Due to their lack of flavor and tough texture, pizza crusts are typically used as missing jigsaw pieces, door stoppers to ice-fishing shanties, and child-safe bathtub toys. But under the right conditions, they can also be eaten, as today's Groupon proves: for $9, you get $18 worth of flavored-crust pizza, sandwiches, and drinks at Hungry Howie's Pizza. Get your fix of the grabbable grub via dine-in or pick-up. This Groupon is valid only at the Marana location.

What sets the Hungry Howie’s menu apart from other pizza parlors, other than its complete lack of profanity, is the eight flavored-crust options that inject life into the formerly discarded pizza part. If you’re allergic to life, inject butter, onion, butter cheese, ranch, Cajun spices, garlic herb, or sesame instead. Keep thinking outside the pizza box by loading your flavorful crust with specialty pizza innards, such as the Philly cheese and steak ($15.99), the Howie Maui (ham, smoked bacon, and pineapple, $14.99), and the bacon-cheddar cheeseburger ($14.99). DIY diners, on the other hand, can opt for a medium 12-inch pizza for $7.99 and add their own toppings for an additional $1.25 each. Howie's also serves up tasty wings (10 for $7.99), salads (try a small Greek for $4.99), calzone-style subs ($7.99), and Howie bread ($4.99), which comes in buttered garlic, three cheese, Cajun, and sticky-sweet cinnamon.

Hungry Howie’s is a national franchise that took flight back in 1973, when Jim Hearn converted a hamburger shop to the pie side of the Force. Since then, Hungry Howie’s remarkable success has forced other pizza franchises to start making their own crusts out of substances other than chipboard, aluminum siding, and old Styx LPs. Because Hungry Howie’s pizza tastes just as good backward as it does forward, share a slice and enjoy a Lady and the Tramp moment with your favorite bus driver.

Reviews

Urbanspooners give Hungry Howie’s an 85% approval rating:

• They have so many choices and no one else offers delicious flavored crust's [sic] like Hungry Howies! – Fun Size
• Though I love the pizza, my absolute FAVORITE is the turkey club sub. Calzone-style subs baked in the oven - De-licious! – Jess