Pizza is Delicious

Attention Pizzaphiles: We are planning on attending the South Philly Review’s Pizza Olympics on 6/19/09 and will be bringing you OUR choices for winners shortly after the event right here on pizzaisdelicious.com
For now, here’s the info:

Thursday, July 16
Galdo’s
20th St. & Moyamensing
6 to 9 p.m.
Hosted by King Arthur
Entertainment by The Business

South Philly Review will put over 20 pizza parlors to the test at this all-you-can-eat pizza event. The chefs will compete in the following categories:
Best original * Most delicious crust * Finger Licking Sauce * Lean n’ Mean, Sicilian * Most Creative Topping * Best Tomato Pie * Winning White.
Guests will be able to taste samples from all the parlors, while 5 celebrity judges will pick the winners. South Philly Review will also invite readers to cast their votes for their favorites online, beginning June 18!
Tickets to this event are $10 and will be available to purchase June 8. Tickets include all-you-can-eat pizza and $2 draft specials.

Participants to Date:
Adrianna’s
Celebre’s Pizza
City Pizza
Francoluigi’s Pizzaria
Key Pizza
Napoli Pizza
Not Just Pizza
Pizzi Pizza
Southview Pizza
Venuto’s Old World Pizza
Ralph and Ricky’s
Pizza Shack
Wolf Street Pizza
Cacia’s Bakery

It was a lovely Thursday.  The sun was out, the birds were chirping and the women were beautiful.  What better way to celebrate the beginning of the summer months (we had no spring this year) than beers errrr uh I mean coffee in Rittenhouse.  After a 6 pack of “coffee” we decided that food was in order and since I’m telling this story on this website you can bet your pennies that we ate some pizza.  The closest place to get pizza was Pietro’s Coal Oven Pizzeria.

I have always hated on this place.  I always thought it was a bourgeois place for yuppies and tourists who think Philadelphia only exists in Center City.  I always scoffed at the people in the outdoor seating area with their shopping bags and their snooty attitude.  Because of this I never thought that the food might actually be good.  To my surprise… it is very good!

After a short wait inside for a table (this place is huge), we sat in the outdoor seating (go ahead call me a snooty yuppie or tourist) and for some bizarre reason we each ordered a Heineken.  Drinking Heineken is like clicking on that link your gross friend emails you.  You know you shouldn’t do it and you know you will be upset with what you see, but you do it anyway.  Gross!  

We ordered  a large and added pepperoni to half of the pie.  The pizza at Pietro’s is good.  Very good.  The sauce was fresh with a very good flavor.  I can’t figure out what they added, if anything at all, to the sauce but whatever they did, it works.  The pepperoni were small thick piece of meaty goodness that were good enough to peel off and eat separately as an appetizer.  

My hatred for this place was completely unwarranted

You can never go wrong with fresh mozzarella.  The only complaint is that the crust could have been a little crunchier but that was still good as well.  Everything about this pizza worked well together and I was pleasently surprised by how good it is.  

I have to admit that my hatred for this place was completely unwarranted.  The staff are very friendly and the pizza is excellent.  This would probably be a good place for a date or a small group dinner.  

We left happy with a belly full of delicious pizza and then went to The Good Dog bar a few blocks away to visit our friend Zack who was working.  He’s a good bartender.  He gets you drunk.  Go see him and tip him well.

Rating:

Pietro’s Coal Oven Pizzeria
1714 Walnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 735-8090
www.pietrospizza.com

I saw this while I was in Europe recently.  It was in the March 19th Daily Telegraph from the UK.  I looked for a link to the article on the website but couldn’t find it.  Hopefully you can read the scan of the article that I ripped out of the paper.

The New York Times has found the world’s first pizza vending machine in Trentino, Italy. Leave it up to the Italians to come up something as absurdly awesome as this. The certainly love their pizza over there. Apparently this machine, which is called Let’s Pizza!, doesn’t just cook pre-assembled pizza. It actually mixes water, flour, tomato sauce and other fresh ingredients and cooks it in about 3 mins. That’s some fresh and speedy pizza! The question remains: Does it taste any good?  If any Italians out there have sampled from this “pizza robot” please let us know your thoughts.

This pizza is from J & J South Philly Pizza.  There is nothing to say about this pizza other than it is BAD.  Really bad.  The one thing this place has going for them is their pizza boxes are quite good.  Look at the amount of grease on this pizza.  You could fill a small swimming pool with it.  But, the pizza box held strong and not a drop seeped through or dripped onto the table.  Kudos on your boxes.  Now learn how to make a decent pie.

Rating:

J & J South Philly Pizza
1177 S 9th St
Philadelphia, PA 19147
(215) 551-1234

I actually ate at Marra’s several years ago but don’t remember anything from that visit. Matt had also been there years ago in the upstairs dining room for a family gathering but was unaware that the pizza was the thing to order at Marra’s at the time. His mistake. Recently we’ve been hearing people say that this was a good sit down place for some pizza so it was our duty to try it.

Nestled right in the middle of the restaurants, stores and hip coffee shops along the up and coming East Passyunk corridor lies this Italian restaurant that’s been around since 1927.  Upon entering we were immediately greeted by a very friendly staffer that told us to sit wherever we liked.  We picked a cozy little booth right by the door and squeezed 5 people in.  The atmosphere is very old world and homey which in a way reminded me of an Irish pub.  It felt warm and relaxing and it seemed like a great place to enjoy a meal or drink.

