I went to Marra’s in South Philly with a couple of ladies from Team Swampass, Ginny and Ellen. The place looks great from the outside, and has a cozy feel on the interior. The pizzas on the menu sounded pretty good. We went with one that was half-pepperoni, artichoke. The other, called the Bianca, was a bit more intriguing. I’ll let Ellen tell you more about it:
It’s combo of broccoli rabe, sun-dried tomatoes, and sausage kept every bite interesting. The sharp provolone was heroic in proportion and in garlic dose, perhaps a plus to some, but I wouldn’t have minded a little
more restraint in both departments. This is definitely a dinner pizza. I would get the red pie with half ‘roni, half artichoke anytime. Here, the tomato sauce complemented both the toppings and the excellent crust–neither
heavy nor cardboard, and just enough doughy moisture.

Continue reading “Johnny Goes to Marra’s” →

The whole time I’ve been on this pizza quest, people have been asking me, “Have you been to Tacconelli’s yet? Have you been to Taconnelli’s yet?” The hype for this place is enormous, and in reading other online reviews, Tacconelli’s always scores high. Then, on top of that, they make you order your dough ahead of time, making dinner an event, not just a meal. So it was with enormous expectations that I entered this unassuming restaurant on 2604 East Somerset with Trivia Art, Mary Anne, and Ginger. Seriously, it was Mary Anne and Ginger. The people I brought along were kind of excited, so there reviews are a little wordy. Let’s start with Triva Art:
Sometimes you worry when things get too hyped. Whether they be thoroughbred horses, pitchers named Cole, or science quizzo, it’s tough to live up to the hype. And that’s the spot Tacconelli’s was in. Could a Port Richmond pizza
spot possibly live up to the pressure placed on it by all the people out there hyping it? Well that was the question Tacconelli’s had to answer. Earlier that day I had been surfing around the Internets and read some playa
hatin reviews of the place. Oh boy, had they slipped, rested on their laurels? There was definitely some trepidation as I walked into the Somerset St storefront shortly after seven last Sunday night. The ambiance didn’t
bolster my confidence. Picture your grade school lunch room with booths. Add to that the silence of a broken jukebox and I thought, uh oh. But then I reconsidered, b/c Goodtimes would only wind up playing some Johnny Cash anyway. Goodtimes thinks it’s a law that every juke box must be played, and Johnny Cash must be among the songs selected. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, grade school gym. Freaking nuns. No wait, oh yeah,Tacconelli’s. We ordered two pies, one white, half sweet peppers, and a regular, half pepperoni, half prosciutto.

The white pie arrived first, topped with ample garlic and olive oil it was a lovely pizza, with a thin crisp crust supporting the toppings. It was a perfect blend, the salt and pepper really bringing out the flavors. It was
going to be a tough pizza to beat. Next arrived the red pie. Pepperoni crisped, just the way I like it. The
pepperoni had a nice spice, the cheese, played the Pippen role to the sauce’s Jordan. Supporting the star, but in no way overpowering it. After the peperoni slice I sampled the prosciutto. The prosciutto, crust, sauce, and cheese combination wowed me. This is what the pizza hunt was about. That perfect bite. And I had found it, in a little
storefront in Port Richmond. Four and a half stars, might even get five if you get your prosciutto pizza to go.

Wow, so Art loved the place. What would Ginger and I think? Read on after the jump..

Continue reading “Tacconelli’s” →

Me and my man Scott headed out to East Falls to a place called Slices on Ridge Avenue. The place is pretty unassuming, and the slices are cheap. I got my first slice, but the garlic salt is in a container with giant holes in the top, so that when i tried to sprinkle it on my pie it came gushing out, rendering my slice inedible. No problem, the guys behind the coutner replaced it for me free of charge. So my slice was perfectly good, though not great. The highlight of the trip, however, was when I noticed the following words at the bottom of a nearby dry erase board:

Now, I have never been at a restaurant that thought to advertise all of the excitement that comes with the prospect of fountain soda. “Hey guys, what should we do for dinner?” “I dunno, if Slices has fountain soda, we should go there. They said it was coming soon.” Here was Scott’s take:
A decent little neighborhood joint that serves a solid, no-frills piece of pie. It’s not too greasy, the crust is thin and tasty, and the soda was really wet. The price is right ($2.00 for any slice, any topping is pretty good, even though your choice of topping seems limited to cheese, pepperoni and hamburger.) In short, I’ve occasionally had better pizza, but Slices gets the job done just fine. Three pepperonis from me.
Yeah, Slices gets three pepperonis. But I’ll be back…to try the fountain soda.

