I am starting this blog because I was told that I should love New York style pizza more than Chicago style. So begins my review of the ultra thin vs the thick and everything in between.

In all my years of eating pizza, I’ve come to the realization that there are four fundamentals to your basic pizza (listed by order of importance).

1) The Crust. Whether it be thick or thin, if the crust is not just right, it can spell doom for a slice.

2) The Sauce. This can be a bit of a preferance deal breaker. Light or heavy. Sweet or savory. Smooth or chunky. White, red, or pesto. It all depends on your tastes.

3) The Cheese. You can get a slice with cheap cheese and it can still be good, but if it’s REALLY cheap and/or barely coated, it can be a real let down.

4) The Toppings. In my opinion, toppings are usually not important. Sometimes a really great slice of cheese pizza can trump any combo slice. Bad toppings do contribute to the downfall of a pizza, but if the cheese slice is bad, then more likely than not, any other slice will fall short.

Clients and friends often ask me what they can do about their love for pizza when trying to eat healthier. My answer, as for most foods, is “everything in moderation.” Pizza is actually a healthy choice — it has carbs, protein, and veggies — if you choose wisely.

For the most Nutritioulicious™ pizza, follow these tips:

• Choose whole wheat crust if available
• Get a veggie slice, or if sharing a pie with friends add vegetables like broccoli, mushrooms, peppers, and onions as toppings
• Don’t get extra cheese
• Skip the pepperoni, sausage, and hamburger toppings
• Start with a mixed salad, which will fill you up and help you limit your pizza intake to one or two slices
• Go for the thin crust and steer clear of deep dish and stuffed crust varieties
• Stick with tomato sauce, rather than a white pizza without sauce

Some stats for you:

• Average slice of cheese pizza has 250-270 calories, 10 grams fat
• Average slice of thin crust cheese pizza has 190-200 calories, 10 grams fat
• Slice of Pizza Hut Thin ‘N Crispy Veggie Lover’s pizza has 240 calories, 9 grams fat
• Slice of Pizza Hut Hand-Tossed Meat Lover’s pizza has 450 calories, 24 grams fat
• California Pizza Kitchen’s BBQ Chicken pizza (whole pie) has 1060 calories (CPK does not disclose fat grams)
• One serving of Uno Chicago Grill Deep Dish Cheese & Tomato pizza has 580 calories, 40 grams fat

Stay tuned for my review of Kashi frozen pizza. What’s your favorite type of pizza?

The humble wood burning oven. (Hey Mister hurry up with our pizza. We’re starving. And you know we like it extra crispy)

Oh she’s breathtaking. Fresh out of the oven. Pizza heaven. Give her a few seconds. Photos? Applause.

The anatomy of pizza. So thin. So perfect. She wants you. So enjoy her. Now. (She’s hot!)

yeah, i’m here. and i’ve taken some pictures already.

but anyway, my flight was okay. we were early at first, but then there was an emergency aircraft and we had to circle around before we could land. and when i was going to meet my cousin in law, some shady guys were trying to offer me a taxi. like a lot of shady people. lol

but then, i found her car. and it was stuffy outside, but warm. there’s a hurricane coming in. hmm… seattle has nice weather right now..

so we came back to my cousin’s apartment. and he basically lives at the hospital that he works at. how sad. so he sees and lives and works with his co-workers. -.-;;

and then i went to get some pizza around the block. and the place is called ‘artichokes’, and i SHOULD have brought my camera. but i was too hungry because on my six hour flight, the plane people didn’t feed me anything. except for peanuts and pretzels and cookies and soda. melissa would have died because the peanut smell was really really super strong. haha

but that artichokes place. wow. it’s a small little place. three big italian guys with new york accents. they’re all making the pizza and eating their own slices at the same time. and the air ventilation thingy! hahaha, what a joke. the filter was taped to the vent tube. lol. taped.

but it was the most fabulous slice of pizza ever. and in anthony bourdain’s words ‘this is how pizza should be’. it was really new york style, though.. the crust was on the thick side, but it was still buttery, delicious, garlicky, and artichoky.

oh darn, my docta cousin got called .. he’s on call tonight.. ): poor poor doctors.

but yeah

pratt tour tomorrow. i’ve got the subway directions and everything. i’ll do pictures tomorrow. but if you wanna look, go to marieho on photobucket and click on NYC Summer 2009:)

IT’S LATE. it feels like 9 o’clock, but it’s actually 1:40 AM. and i need to wake up at 9:30 AM today! ACK.

later dudes.

