Pizza is Delicious

Mr. Starr’s newest restaurant opening in Philly is a pizza place called “Pizzeria Stella.” Apparently, the dude did lots of research in search of the perfect pie. The menu dropped and there are 12 wood oven pizzas to choose from. Can’t wait to try it.

Gianfranco’s Pizza Rustica is a tiny (emphasis on the word tiny) little pizzeria nestled in the heart of Olde City Philadelphia.  It has a reputation of being a great eatery so we had to try it, twice.  We have tried to review this place before but never got around to finishing the review.  I think the reason for that is this: Gianfranco’s makes the most non-descript slice of pizza ever. There is nothing to write about on either end of the good/bad pizza spectrum.  It’s neither good nor bad.

I guess I should get down to details about the pizza.  The proportions of sauce to cheese is fine but the sauce is thick and kind of cakey, sort of like a mud pie you would make as a kid.  The crust was not crispy enough.  All of these ingredients make up the plainest slice I may have ever had. Again, not a bad slice but there really wasn’t anything to it.

if we were to get a fresh pie for takeout it might be better

They usually have a variety of pizza “specialty” pizzas with all sorts of toppings on them. We sampled the pepperoni, the BBQ chicken pizza and some slice with spinach on it. These were slightly better than the plain slice. BBQ pizza always seems like a good idea, in theory, but the BBQ sauce is usually so sweet that it tastes more like a desert than a slice of pizza.

I should note that this place closes at 8pm.  We have only been able to get there near closing time so the pies may have been sitting out for a while.  I also feel like if we were to get a fresh pie for takeout it might be better but I don’t live near the place so the chances of that are slim.

Don’t even bother trying to eat inside on a hot summer day. There’s no AC plus the pizza ovens blazing away in that small space is unbearable. Instead, take your slice outside and sit at one of the outside tables (if one of the dudes who work there isn’t already sitting there) and people watch Olde Cityites walking by. Apparently they have two other locations. One on 11th Street and one on Broad Street in South Philly.

We are going to try and get here again sometime around lunchtime when the pies are fresh because, despite our experiences, we keep hearing that it’s good.

Rating:

Gianfranco’s Pizza Rustica
6 N.3rd St
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 592-0048
www.gianfrancopa.com

The time finally came for the greatly anticipated Pizza Olympics.  How could one pass up all you can eat pizza from “reputable” pizza shops from all over the city?  I know I sure can’t. Unfortunately Matt was away corrupting children’s minds to participate but our good friend Adam stepped up as a stunt eater and Jim and Greg tagged along too.

It was a hot day.  Really hot.  We took a quick subway ride to Broad and Oregon which was followed by a bit of a sweaty walk to the far away venue at 20th and Moyamennsing.  Did I mention it was hot?

Upon arrival I realized I didn’t have any cash on me to pay the ticket price or for the numerous beers I was about to drink.  There is nothing around this place.  The closest ATM was at a diner that seemed like it took 15 minutes to walk to.  I wasn’t discouraged.  All I cared about was the pizza which would be happening soon enough.

Back at the venue the four of us paid and went straight to the bar.  In theory $2 beers is a great idea but the options were Coors Light and Yeungling Lager.  I’m no beer snob, I hate those people, but this wasn’t ideal.  I guess a $2 Lager is better than no beer at all and pizza and beer is one of the greatest things ever. Onward to pizza! Continue reading →

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