Tag: boston

#48 Galleria Umberto

September 3rd, 2016

Boston, MA

Back in July, when we were visiting Boston and had these great slices for lunch, we also first stopped at Galleria Umberto. The plan was to grab slices at both places because they are both conveniently located right in the North End of Boston. We planned this strategically because Galleria Umberto is only open for lunch, Monday through Saturday, and is closed on Sundays and after 2:30 pm (or whenever they run out of pizza). We planned to get there first thing when they opened to make sure that we got slices.

This was the first time where our plans didn’t quite work out. Galleria Umberto was closed for construction, just for that weekend. We were bummed, since we didn’t have any more plans to come up to Boston together in the near future.

Luckily, Eric planned a guys weekend for the fantasy football draft in September in Boston. He talked one of his friends into grabbing slices at Galleria Umberto early on Saturday morning.

The line often starts before the pizzeria opens around 10:30 am, and it doesn’t let up throughout lunch. Luckily, the pizzas just keep coming out every few minutes so it moves very quickly. Galleria Umberto keeps it simple and only offers one type of pizza – Sicilian.

Their Sicilian slices are really all about the cheese. The pies are baked in large square baking sheets and cut into smaller square slices. The slices may look small, but they are certainly filling. The cheese actually overflows from the pans when the pizzas are taken out of the oven. You will definitely get a slice where the cheese is still hot and oozing down the side of the crust. The cheese also gets those nice burnt bubbles on it – not too dark, though. The crust is a bit lighter than your usual Sicilian slice and isn’t as thick. Honestly, we forget what the sauce was like because the cheese is so overwhelming.

After hearing Eric’s thoughts on the pizza, I knew that I had to go myself and see what it was like. I ended up making a stop there for lunch one weekday when I was in Boston for work. The pizza actually reminded me a bit of the pizza that we had in Buffalo, but maybe just because those pizzas were also heavy on the cheese.

We’d recommend not taking these slices to go. They are the type of slice that would not be as good reheated, so plan to eat in. The restaurant has plenty of space to sit. Make sure to bring cash, since Galleria Umberto is cash-only. And also check to make sure that the restaurant isn’t closed for construction, or the owners aren’t away on vacation (I see right now that the restaurant is closed the month of July this year).

To visit:

Galleria Umberto
289 Hanover Street
Boston, MA 02113 USA

BarbaraLeave a comment

#52 Pizzeria Regina

July 30th, 2016

Boston, MA

Pizzeria Regina may be the most famous pizzeria in Boston. It has been a North End staple since 1926, and their brick oven pizza has been made by three generations. Even if you haven’t been to the restaurant in the North End, you may have had their slices in Faneuil Hall, Foxwood’s Resort and Casino, a local Boston-area mall, or at a Red Sox game at Fenway, where they are the “official pizza of the Boston Red Sox” .

Our first taste of Regina was actually at Faneuil Hall, back in college. We didn’t even realize back then that there was an actual restaurant, but we would get a slice every time we went into the city. Toppings are a bit limited at the to-go locations, but the cheese slice was very good.

A few years later, we were back in the city and decided to go to the original Regina Pizzeria with our friend Dave. It was a Friday night, there was a line, and by the time we got our pizza, we were starving. We don’t remember much about that pizza besides it tasting good.

We were glad to be able to go back to Regina as part of the 101 Best Pizzas journey. This time, we went with our friend’s parents, Frank and Mary, who were kindly letting us stay in their North End apartment for the night. We arrived early, prepared for the Saturday night lines. Luckily, we didn’t have too much of a wait, and we ordered three pizzas: a margherita (shown in the picture), a spinach and broccoli, and a white pie with sausage, onions, and peppers.

Regina Pizza stands out because they still use their original oven from 1888. They also specially can their tomatoes and buy their cheese in bulk for the restaurant only. They say that the recipe is the same for all of their locations, but we’d agree with the majority of reviewers that the pizza at the original location in the North End tastes different. If the recipe and ingredients really are exactly the same, it must be that original oven that gives it the unique taste.

The crust is crispy like a NY-style crust. The sauce is on the sweet side, and we loved the slices of tomato on the margherita and the abundance of cut fresh basil. The other pies were a bit heavy on the cheese, so we were glad to have some vegetables to balance them out.

