On Saturday, I ventured into the Northeast to try the pizza at Tony’s Place with my sister Big E and her husband John. I liked the place right off the bat. Great ambience, very homey feel on the inside. One strange quirk was the things they were showing on the televisions during our stay. Maybe it was just a weird day for sports programming, but in an hour and a half, we saw rodeo, paintball, fishing, and polo. I love fishing shows, but I think they would be better if the boat had obstacles. Like mines under the water and a giant mechanical shark that they had to fight off if they hoped to keep fishing. Anyways, at Tony’s they don’t call it pizza, they call it tomato pie. And you need to go up there and order the hot pepper pie. It was the best pizza I’ve had yet in the search. The sauce, which Tony’s places over the cheese, was perfect, just the right amount of cheese, and the peppers gave the pie a little kick. The other slice wasn’t quite as good, but was still excellent. It was a pepperoni and peppers slice. The service was friendly. The only knock on the place, and this just shows how nitpicky I have to be to find a flaw here, was that the Coke was flat. The thing that really made me realize how good this place was was that after five slices, I wasn’t thinking about how full I was, but about how incredible the pizza was. Here was my sister’s reaction:

“Sauce on top of the cheese?” That was my pessimistic reaction when I heard that Tony’s pizza was cooked
unconventionally, with the sauce on top. Despite my doubts, we dove right in and ordered two large pies-one pepperoni and one with hot cherry peppers. The pies were delicious! The sauce was especially good. The crust was thin, but not too crispy. Besides the pizza being amazing, the atmosphere was great too. It was cozy in there and seemed like a great neighborhood establishment. Four of us downed both pies with no problem. Even after leaving with full stomachs, we still had those pizzas on the brain. What a great place. John and I give Tony’s a 4 pepperoni score!!
My sister and I have had some epic arguments. This will not be one of them. I’m giving Tony’s a 4 pepperoni score, with the hot cherry pie getting a 4 1/2. You have to try it. It is, without question, the best pizza I have had thus far in Philly.

Philly Style Pizza was the first place I ever ate in Phialdelphia. My girlfriend at the time and I were returning from New York, where I had gone, hoping to find a job and an apartment. I had found neither, and had had a really terrible time up there. So we decided to swing by Philly to order a cheesesteak on our ride back, and randomly ended up at Philly Style Pizza, and got a kickass cheesesteak. The next thing you know I was moving here. So I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for PSP, and still occasionally swing by for a cheesesteak, which, like I said, are really good there. But this time I swung by for a pizza while I was being interviewed by the Metro. The pizza itself was damn good. A sweet sauce, good crust, just the right amount of cheese, cute girls working the register. But there was one problem. I asked for a slice with onions and hot peppers and when the slice came out, it was covered with uncooked onions and hot peppers. They had made it like they were making a salad, with everything raw. And the toppings cost 50 cents apiece. Weak. I’m gonna give these guys the benefit of the doubt, b/c their cheesesteak brought me here, but I can’t give ’em higher than a three on sentimentality and good sauce alone.

Lastweek I went to Pizza Rustica (it’s next door to Standard Tap) with quizzo regular, comedian, and Andy Reid impersonator Steve Odabashian. The place had a lot of potential, and the pizza slices looked terrific. On top of that, they had all of the ingredients necessary for a suicude. I dunno if you guy sever had suicides, but we always used to get them at the concession stand after our little league basbeall games. They were a dangerous drink, and usually only the 11 and 12 year olds had the guts to get them. 9 and 10 year olds simply didn’t have the psychological make up to handle a risky concoction of Coke, Sprite, and Sunkist, poured into the cup in equal measure. Well, Rustica had all the necessary flavors at their fountain. Sadly, however, the orange was flat, so I had to go hari kari with my suicide and refill with a plain Coke. As for the pizza itself, I dunno, it was weird. Too crunchy or something. I went Rochester style on it (using blue cheese on pizza), but to no avail. I wasn’t feeling it. Here were Steve’s thoughts:

I’ve eaten here before and I have definitely had better. The pizza was kind of crunchy (but then again, so are grape nuts). Maybe the pieces I had (chicken and pepper, pepperoni) were sitting out for a while. I don’t eat pizza all that much anymore, and I had barely eaten during the day. So, the combination of those two circumstances should have worked in the pizza’s favor. However, I was disappointed. The pieces were big, if that’s any consolation. 2 pepperonis out of 5. When I start eating pizza again, I will give Rustica another try. Like I said, I’ve eaten there before and it’s usually better.
Wo am I to argue with a man who looks uncommonly similar to Philly’s favorite Mormon? 2 pepperonis it is.