My almost daily lunch. When fresh, it is near perfect. A giant slice of perfect. When not-so-fresh, order it extra-crispy to return to a shadowy something like it once was.

A sign on the wall says no sugar or msg, salt only used in levening.

The below photo makes the slice seem smaller than it truly is. Angles, I guess.

IZ

Once my reigning favorite, now dropping off a bit. Perfectly cooked crust with subtle, delectable fermented flavor. Sauce a bit salty and cheese a bit underdone. Not my usual experience, so I will have to reorder. Calabrian chili oil is miraculous, incredible, addictive, evocative of never-ending strings of adjectives.
Their cookbook is the source of my pizza experiments at home. More on that to come.

IZ

Mixed feelings, my friends, mixed feelings.
A long wait for decent pie. EDP and I differ in opinion over service, but we shall leave it at that for now. Must return.
The biancaverde (white pizza with greens and anchovies) was off the charts, the margherita less so. Very similar to A16 (including high salt levels)

IZ

Long wait, creative pies.

My prosciutto and arugula was a bit bland, though the salsiccia sang and the “purgatorio” with egg was inspired. The crust was well cooked, though lacking a bit of extra flavor—a twang, perhaps, was needed. Low on the salt scale, which is a plus.

Staff was attentive, considering the hour plus wait.

IZ

There are many ways to grill a pizza. Today I am using the Eastman Outdoors ZaGrill Pizza Cooker.
The dough recipe is modified from Williams Sonoma basic pizza dough recipe. The difference is in the flour I use. What separates a home made pizza from a pizzeria is that they typically use a high gluten flour. This flour is a bit difficult to find. I purchased mine at GFS (Gordon Food Service). This is a restaurant supply that also sells to the public. I use Bouncer High Gluten Flour. If you cannot find high gluten flour in your town, you can purchase it online. One excellent brand is King Arthur Sir Lancelot Hi-Gluten Flour.

Dough Ingredients:

2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
1 cup warm water (100 – 110 deg.F)
2.5 cups High Gluten flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. olive oil

Directions:

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook, stir together the yeast, sugar and warm water. Let stand for 5 minutes. (You can also work the dough by hand or use a food processor, just follow the instructions that came with your machine.)

Add 2 cups of the flour and salt and start the mixer on low speed. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil and knead the dough for 5 minutes. The dough should come together into a large ball and pull away from the sides of the bowl; it should be moist but not sticky. If it does not, add additional flour a little at a time until it does.

Stop the mixer, remove the dough hook and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let stand at room temperature until the dough is doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Place the ball of dough on a floured work surface. Roll out the dough into a 12 to 14-inch round about 1/8 inch thick, dusting with flour as needed.

Docking the dough is optional. Place on grill tray. Pinch the edges of the dough to form a crust.

Add the pizza sauce of your choice, any pre-cooked toppings (I pre-cooked some Italian Sausage for mine), add cheese and sprinkle with a little oregano or your favorite pizza spices.

Place in a pre-heated (450 deg. F) grill and bake for about 10 – 15 min. rotating the pizza half way through cooking. Remember to use a thermometer and try to maintain the 450 deg. F temp. This of course will be easier to do on a gas grill.

For a more wood oven baked taste, soak wood chips for at least 30 min to an hour and place them in a smoker box placed on the grill.

When finished carefully slide off onto a pizza peel, and allow to rest for a few minutes.