While we bet that there are a good number of locals that come to Regina, most of the clientele seems to be tourists. We probably wouldn’t want to wait in the lines every night either, especially with so many other amazing restaurants in the North End. That being said, though, this is one of the best pizzas in Boston. And you really have to go to the original location to say that you’ve had the pizza – the slices at Faneuil Hall are good, but they really aren’t the same.

To visit:

Regina Pizza
11 1/2 Thacher Street
Boston, MA 02113

BarbaraLeave a comment

#74 Ernesto’s

July 30th, 2016

Boston, MA

Our second stop in Boston for the weekend of pizza was Ernesto’s. We decided to switch gears from our dinner and drinks at Coppa and venture over to the North End for some slices for lunch. After trying so many slices in NYC, we’re a bit picky about our slice joints. We’re happy to report that Ernesto’s ranks up there with our favorite slices around the entire US!

We’ve been to the North End of Boston many, many times. It’s one of our favorite places to go to eat and drink and also to just wander. Back in our days of undergrad when I was living in Boston, we’d go for fancy date night dinners at cute Italian restaurants in the North End and usually would follow up our pasta with cannoli or pastry from Mike’s. We never ran out of Italian restaurants to try because every restaurant there is better than the last. We also always seemed to forget which Italian restaurants we had been to before, since they all look very similar and serve similar food. We can only say that we never had a bad Italian meal. In all those trips to the North End, though, we never thought to seek out pizza, and we never thought about just going for slices.

Well, we were certainly missing out. Ernesto’s has been operating in the North End since 1984. The slices are very large, but priced well, and there is no shortage of toppings to choose from. They say that one of their most popular slices is the chicken ranch. We didn’t try that one, but a lot of people seem to like it. You can take out or eat in. We’d recommend taking it outside and walking around by the water, although that’s hard to do if you are ordering more than one slice. If you’re dining in, you can also get beer or wine in plastic cups. It’s very high end.

We tried a good variety of slices, of course. A couple of the tomato and basil, which were some of our favorites. We each had one of the white spinach, which was the perfect amount of heavy. Eric liked the slices so much, actually, that he had to go up and order a third slice. He couldn’t stop talking about how good the crust was. We’d argue that the slices here are just as good as a NY slice, and probably cheaper than most of the slices in NYC. Ernesto’s hasn’t made the Daily Meal list since 2015, and we’re quite sad about that. It should be on that list, and you should go if you’re in Boston.

They also serve salads. You should just skip those.

To visit:

Ernesto’s Pizza
69 Salem St
Boston, MA 02113

BarbaraLeave a comment

#55 Coppa

July 29th, 2016

Boston, MA

We’ve mentioned a few Boston pizzerias already on this site (Santarpio’s and Area Four) but we still have several more to cover on here. With the Boston Marathon running this past week, we thought it would be a good time to talk about a few more of the Boston restaurants that made it on to the top 101.

We drove up to Boston for the weekend, getting into town late on a Friday night to meet up with some friends. We decided to make our first stop for pizza at Coppa, which ranked right in the middle of the 2015 Best Pizza list. It is a small place to begin with (only 38 seats!), tucked away in Boston’s South End on a side street. If you’re familiar with the city of Boston at all, you’ll know that the location is not very convenient to get to by public transportation. So, we were slightly surprised when we got there and the restaurant was packed, although we really shouldn’t have been since the restaurant scene in the South End has been growing steadily in the past years. We grabbed a couple of drinks and hung around outside while we waited for a table. We finally were seated around 9:30 pm. 

We almost felt bad just ordering the pizza because Coppa seems to be known primarily for its inventive and seasonal selection of small plates. Their homemade pastas also looked amazing. We ended up splitting a couple of pizzas: the Salsiccia and the ‘Nduja. The meats had some kick to them, and the crust was on the crispier side because of the wood oven, which we liked. Both were tapas-sized pies, a bit smaller than a Neapolitan pizza and meant to share. They were perfect accompaniments to our drinks. 

We’d go back to Coppa, but probably not just for the pizzas.  We could see ourselves ordering a pizza AND some of the other small plates, or splitting one as an appetizer while also ordering some of the fresh pasta dishes. But we probably wouldn’t make a special trip again for the pizza, as there are better places making pizza in Boston.

