already see the pizza-elitists typing between their bites of Sicilian-style, thinned crusted $18 slice.

Little Caesars is NOT the pizza you introduce to your parents, or who you tell your friends you took home last night.

But man, sometimes you’ve gotta have that cheap rebound to appreciate the real quality pie.

I would not be someone to disagree that a “fresh hot & ready” is, on a good night, maybe half of the things it claims to be. However, recently my life was changed by a Little Caesar’s pizza, and her name was Smokehouse.

It was a rather forgettable, drab afternoon when my roommate bolted up and left, only to return with what would soon be a pretty shaking pizza experience.

For those who don’t know or care,  Little Caesars Smokehouse Pizza is a gem of a creation with beef brisket, pulled pork, smoked bacon, and barbecue sauce with a seasoned smoked crust. This is how you kill somebody in pizza form.

I had just three lonesome bites that day, but I have never craved something so explicitly for so long, and I tell you: this is an experience.

Now when it comes to quick service pizzas, I personally am a big advocate for Pizza Hut and Hungry Howie’s, with a recent bias for Domino’s because of a personal recipe pizza my girlfriend and I made. When we’re talking pizza shops, I think Buddy’s Pizza in Warren is the best pizza I’ve ever had.

I respect the fact that LC’s is known as two things: cardboard college food, and a drunken mistake. But let’s stop pretending that we’re all too good for a chain like Little Caesars, because I swear only the pizza industry has this intense of a hatred for something. For God’s sake, we still allow someone called a McRib to be made by a golden-arched corporation.

Anyway, I digress. For under $10 you can get a small pizza wi two toppings from some other pizza place, or one of the years most underrated pizzas from an underdog in terms of reputation.

Coalition to nickname the new arena in Detroit: The Smokehouse.