Let me know how yours turns out!

If you want to know more about how to make pizzeria style pizza, there is an eBook/DVD set that goes into a lot of detail about New York Style Pizza. The set is a bit pricey, but if you are determined to make a great pizza it may be worth the effort. For more info Click Here.

Nancy’s Pizza
8395 E. 116^th St.
Fishers, IN 46038
www.nancyspizza.com

Since Nancy’s Chicago Style Pizza opened in Fishers, I have had a chance to sample all four of their different types of pizza. On my first visit to Nancy’s I immediately noticed that the Fishers location only offers carry-out or delivery. If you are looking to dine in, head to the 8938 E. 96^th St. location in Fishers.

Stuffed Lite

Original Stuffed Crust vs. Stuffed Lite

I was happy to see a 1.5 in Stuffed Lite is available to those of us trying to manage our weight and still have a good slice of pie. Not only is the pizza thinner, but you can also taste the excellent combination of spices in the sauce and the ingredients in your pie better now that they are not masked by the immense amount of cheese that comes on the Original Stuffed Crust. I ordered mine with sausage and pepperoni and Nancy’s came through with more than enough to fill the inside of this pie. The Stuffed Lite with two toppings came in at about $22 dollars in comparison to the Original Stuffed Crust with the same ingredients at about $27.

Would I Buy it Again? Without any doubt, the answer is Yes for the Stuffed Lite. I actually enjoyed the Lite more than the Original Stuffed Crust as it was not overloaded with large amounts of cheese improving the overall taste of the pizza. Although it is still the most authentic Chicago Style stuffed crust pizza you can find in Indianapolis, it is a step behind in taste and quality in comparison to the king of stuffed crust pizza, Giordano’s of Chicago.

Super-Thin

When visiting a restaurant like Nancy’s, I usually like ordering their specialty but on my second visit, I gave Nancy’s Super Thin Pizza a try. The Super Thin comes in the standard Sm, Med., Large sizes along with a 16” X-Large and an 18“ Family designed to feed 4 adults. With a base price of $17.10 + $2.50 a topping, my sausage, pepperoni, mushroom pizza quickly became a $25 super-thin crust pizza for the family size. At that price, I had expectation of a pizza that had toppings covering edge-to-edge. Instead, I found toppings to be poorly dispersed on the pizza with some pieces missing 1 or 2 of the ingredients all together. The crust was too thin causing the toppings to slide off the pizza when you pick up a slice to eat.

Would I Buy it Again? No. Considering the $25 price, this pizza should be loaded with toppings and did not make the cut. For half the price, I can get an equally good pizza at Donatos.

Thin Crust

Thin Crust

Even though Nancy’s specialty is deep dish pizza, their standard thin crust is the star of their four different types of pizza.  The thin crust I ordered for $28 was identical in size and ingredients to the super thin I previously mention coming in at $25. The crust was just thick enough to support all the toppings when you pick up a slice but not so thick that is too filling like the deep dish. This pizza was loaded with toppings. *** A bonus for mushroom lovers is that all of Nancy’s vegetable toppings are fresh and not canned like they are at so many other pizza restaurants.

Would I Buy it Again? Yes. Although pricey, it is one of my favorite thin crust pizzas anywhere and I will certainly pick this up again for an occasional treat.

_EatHSE_

I love Pizza Antica. Never order their salads (boring, odd/inconvenient presentation, and not worth the exorbitant prices), but the thin-crust pizzas – c’est magnifique! Even with the mediocre service that night, I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner, from the vegetable antipasti/fresh mozarella/foccoccia strips to the pizza itself.

We all missed the sweet corn and fennel combination that we so enjoyed last July when the cousins came to play, but were fairly charmed by the asparagus and tarragon pizza Monday night. The little bits of lemon set off the slight bitterness of the asparagus to perfection.

All that was missing was a nice glass of chardonnay. In this economy, however, just order water.

