Tag: sicilian

#89 Dino’s Tomato Pie

February 3rd, 2019

Seattle, Washington

There were two new additions to the 2018 Daily Meal list in Seattle. We only had one night (Sunday) in town before our morning flight on Monday. That meant that we had to eat two dinners. We hit Delancey for an early-ish dinner and then made our way over to Dino’s Tomato Pie.

Dino’s website lists it as “the second best pizza in Seattle”. This would be after Delancey, of course, as the two are owned by the same couple. Dino’s makes a completely different style of pizza than Delancey does and has a very different restaurant-feel as well. Where Delancey is your traditional sit-down, artisan pizzeria, Dino’s is a bar. A bar that also serves round and square pizzas that are more like New Jersey-style pies than Neapolitans.

Please excuse the horrible lighting of this photo. We ended up getting this pizza to go for two reasons. First, it was getting late and we wanted to check into our hotel because our baby was getting a little sleepy. Second, Dino’s is actually only open to people 21 and older, so we couldn’t bring baby James in to eat, even if we had wanted to.

So, we took this picture right outside of the restaurant, under the neon sign. We think it’s actually a pretty fitting photo to represent the feeling of the place – bar first, pizza second. While we didn’t get to spend any time at the bar, we didn’t waste any time having a slice of this pizza before we packed it up to bring back to the hotel.

We ended up ordering a regular square Sicilian-style pie because that is what they are known for here. We found it to be more similar to Buffalo-style pies (like Bocce Club) than to the NJ pizza that we’ve had. It has a thick crust and LOTS of cheese. The sauce was good, but like with most Sicilian-style thick crust pizzas, you really have to be hungry and in the mood for this. We wouldn’t rank it as high as other Sicilian slices that we’ve had, but perhaps if we had been able to sit at the bar and experience it with a drink it would have made a better impression.

Also, we aren’t quite sure why they call it Dino’s Tomato Pie, if they are famous for a cheesy Sicilian, or even a Sicilian with toppings. NJ tomato pies have cheese, yes, but generally the focus is still on the sauce, which is found on top of the cheese. We do understand that we may be a bit biased as we love a good (Philly- or New Haven-style) tomato pie, but we just don’t see where the “tomato pie” comes into play here.

To visit:

Dino’s Tomato Pie
1524 E Olive Way
Seattle, WA 98122

BarbaraLeave a comment

#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

#23 Prince Street Pizza

December 16th, 2017

Manhattan, NYC

One of our favorite slice joints around Manhattan is Prince Street Pizza. We stumbled upon Prince Street pizza back when we started working our way around NYC, even though it wasn’t on the original 2015 Daily Meal list that we started working from. We kept coming across the name on other “Best of” lists, so we knew that we had to make it a stop, especially because it was within walking distance of our offices. AND THEN it made it on the 2016 list, and again on the 2017 list. It was about time.

If you are walking around SoHo/Nolita and looking for a slice of pizza, this is one of the best. (Williamsburg Pizza would be another good bet.)  It has an old-school charm, even though it is a relatively new establishment. It’s location, though, is pizza history: it is half of the original location of Ray’s Pizza (of traditional NY pizza fame). These days, you may find a “Ray’s Original” on a number of NY street corners, but the “original” Ray’s no longer exists, having given in to a rent/lease dispute back in 2011.

Prince Street Pizza is known mainly for their square slices. THE slice to order is the spicy square pepperoni slice with a fresh Fra diavolo sauce. You just have to do it. And not just because those little tiny cups of pepperoni are so darn instagrammable. It just tastes amazing (and this is coming from someone who is not the biggest fan of pepperoni).  The plain cheese slices and margherita slices are also good. You could get one of those too. We would never just stop at one slice!

The crust on the square slices here isn’t thick and heavy like some Sicilian slices. It is pretty light and airy, making it easy to eat more than one slice.

You won’t get a seat to eat in Prince Street, especially if you come for slices during the lunch or dinner rush. You should be prepared to take your slices to go. There is a small counter inside, but it is pretty tight to sit if you aren’t by yourself.  This isn’t a place to linger – get in, order, and move on.

Eric has recently recruited a bunch of people from his office to take trips over to Prince Street for lunch. It makes me really sad that my office has moved out of SoHo and I can’t regularly join them.

I mean, just look at those ronis! Right?

