Pizza is Delicious

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

Wandering around Rittenhouse looking for a slice and after being thwarted at one place that was closing at 8 (seriously?), we stumbled across Cravings which quite literally is a hole in the wall. 

This place is tiny.  It seats 4 and you have to navigate around the giant water ice cooler but that doesn’t seem to stop the stream of customers looking for a quick bite.

Not only is this delicious pizza but the price is right too.

Sandwiched between a couple of lame bars and a liquor store, Cravings offers a fresh slice.  Upon first glance it looked like just another run of the mill greasy slice but we were pleasantly surprised.  The slice has a nice flaky crust and the cheese has a sharper, refreshing taste.  It was a bit heavy on the cheese which normally doesn’t make a good slice, but this worked.  In between serving up the customers and threatening to beat the shit out of a guy trying to use fake twenties, we managed to get a bit of info out of the owner.  He uses a 4 cheese blend but wouldn’t tell us what they are.  Mozzarella is obviously one of them and I suspect he slipped when he told us Muenster, an oil based cheese, is another one but he kept the other 2 a secret.  He also cooks the pizza at 700 degrees which is also part of his winning recipe. 

Being located next to a few popular (yet lame) bars you would think he would make a killing at last call but he closes at 10 to avoid the drunken chaos and the inevitable criminals looking to rob inebriated yuppies or the open shop.

Not only is this delicious pizza but the price is right too.  Individual slices are less than $2 and there is also a great special of 2 slices and a soda for $4.  This highly recommended slice is perfect for the Center City lunch crowd or that quick bite after work.  We can’t wait to go back.

Rating:  

Cravings
1911 Chestnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 963-1661

As Samuel L says in Pulp Fiction, “Goddamn, Jimmie! This is some serious gourmet shit!” Mama Palma’s at 23rd and Spruce is some gourmet shit. They’re all sorts of gourmet with their made to order pies, and their imported from Italy brick oven and their multitudes of fresh ingredient toppings. They are also shit with their mostly tasteless pizza, their $6 pints of beer and their bougie center city prices. Ok so shit is completely overdoing it. We all enjoyed our pizza very much.
 Our mistake was that we ordered the margherita pizza which isn’t the most exciting option on the menu. They definitely did NOT skimp on the fresh basil but the tomato sauce was mediocre. The dough was deliciously soft and crispy and wasn’t too heavy. They cut up the pie into half-slices which was kind of girlie but it made sharing pretty easy.
It was $19.50 for a 16″ pie, even though it feed 3 people that seems a bit steep for a pizza and that was one of the cheapest pie on the menu.
It’s busy as shit and it is hard to find parking in that area. If you don’t live in walking distance from this place and you are really hungry…think twice before heading here. However, we feel this place deserves a second chance so we will give it another try someday. 

Sorry for the shitty quality of the pictures both of us forgot cameras so these were taken on the iPhone

Rating:

Mama Palma’s
2229 Spruce St
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 735-7357

Lazaros has sort-of expanded into the adjacent store front to provide a place for their customers to sit and eat. They only sort-of expanded because they didn’t blow out any walls combining the two spaces. Oh no. You have to leave and come back in the next door to sit down (not easy to do when carrying a tray with giant slices hanging off of it). Enjoy your meal under the mind-numbing fluorescent lighting while you watch some footy on the telly. We’ll pass.

Jon is not afraid to cook meatless BBQ chicken pizza on a BBQ grill at a BBQ party.

In our mission statement it says “This site is an attempt and an excuse to sample and review as much pizza as possible in the Philadelphia area and beyond.”  I’m currently in Ireland helping friends Frank and Rosie with the first session of their artist studio art program called Cow House Studios.  I knew pizza would be few and far between but I was hoping to get in some of those “beyond” reviews in.

Somewhere along the main strip in Galway, Ireland lies Fat Freddy’s Bistro. This little restaurant that has quite an extensive list of pizza on the menu, among the typical fare such as salads, sandwichs and meat and pasta entrees.  Never one to turn down the opportunity the eat some of “God’s food,” Frank, Rosie and I decided the split a large cheese pie.  