Why didn’t anyone ever tell me that Gladstone is totally weird? Not only is Gladstone Pizza actually The Gladstone Coffee, magically transformed from bins-furniture cafe into bins-furniture pizza place after 5 PM, but some friends and I felt like we had been plopped into Inland Empire while waiting for our bumbling waiter to stop fishing for non-sequiturs and take our order. There was a woman a few picnic tables behind us who couldn’t stop plunging her hands into her tank top to show off her new, full chest tattoo. There was a smoking patch of ground (yes, smoking, and yes, substantially) about a stone’s throw from our table that was the prime entertainment for bantering barflys at the Gladstone Pub next door. There was a group of kids trying to run cars off of 39th with a basketball. And there was a long, long wait for our pizza.

A former Gladstone Coffee employee told me that the shop started baking pies after the manager decided that profits needed a boost. It sounds like a good idea in theory: the Steele/Holgate/Gladstone sector is in need of a pizza joint that dishes out a bit more bite than Woodstock’s Pizza Roma. Gladstone has played its cards well — they’ve hopped on the Portland bandwagon and only cook with meats from nearby Otto’s Sausages, and get their dough, sauce, cheeses, and veggies from local sources. Besides pizza, the shop offers salads and pasta dishes that I wasn’t able to try, though our waiter compensated for the spotty service (he was the only person waiting on a full house) by serving us a complimentary appetizer of roasted asparagus, salami, and coppa. I figured, at least the guy is trying to be nice, but I’m not sure if the other patrons equally sympathized with his brisk beer run/escape attempt up to the nearby Plaid Pantry when the shop’s Hop Lava IPA tap went dry.

This guy was starting to get suspicious. After biting into our $20 half-margherita-half-andouille sausage pie, I couldn’t help but feel that he must have thrown a veil over my eyes before he pranced around the sidewalk wildfire and shouted something about coal mining. Everything smelled good and looked great, but Gladstone had served me one of the blandest Portland pies I’ve ever eaten. With all snarkiness aside, Gladstone’s crust is delicious, and reminiscent of my beloved east coast crusts that most Portland pizza shops will never get close to emulating. It’s perfectly charred, has a great crunchy underside that’s counteracted by a soft and moist topping side, and holds rank alongside Sellwood’s Tastebud for quality. In fact, if Gladstone were to only serve crust with a little bit of oil on top, I’d say they make the best pizza bianca in town.

It’s the toppings that spoiled the pie — the sauce was under-salted, overloaded with garlic, and a bit thinly spread. The cheese was an aged mozzarella (not fresh, as we hoped the price would entail) that melted into a tasteless film on top of the pie, and was even more disappointing when andouille sausage sat on top of it. The sausage and cheese were polar opposites on that pie, and rather than finding an interesting flavor through the tension, I just couldn’t figure out what I was eating anymore. I also prefer a pie that’s cooked a bit crisp, and found Gladstone’s pizza too slippery; it didn’t help that the andouille made the situation a whole lot greasier.

Gladstone has some work to do if they want to transform their neighborhood cafe into a respectable pizza spot. Our waiter was facing a tough night — the place was understaffed and the tap went dry, but he didn’t really respond as a waiter usually does, and should do. Instead, he acted like an awkward barista stuck in a foreign situation. It’s great that the shop is trying to use local ingredients, but that doesn’t help things if the pizza is just underwhelming. Rumor has it that Gladstone has purchased a neighboring building and plans to expand into a full-scale restaurant. Let’s hope that they expand service and re-plan their recipe, too.

MK

The Gladstone Coffee and Pizza
3813 SE Gladstone St (map)
(503)-775-1537
Pizza:
Atmosphere:
Service:
Value:

Our reunion dinner in downtown Palo Alto had all the ingredients for excellent catch-up conversations and trading stories: good pizza at Patxi’s (on Emerson St. and University Ave.), atmosphere, and chatty girls.

Thin crust with mushrooms, pepperoni, and olives.

