Like most corporate success stories, Domino's started out small: just one store in 1960. That year, Tom Monaghan and his brother James purchased "DomiNick's," a pizza store in Ypsilanti, Michigan. In 1965, Tom became sole owner of the company and renamed it Domino's.

By 1978 the 200th Domino's store had opened, and things really began to cook. In 1983 there were 1,000 Domino's, and in 1989 there were 5,000. Now, there are more than 7,000 stores, including over 2,000 outside the United States. Today, Domino's is number one in pizza delivery worldwide, and second only to Pizza Hut in gross sales.

Domino's success is no accident. They've fine-tuned the art of fast, friendly pizza delivery. Their staple is the classic hand-tossed crust, but there are also deep-dish and thin crusts available in 12 and 14-inch sizes. Wings and breadsticks are also offered. For the adventurous, Domino's Doublemelt pizza is here for a "limited time only."

The Doublemelt has two thin crusts glued together with an herb-and-garlic-infused cheese sauce. It's topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella and a choice of toppings, in addition to another blend of six cheeses. The Doublemelt originally was developed for Domino's international market. It debuted in Japan in 1997 under the name "Quattro Mille-Feuille," after the French layered pastry. In 2003, it reached Australia as the "Double Decadence" Pizza. The Doublemelt came to the United States last September, where a considerable amount of tweaking was needed to get the right cheese blend.

We had to try one of the Doublemelts - we also decided to hedge our bet by ordering some traditional backup pies. We ordered a pepperoni Doublemelt, pepperoni & sausage hand-tossed and deep-dish pizzas, and a thin-crust Barbeque Feast pizza. The Barbeque Feast is topped with bacon, green pepper, onion, cheddar & mozzarella, and barbeque sauce. True to their reputation, the staff was friendly and efficient.

The traditional pie bore no surprises. The meats were tasty, the mozzarella was stretchy and the crust was what hand-tossed should be. Not a gourmet pie, but good. There may have been more cheese and toppings on the deep-dish than on the traditional, but it seemed like way too much dough for the amount of toppings. I'll stick with their traditional over deep-dish any day. The Barbeque feast was nicely done - the thin crust was crisp but tender, and the sauce was tangy and not too sweet.

Now the Doublemelt. This is not a pizza for the timid. It's got lots of crust, and lots and lots of cheese. There's cheese up top and down below, and then up top some more. Some of the cheese is sharp and spicy, some is soft and gooey. The Doublemelt is doubly different, that's for sure. The big difference is the lower layer of creamy cheese sauce, which has a very un-pizza texture. The doublemelt is not for everyone - it may not even be for most people. Personally, I enjoyed it, but if I ordered it again it would be with bacon on top - a better match for the abundant cheesiness. One thing's certain, Domino's isn't resting on their laurels - they're busy outcheesing the competition.