If you do find yourself wanting to head out to the South End, we’d definitely recommend taking advantage of the outdoor seating at Coppa during the summer months, since the restaurant itself is so small and doesn’t take reservations. We also highly recommend ordering the specialty cocktails.

To visit:

Coppa Boston
253 Shawmut Ave
Boston, MA 02118

BarbaraLeave a comment

#36 Santarpio’s

June 5th, 2016

Boston, MA

If you’ve been following my posts on our birthday camping pizza road trip, you will know that we spent the weekend in Portland, Maine, eating pizza and trying out our brand new (hand-me-down) canoe. That Sunday was Eric’s birthday (!!) and so as we drove back down to NJ, we stopped in Boston for our last Boston pizza stop of the weekend at Santarpio’s.

Even though I spent several years in Boston for college, I had never been to (or actually, heard of) Santarpio’s. I realized that this was mainly because it isn’t located downtown and is found in an area of Boston where I never, ever visited ( East Boston, out near the airport). East Boston is actually an island, and only connected to the main city by tunnels (not walkable). Any Boston local will have heard of Santarpio’s, though, because it has been serving pizzas since 1933 and has a pretty solid following.

It was kind of nice that Santarpio’s was outside of downtown – we didn’t have to fight any crowds to get there, we didn’t have to struggle to find parking (like we would have in the North End), and we got a table quickly for lunch! And since it was Eric’s birthday, he talked one of his Boston-resident friends into joining us out in Eastie.

We ended up with the cheese, sausage, and garlic pie. We heard that you had to try the sausage here, and I was outnumbered by meat eaters. Also, it was Eric’s birthday, and he loves a good sausage pizza. You should know that the pizzas here start with the toppings on the bottom. Don’t expect an even distribution of toppings, either. They don’t make a lot of exceptions, so don’t expect them to. The sauce was good, and the crust was even better. Nice and crispy, but sturdy to hold up to the cheese and toppings.

The pizza here is made in it’s own, old-school style, which kind of reminded us of Lombardi’s in NYC (but bigger, and cheaper). It is just as good as Pizzeria Regina, and you don’t have to fight the crowds for it. Although you do have to figure out the best way to get over to East Boston.

To visit:

Santarpio’s
111 Chelsea Street
East Boston, MA 02128

BarbaraLeave a comment

#79 Area Four

June 3rd, 2016

Cambridge, MA

We usually try to take a camping trip every summer. Last year, we tied our camping trip into a birthday/pizza weekend for Eric and drove up to Maine. We found a nice campsite right outside of Portland, brought our canoe, and spent the whole weekend eating pizza and making s’mores. It was awesome.

We planned to get up to our campsite by dark to set up our tent, but this left us plenty of time to stop just outside of Boston for some pizza for lunch. We decided to stop at Area Four, in Cambridge. The weather was beautiful, and we grabbed a table right out front of the restaurant.

The pizza at Area Four seems a bit out of place in Boston and feels like it belongs somewhere in Brooklyn or California. The dough is made from a 15-year old starter that rises for 36 hours. They use local ingredients, and the pizzas change seasonally. Nothing on the menu, from the bread and butter pickles appetizer to the Hawaiian pizza with roasted pineapple salsa, is traditional, but everything we’ve tried is delicious. One of the pizzas (the Carnivore) has been featured on the Food Network’s best pizza ever.

We went for the seasonal spring pie, which had arugula, peas, pickled red onion, mozzarella, and asparagus, and it tasted just like spring. We also tasted the more traditional Marinara pizza, which was topped with a decent amount of basil and roasted garlic. Both were fresh and tasty, and the crust here is perfectly bouncy and light from the wood fired oven. We may have liked the marinara pizza the best.

I was recently back in Cambridge for a work trip, and made a stop for dinner at Area Four again. I was reminded how good this pizza was, even though I opted for the simple Margherita pizza. The fall seasonal special was topped with corn and fresh tomatoes, which made me wish Eric was with me so that we could try that one too.

To visit:

Area Four
500 Technology Square
Cambridge, MA 02139

BarbaraLeave a comment