Chicago-style deep-dish (Patxi’s specialty) with spinach and pesto. The spinach is wedged in between layers of deliciously thick tomato sauce and mozarella cheese.

It’s the good kind of cheese that gets on your chin and detaches little tendrils from the slice to the plate, as if reluctant to be eaten without a good fight.

Deep-dish is way too filling for my taste, but at least every flavorful bite went down with an equally heavy dose of conversation, laughter, and random outbursts about couches, how Stanford sort of looks like a Chipotle, Gilmore Girls, the Mafia, and being mistaken for a Japanese tourist.

• 7020 183rd Street
• Tinley Park, IL 60477
• (708) 532-8486
• Website
• Menu

Vito & Nick's II on 183rd Street in Tinley Park.

My brother has recently found South Side Chicago pizza.  Last summer, he went to a White Sox game with my aunt and some of her co-workers.  Those co-workers stopped at a pizzeria in Matteson where my brother had a cracker thin crust Italian beef pizza for the first time.  Since then, he’s talked about it on many occasions.

When J and I can only make it back as far as Chicago, we usually meet my parents for lunch on Sunday before heading back to Michigan.  J hasn’t seen my niece since February, so I asked my brother if he wanted to meet for pizza in Tinley Park.  Of course, he said yes.

I need to start this off by explaining the lineage of Vito & Nick’s.  A few months ago, I reviewed The Original Vito & Nick’s on 84th and Pulaski.  Vito & Nick’s II is not part of the original restaurant, but it is an offshoot of that tavern owned by the son of namesake Vito Barraco.  That son opened two stores called Vito & Nick’s II which are in no way affiliated with the Original.  The Tinley Park location isn’t one of those two.  After the original Vito & Nick’s II stores took off, the store started to franchise.  The Tinley Park store is one of those franchises.  So even though it’s not a direct descendant of the legendary tavern on Chicago’s south side, they do have a pretty similar menu.

They open the store on 183rd near Harlem at noon on Sunday’s.  We got there just a little before noon.  By the time we got my niece out of her carseat and started walking towards the restaurant, a man was coming out to unlock the door.  The waitress must have seen us as he was starting to push two tables together as we were walking in.

The restaurant was surprisingly small.  There’s a bar on one side with a few booths and then a small dining room with more tables on the other side.  For most of the meal, we were the only people there, but another large group with small children did join us near the end of the meal.

As we started looking over the menu, my brother asked what the plan was.  I knew J and I wanted a pizza, but if the rest of my family wanted sandwiches, my brother was just going to do that too.  We all eventually agreed that we wanted pizza and decided on two larges.

Vito & Nick's II on 183rd near Harlem Avenue in Tinley Park, IL

The menu is huge and we had a hard time actually finding the pizza section.  I assumed it would be prominently displayed since that’s what Vito & Nick’s II is known for, but it was sort of hidden on the back page.  I wanted a roast beef pizza and J wanted just cheese.  My parents wanted something more, so we got one large pie with half roast beef and half cheese.  My parents, brother, and aunt agreed on a large pizza with sausage, green olives, and onions.  We also put in an appetizer order for Big’Ah Nick’s Classic Appetizer Platter.  My mom thought it would be a good way to sample a lot of different things and it had something for everyone.

The appetizer came out first.  It was two plates that were filled with tomato bread, cheese sticks, Brushetta, Pita Asiago, Zucchini, wings, da Breaded ravioli, An De Shrimp.  I dove in to the ravioli and cheese sticks while my brother cornered the wings.  My dad was the only one that liked shrimp so he got them all to himself.  Everyone surprinsgly liked the pita Asiago even though they didn’t know what Pita Bread was.  I would have liked it, but it was chock full of red onions.  We polished off the fried goodness pretty quickly.