It was just boring and flavorless.

The first thing I noticed from looking at the pie was that my idea of a large pie is quite different from their idea of a large pie.  The size was somewhere between a small and a medium and I probably could have conquered the whole thing by myself with little effort.  Even though it was clearly hot and melted, you could still see the formation of the individual pieces of shredded mozzarella.  I guess that happened because of the excessive amount of cheese that they used.  There was seriously a lot of cheese on this pizza.  While I like cheese a lot, if you’re going to use that much, at least do something interesting with it.  Add some spice or throw in a different kind of cheese or something.  On first bite it was evident that they make their pizza from frozen dough.  It was flakey and flavorless.  The sauce was only slightly better than ketchup and water and I’ve already been over the cheese.  Despite all the negative feedback, the pizza wasn’t disgusting.  It wasn’t good and I won’t be trying it again but it wasn’t gross either.  It was just boring and flavorless.  We should have gone the the chipper.

Rating:

Fat Freddy’s Bistro
The Halls
Quay Street
Galway, Ireland
www.fatfreddys.net
091-567279

Knee deep in cheesesteak land, SLiCE offers a welcomed freshness to the typical pizza slice. This tastefully-styled pizzeria at the corner of 10th and Federal Streets opened about a year ago and serves up some of the best Napolitano (Neapolitan) style pizza around. 

Neapolitan pizza originates from the city of Naples, Italy where the crust is thin, the tomato sauce and cheese are used sparingly and the pizza is baked for only a few short minutes at very high temperatures. This results in a thin and crispy crust, light and delectable.  Naples also happens to be the birthplace of the pizza.

The first thing we noticed was that the sauce tasted incredibly fresh 

We sampled their plain and pepperoni slices.
The first thing we noticed was that the sauce tasted incredibly fresh. It was more like a pasta marinara sauce than a pizza sauce. The sauce was on top of the cheese if you can believe that shit.

The cheese definitely takes a backseat on SLiCE’s pizza although the parmesan sprinkled on top was a nice touch and saved it from tasting overly tomatoey. The slices tasted like they were baked in brick oven but in fact they were not.

The pepperoni’s were little and unimpressive at first sight but they were thick and full of spicy flavor. They were growers not showers if you know what I mean. The crust had absolutely no sag. Like the sign says, this is definitely gourmet slice status. I felt all fancy eating it. Although SLiCE management touts “We are known for our pizza and not for our slices.” 4 out of 5 of the slices we ate were perfectly cooked with no brown spots on the underside which may be caused when reheating.
Question: If you aren’t known for slices why in the fuck would you name your business SLiCE? Huh?

$2.75 a slice may seem steep but each slice was a quarter of the pie. One slice proved to be reasonably filling.

The employees were really friendly and asked how the slices were multiple times but the sauce was the superstar.

Next time you are in the neighborhood before 10pm, instead of clogging your arteries with cheeseteak, try cloggin’ up those bitches with a pie from SLiCE. Bring your own booze and cash though because they don’t serve or take plastic. They also deliver if you can’t pry your lazy ass away from Guitar Hero.

Rating:

SLiCE
1180 S 10th St
Philadelphia, PA 19147
(215) 463-0868

I’ve heard someone say pizza is like sex.  Even if it’s bad it’s still good.  That’s not true.  The pizza from Lil Anthony’s is more like a bad blow job.  It’s a bit rough and her teeth hurt, but you’ll take what you can get.  The only reason I go to this place is because it’s the closest slice to my studio and sometimes I need a fix.  There are three basic ingredients to pizza and Lil Anthony’s fucks up two of them.  The crust tastes like cardboard and the sauce is flavorless and sometime they use so much of it, it makes the crust taste like soggy cardboard.  I guess the cheese is fine but that doesn’t make up for the other bad parts so whatever. 

There are three basic ingredients to pizza and Lil Anthony’s fucks up two of them. 

I’m pretty sure the owner is fresh off the boat from Italy so there is no excuse.  I wouldn’t recommend this slice but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

Rating:

Little Anthony’s
8 W. State St.
Media, PA 19063
(610) 565-1117

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