After a few beers and some appetizers (the garliciest garlic bread ever) the pizza arrived.  Some people ordered personal pizzas with excessive amounts of meats and veggies but the true test of good pizza is the cheese pie and that is what I ate.  They don’t serve pizza by the slice. You can get made-to-order pizzas in 10″ (personal), 14″(small), and 18″(large) sizes. This is very good brick oven pizza. We found out from out server that they still use the same oven her grandparent’s, the founders, brought over from Italy in 1927. The crust was cooked to perfection being nice and very crispy without being too hard.  The soft dough on top of the crispy crust was a fine balance. The sauce had a nice fresh homemade flavor and the amout of cheese was just right.

The crust was cooked to perfection being nice and very crispy without being too hard. 

Some of our crew thought there was not enough sauce. Maybe more sauce would have made it that much better but I didn’t find that to be a problem.  I was very satisfied with my meal.

Marra’s is a great cozy sit down place that excels in pizza.  Operated by generations of family whose pride in their establishment is obvious. Looking for a place for a inexpensive date?  Go to Marra’s. Dinner with friends?  Go to Marra’s.  Just go to Marra’s.  Marra’s is real South Philly Italian with no bells, whistles or gimmicks - just great rustic pizza. You won’t be disappointed.

Rating:

Marra’s Restaurant
1734 E Passyunk Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19148
(215) 463-9249

A Connecticut guy bought and old fire truck and converted it to a mobile pizza party complete with beer kegs. Our hats are off. But really, is Connecticut pizza any good (from a fire truck or not)?  
See the video visit their website

Cacia’s Bakery & Cafe in Northern Liberites is the newest of seven locations opened by the original bakery in South Philly. At some locations they’ve expanded from breads and pastries to offering Italian sandwiches and hoagies. At the NoLibs spot, they branched out to pizza and coffee (two of my favorite things) as well.

People rave about the tomato pie and pizza is clearly the most popular choice of the lunch crowd. Along with pizza, they offer sandwiches and a few standard Italian hot entrees cafeteria-style out of warming trays like meatballs, sausage and peppers, baked ziti, chicken cutlets, lasagna, etc. None of these meals are worth writing home about and they are a bit too expensive (priced per pound) to buy because you are too lazy to make dinner.

Now onto the pizza:
Please note that this business is not called Cacia’s Pizzeria. Maybe because they refer to themselves as a bakery they think it’s ok to cook pizza on cookie sheets. They don’t just make Sicilian and tomato pie in rectangular sheets but ALL of their pizzas are made rectangular!? I sampled the sausage & peppers and a slice of plain. On the slice of plain, the sauce was robust but the flavor wasn’t terribly appealing. The cheese was overcooked and browned. In contrast, the dough was cooked golden brown and was very tasty. The sausage & peppers had no sauce and it looked and tasted like they threw a slice of American Cheese on top. It stuck to my teeth and eating it pissed me off royally.

If you are in need of a fresh Italian bread or are craving a cannoli, Cacia’s can satisfy you. For a good slice of pizza, look elsewhere. Pizza should be round. Round and delicious.

Rating:

Cacia’s Bakery & Cafe‎
719 N 2nd St
Philadelphia, PA 19123
(215) 922-3888

When I lived in NYC near Columbus Circle, Mariella was the shop of choice for delivery.  The pies were huge and tasty and were affordable for 4 poor college students.  They also seemed to deliver 24 hours a day but I may have been drunk.  The thing about Mariella is that the pizza would put you in a coma, almost immediately.  It was a seriously debilitating coma that would prevent you from doing anything for a few hours.  I’m pretty sure I missed a class or two due to this.  We began to lovingly refer to the pizza as “Roofie Pizza.”  

Fast forward several years to September 2008. Matt and I were in NYC the night before for a going away party for a friend.  His wife also just happens to work around the corner from Mariella.  That’s a perfect recipe for a pizza lunch.

We began to lovingly refer to the pizza as “Roofie Pizza.”

In all the years I ordered pizza from there, I hardly ever went there to eat so my only memories are really of just the pizza. It’s a small place in the middle of big office buildings and close to that fancy Columbus Circle mall.  The place was packed with the lunch crowd and the guys behind the counter ran the place with a fire brigade like efficiency. The head dude is constantly yelling out “One stay” or “Two Go” to the guy working the oven.

The pizza was just as good as I remembered it.  It’s a New York City slice of pizza in the best sense.  It’s crunchy, it’s greasy, it’s cheesy and it’s delicious.
 
And, just like I remember, the coma started to set in right around when I finished my first slice.  I found it hard to focus and went into a trance like state.  I did manage to finish my second slice but it was tough (delicious but tough).  Fortunately, it wasn’t as bad a coma as I remember.  We were able to get up and walk around the neighborhood before Wifey went back to work and we went to a pub.  

$6.50 for 2 slices and a drink might seem steep, but in the grand scheme of things and considering it’s in NYC, I guess it isn’t too bad.  $5 would be better but whatever.

Also, there is a sign on the wall that says Oprah and her buddy Gayle think this is the best pizza in the country.  Maybe that had something to do with the crowd.  Personally I don’t think this is the best pizza in the country but it’s still pretty good.

Rating:

Mariella Pizza
960 8th Ave
New York, NY 10107
(212) 757-3016‎