About twenty minutes after ordering, our two pizzas came out.  They were perfectly cooked south side Chicago cracker thin crust pies.  I really like the way Vito & Nick’s II does the roast beef.  They put large chunks on the pizza instead of flattening out long strips.  My brother has become a fan of the Italian beef pizza at a few other places, so he tried a bite.  He liked it, but didn’t think the roast beef was as good as Italian beef.  My dad really likes thin crust pizzas and this was right up his alley.  Both pizzas were well done (I believe that’s also a south side Chicago thing…it basically means the pizza is a dark golden brown and the crust is really crispy). 

I know there’s ultimately going to be a comparison to the Original Vito & Nick’s.  The pizzas were really similar except I thought the pizza we had at Vito & Nick’s II was much less greasy than the pizzas we had at the original.  Other than that, I didn’t see much of a difference.  The service was MUCH better at Vito & Nick’s II than what we had at The Original.  My niece is only 7 months old and we didn’t know how she’d act at a restaurant, but she did really well.  The waitress brought over a high chair just in case my brother wanted to take her out of the car seat and no one said a thing when I picked her up and started walking her around the store.  It’s something I never would have done had there been more patrons there, but since it was just two groups and the other group had small children too, I didn’t think anyone would care.  The waitress was really good about giving us space, but making sure we always had full drinks.  Vito & Nick’s II doesn’t have the atmosphere that The Original has and I would be they’re not throwing pizza peels around the kitchen, but the pizza is still really good and really worth the trip.  I think my family was really happy with this foreign style of pizza to them and it’s something I could see them making the drive an hour north for. 

Our bill was pretty expensive, but there were six of us.  I never got an exact total, but I know it was over sixty bucks.  Vito & Nick’s II was the perfect spot to meet my family for lunch before we headed back to Michigan.  There are a lot of pizza places in Chicago and even though Vito & Nick’s II isn’t the largest chain, they do have some of the best pizza in the Chicagoland area.

Grilled Halloumi Cheese w/ Greek olives on Zattar Bread

Beef & Spicy peppers on thin Crust Bread

Lamb w/ grilled onions & Pine nuts Bread

Fava & Garbanzo Beans Salad (Foul)

Home Made Olives

Some of My Favorite Cheese

Home Made Heavy Creame & Pistachio Dessert

The best kind of weekends start with a Friday that feels like a Friday. You know, when you wake up and think “TGIF!” After a long week at work I was happy to see Friday yesterday and it turned out to be a great day. The weather was beautiful, I had a great walk to work, I went out for lunch with my cubemates, had the gym all to myself and then came home and made a delicious pizza.

My favorite Friday night meal, if we’re not eating out, is a hearty, home-made pizza with a side salad, topped with a creamy dressing I usually try to avoid during the week, all washed down with a glass of wine. While there are lots of great places to eat-in and grab a pizza, I find that it’s pretty slim pickings if you want something ordered in around these parts.

Making pizza at home is fast and easy anyway, and there are plenty of short-cuts you can to make it even easier — like picking up a ball of pre-made dough at the grocery store. I especially like Whole Food’s dough, it’s the perfect size for two people. Or, if you’re brave, which I’m not, you can always make your own.

This pizza was the best combination I’ve ever come up with. It was inspired by Pizzeria Libretto’s Salami pizza, a fantastic pie I recently had at my brother’s place, and leftovers in our fridge. As you can tell from the crispy basil in the photo, it was a bit of an after-thought before I put it in the oven. I thought the pizza was looking a little red and needed a different colour on there.

What’s your favorite combination of pizza toppings?

Salami & Goat Cheese Pizza
For two

Ingredients:

1 ball whole wheat pizza dough, approximately 525 grams
1/2 cup pizza sauce
1/2 cup shredded stretch mozzarella cheese
4 slices hot Genoa salami, cut into bit-sized pieces
1/3 cup crumbled goat cheese
1/3 cup sun dried tomatoes
Handful of fresh basil leaves

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F.

2. Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. I prefer a thin crust, but you can roll out as thick as you wish.

3. Transfer to a baking sheet and spread the pizza sauce over the dough, leaving an inch around the perimeter for a crust. Arrange basil leaves and top with mozzarella, salami, sun dried tomatoes and goat cheese.