To visit:

Prince Street Pizza
27 Prince St
New York, NY 10012

BarbaraLeave a comment

#69 Caserta Pizzeria

September 23rd, 2017

Providence, RI

This weekend we went to another pizza place from the 101 list from 2016. I know, it has been a while since we’ve crossed another pizza off of the list! Now that the 2017 list is due out any day now, we thought that we should try to go to some of the remaining ones from 2016. We took the opportunity of a free weekend to drive out to Rhode Island and go to Caserta Pizzeria in Providence.

We parked in Federal Hill in Providence, and spent a little time walking around Little Italy. Caserta Pizzeria is tucked back from the main street, where it has been for the last 60+ years.

The pizza is Sicilian style, but you can’t get slices here. You can order a small pizza (which is what we did), which comes in a circular shape cut into 6 slices. Or, you can go for the large pizza, which has 12 traditional rectangular slices. We really wanted to order one of the large pizzas, but we knew that we wouldn’t have been able to eat it all, even with our big pizza appetites.

We ended up ordering the small pizza with cheese. They have some toppings here too, but we wanted to go with the traditional. The crust on the pizza is doughy, but sturdy. It holds up to the massive amount of cheese that was loaded on top of the pie. There was a decent amount of sauce, too, but the ratio was heavy on the cheese. The cheese also left a crispy crust around the outside of the pie, similar to the deep dish pizza at Pequod’s.

If you come here, don’t be expecting a lot from this pizza place. The pizza itself is good, but nothing spectacular. It does have a serious following of locals, though. In our opinion, it was heavy on the cheese and grease. They don’t serve many toppings and prefer to stick with the classics: pepperoni, olives, mushrooms, and anchovies.

Caserta’s is also famous for their “Wimpy Skippy”, which is a pie (more like a calzone) loaded with spinach, mozzarella, and pepperoni. We didn’t think that this qualified exactly  as pizza, so we went with the traditional pizza instead. “Wimpy” and “Skippy” were actually real people who used to make this in their free time at the restaurant, and one day the owner made it a special and it stuck.

There are a lot of Italian restaurants in Federal Hill, many that are newer looking and have fun happy hour menus. Some look like they also serve pizza. We think this one made it to the list because it is one of the originals. If we were to come back, we’d probably skip this one in favor of Providence Coal Fired Pizza. But if a good, thick, cheesy, Sicilian is your favorite slice, you should make a trip up to Providence.

To visit:

Caserta Pizzeria
121 Spruce Street
Providence, RI 02903

BarbaraLeave a comment

#85 Sal’s Pizza

April 10th, 2016

Mamaroneck, NY

Sal’s Pizza in Mamaroneck is ranked mainly for their Sicilian pie. We took our friends Claire and Jeff out to Mamaroneck one weekend afternoon to test it out. Mamaroneck, for anyone who doesn’t drive around NYC that often, is right in Westchester County, right off of I-95 as you go into Connecticut. It is probably an hour drive from our house in NJ to get there. I can’t remember if Eric got us lost driving there – the chances are good that he did.

 

When we went here last April, it had been a while since we had eaten a Sicilian slice. We’d been so busy eating our way around the NY slice joints! It was good to change it up. We ended up just going with a plain Sicilian pie to split between the four of us, which ended up being plenty of food. Next time we probably would have also tried the salad pie, since it seems to be another popular option.

Sal’s is known in the area to have lines out the door for these Sicilian slices, but we were there for lunch and got a table right away. The pizzeria is very old-school, and just what you’d expect from a 50-ish year old restaurant in terms of both atmosphere and decor.

 

As for the pizza, it is also pretty traditional. The regular slices looked like traditional NY slices. For the Sicilian, the crust was good. It was nice and airy and not too dense like the crust on some Sicilian slices that you find around NYC. The sauce was on the sweeter side. The mozzarella was not put on lightly (as you can see in the picture above). The Sicilian slice was pretty much everything that you’d expect from a Sicilian slice, although it also sort of reminded us of Ellio’s frozen pizzas.

We know that some people like their pizza full of cheese and grease. If that’s you, you should make a stop here at Sal’s as soon as possible. You probably aren’t trying to stay the same pants size while eating pizza 2-3 times a week.  While we will never turn down a slice of pizza, so much cheese isn’t really our thing.

There’s a rumor that Joe Torre used to stop here for pizzas on his way home from home games. I’m not sure if that’s true or not, and we think he probably could have found better pizza in the area. But it is quite possible he is one of those cheesy pizza lovers, in which case, we’d understand why he made the stop.

To visit:

Sal’s Pizza
316 Mamaroneck Avenue
Mamaroneck NY 10543

 

 

 

 

 

 

BarbaraLeave a comment