4. Bake on middle rack for 15-20 minutes, until crust is golden and cheese is melted. Broil for 2-3 minutes to brown the cheese on top. Allow pizza to cool for a few minutes before slicing.

Located at 607 W. Lake Street, Dulono’s has been around since 1957.  My sister worked there way back in the day and Dulono’s has been a family favorite since the 70’s.

It’s always an interesting place to dine as you can see just about anything or anyone there during your visit.  Sometimes bikers, sometimes hippies, sometimes suburban looking parents with kids. 

This Sunday I had every intention of going out for a deep dish pie, but home plumbing issues found us under lock and key while D.Jones tried his hand at fixing some pipes.   Seeing as how I already told everyone I’d be writing about pizza on Sundays, Dulono’s came to mind right away.

The crust is thin as can be, and crisp around the edges.  They never skimp on the toppings, which is usually a good thing, except that D.Jones always orders the ‘chovies and with the amount they throw on there, they can really smell up the Jones digs. 

Tonight he had a medium anchovy and mushroom, while the boy and I split a small 1/2 cheese, 1/2 pepperoni.  As always, Dulono’s does not disappoint. 

My father-in-law has a favorite pizza place close to his house in South Eastern Wisconsin.  In the largely Italian population of their hometown, pizza can cause heated debates and he does not mess ar0und.  Basically, if it ain’t Pa’s Pizza, my father-in-law is disappointed….until he tried Dulono’s.  He claims it’s the best he’s had in the Twin Cities.  Not as good as Pa’s, but a close second is quite a victory in his eyes.

If you like your crust thin, your tomato sauce not too sweet, and lots of cheese like a good old-fashioned corner pizza place kinda ‘za, you gotta try Dulono’s.  Mmmm….delicious!

we’ll be here in summer 2009.

sfpizzareview@gmail.com

As it’s been a while, I’ll try to keep this review brief. The strength of my memory, however, is strong, on account of one of the best ‘zas in Portland. Yes, it is pricier than some for their speciality pies (though no worse than Hammy’s), but for a tasty, luscious, fresher-than-fresh pizza, one must look no further. Except maybe Apizza Scholls, the review for which is also long overdue.

First, a bit of history:

Tastebud started as a farm. An organic farm, actually, and in 2000 began making wood-fired baked goods for the Portland Farmer’s Market. These baked goods were good. Very good. And last summer (2008), chef/owner Mark Doxtader opened the restaurant on SE Milwaukee, across from the Aladdin. Tipped off by Jeremy, the owner of Cellar Door Coffee Roasters, JMR, EDP, and I took a ride down to the dining room in August to get a pie to go. I’ve been going back ever since.

The first thing you notice about Tastebud is that it really feels like a dining room. Not in a restaurant sense, but in a this-is-your-aunt’s-house kind of way. At first, I felt the space strange, almost artificial seeming, but now I’m fond of it; mirrors, vases, mismatched plates, and all. There’s also the smell – the wonderful aroma of a wood-fired brick oven doing its thing back in the kitchen. Tastebud offers other hearth-roasted appetizers and goodies (including bagel brunches on the weekends) and some delicious salads – on a good night, their caesar with bagel-croutons may be the best in town. But that’s on a good night, and quality, I must admit, has seemed to vary.

But on to the ‘za.

The most amazing thing about Tastebud’s pizza is the crust. Crisp, firm, dusted with flour on the outside; fluffy, airy, soft, and moist on the inside. The flavor is there too, with just the right amount of salt to bring out the flavors of their dough. The sauce is also quite good, and I’m always struck by a faint fennel taste in the bright, clean tasting tomato sauce. The mozzarella, it has to be said, isn’t the best. It’s good, sometimes very good, but occasionally it will taste a little too briny and once they ran out and used different cheeses. When they use fresh mozzarella it is amazing (creamy, goey, tender), but sometimes they don’t and it is a little-bit lacking. But not very much. You can also get their specialty pizzas (but be careful, because sometimes they don’t tell you if the pizza has sauce or just olive oil) or you can customize the basic cheese, starting at a reasonable $14, with arugula, various meats, olives, and other seasonal items for a few extra bucks. I can eat a whole one, but I think less gregarious folks can (should) split one between two, or even three people if you get an appetizer.

Service is always very kind, though sometimes a bit slow. In the earlier days, I was stuck waiting for water, waiting to order, or waiting for my pie, but in recent months, this hasn’t been a problem.

Minor flaws exist, but I still can’t think of many pies and rather be eating right now. Now. Maybe I’ll go back tonight.

IZ

(oh: they usually have a pretty good beer selection: Caldera, Hair of the Dog, and some others. Wine, I’ve been told, is also good.)

Tastebud
3220 SE Milwaukie (map)
(503) 234 0330
Pizza:
Atmosphere:
Service:
Value:

How do you like your pizza?

I like mine – hot with melted cheese (*Note: Important! Must have the pull-string-effect.).

So, even though I am not a Pizza Hut fan, I was thrilled when they came out with this special delivery thingy that keeps pizza hot (at least warm) when delivered to you. That’s when Canadian 2-For-1 pizza lose me as a customer. (To J: I was talking about their special delivery BAG!)

J and I were walking around the whole of Central, Clarke Quay, to look for something decent to eat. Ok, the Ramen shop caught our attention but to queue is a big turn off. So, we finally settled on TAGLIO – gourmet pizza by the slice.

We were there before but we changed our mind the last minute. Somehow, I cannot remember what was the reason.

The boss, we assumed, attended to us at the door when we were looking and deciding on what to eat. He, Mr. Ben Chan, is very friendly and he explained to us the concept of the place so on and so forth. Although not the first, TAGLIO employs teenagers who are still seeking for the right direction and according to him, part of the profits actually go to Yong-En Care Centre, a community service that Ben is very actively involved.

Ok, I “eat” the concept. Totally. I love this kind of thing as you all know. So, let’s proceed to the food part.

Hawaiian & Mushroom Pizzas

Hawaiian & Mushroom Pizzas

Hmmm… It is not what I expected it. I have had thin/skinny (whatever you call them) pizzas before at high-end like California Pizza Kitchen and cheap ones at Pasta Mania, pizza at both places are acceptable and good. However, the pizzas here lack “HOT” and the “cheesy” feel. A little disappointed. The taste is there. Perhaps the management should do something about maintaining the “heat” from kitchen to the serving.

Mushroom Soup / Ice Lemon Tea / Sausage & Nachos

Mushroom Soup, Ice Lemon Tea, Sausage with Nachos

Mushroom soup is quite yummy. The creaminess is there. If there were a few pieces of bite size mushrooms in there it will be perfect. Sausage & Nachos is quite German. Haha… Anyway, nothing special. I should have ordered the salad instead (the other table was having it and it looks good).

Overall, it is really cheap for working adults. A little expensive for students but I will be back again to try their pasta and salad. A friendly and relax “cafe” sort of eatery. Good enough for me.

Oh, by the way, they are having a buffet at S$19.90 for adult on Monday to Thursday. Guys, the pizzas are really thin, I am sure you can stuff a lot in you. So, make your way down there if thin crust is your thing.

If you’re one of those yankees in the Bay Area missing your slize of ‘za, worry no more…Slice of New York is exactly what the name says it is. Or if you havent ever been to New York and have just seen the famed NYC roadside pizzerias on Seinfeld…trying this place is a Must!

You get two slices of pizza and a Soda for $6. Usually the veggie choices for this are Cheese, Margherita and Mushroom. All three are T.A.S.T.Y. The Times Square (their Veggie speciality) is good too although its not as authentic.

All in all, stop by for a quick bite…have a couple of slices, with minimal damage to your wallet and a smile on your face.