Palestra Jon and I headed over to the King of Pizza in New Jersey last week. I’ll let him do his write up first:
The Famous King of Pizza is part of Jersey roadside legend, having been once part of a row that included Garden State racetrack, farmstands and a miniature golf course. Over the years, everything that once surrounded it is gone with the exception of the dinosaur from the miniature golf course, a lonely relic surrounded now by strip
malls and big box stores. Still, the King remains supreme. This is one of my favorite local places, with good cheesy pizza and great crust. I was somewhat limited by JGT’s menu selection. Although I recommended the very good white veggie or spinach pizzas, I had to struggle to keep him away from the Hawaiian Pineapple (ugh) pie. Finally, I reluctantly agreed to a half-chicken cheesesteak, half pepperoni pizza. The chicken cheesesteak pizza was very good, with a good cheese to steak ratio and the usual great crust. The pepperoni was a little disappointing in
my view, with the grease so overwhelming that you couldn’t taste anything but pepperoni fat. Overall, I would normally give the King a solid 4 star rating, but I have to take a star away due to the pizza choice. I still love this place, though.
Jon must have been muttering under his breath whe said the white and spinach pizza’s ’cause I never heard him. Regardless, the pizza we got was decent, but nothing special. The place had little in the way of ambiance, though the sign out front was pretty cool. Apparently the original place burned down a few years ago, and the owners went with a more modern (aka boring) look. Jon can blame me if wants to, but I didn’t make this so-so pizza. Correct me if I’m wrong Jon, but I don’t think the chicken steak came with peppers or onions. We agree on one thing: this place gets 3 pepperonis.

Piestengel is a German slang word for what?

Went to Soho Pizza (218 Market) last week with the lovely Ginger. I have always liked Soho. The pizza is good, the atmosphere is nice without being stuffy, and they serve ya quick. Usually I go for their BBQ chicken slices, but they didn’t have them this time. So I decided on pineapple and bacon, just to piss off Palestra Jon when he read this. It was pretty solid. I then got a red slice with garlic, pesto, and no cheese. Uh, it was ok but I kind of think you need cheese to call it a pizza, so in hindsight it was a bad choice. I think I was just having a fat day, so I didn’t get something else. The guy working behind the counter talked our ears off. He was nice enough, and he told us that the best place he had ever worked was Applebees, b/c he had an “under the table” deal going on. Though I don’t think he was referring to the Applebees at 15th and Locust, I think they need to be investigated by the IRS anyway, just to be sure. Here was the lovely Ginger’s take:

The crust was perfect, as it is every time I go. The environment is a pinch more upscale than your typical pizza joint, but still welcoming. The actual warming device is quite possible the most spectacular pizza oven in the city. Once I got past the oven, I realized that I could get a buzz-on simultaneously while chowing down on some on the finest pizza Philadelphia has to offer. Being a beer aficionado, I couldn’t help but be excited about the option of Chimay Blue with my slice. I just sat back and thought, “Wow, life is good.” Crust? Check. Sauce? Check. Cheese? Check. Slice size? Check. Two thumbs up wish I had a third. Oops—no we’re talking pepperoni’s, right? Let’s see. 3 and ¾. Just visit during the day, when the drunk a******* of old city aren’t lurking around, chanting, “doll face.” Bonus- Played a game of scrabble on a different trp there, dining al fresco. Scrabble and a slice…hakuna matata.
Yeah, the lovely Ginger gave it a 3 3/4, I think I’ll give it a 3 1/2. Worth the trip to Old City. Oh, and rumor has it that the lovely Ginger is newly single, so if you want to impress her, take her to Soho, and order some beer that you’re not sure how to pronounce. Ginger is a major beer snob. She told me that she met some guy last weekend who was gorgeous, and he asked her for his number. “So, you gave it to him, right?” I asked. “No, he was drinking the King of Beers, so I couldn’t see a future with him.”

Me and D-Mac wen to Giovani’s Pizza (15th and Chestnut) a couple of weeks ago, but I am just now filing a report. Anyways, Giovani’s is one of those places where you walk in, place a quick order, and get the hell out of the way, but the staff isn’t unpleasant about it. I got a couple of slices. The one that really stuck out was the Buffalo chicken slice. Now, if you get that one, you have to go Rochester style and get the Blue cheese. That…was a damn fine piece of pizza. Now, a lot of people are giving me a hard time b/c they say to truly judge a pizza I should only order cheese slices. That is absurd. While I do not penalize pizza places that do not have a lot of choices to offer (see Lorenzo’s, South Street), I do think pizza places should get points for being creative. (See Mama Palma’s). Anyways, here was D-Mac’s take:
Yeah, it took me forever to remember to send this to you. Well, between my next-to-last place finishes in Quizzo and my nightly crying myself to sleep, I’m a busy man. But I thought Giovani Pizza was a pretty good place. The service is usually pretty fast and the pizza is usually pretty consistent. I think it’s a little underrated. The
pizza’s pretty cheesy, and not in the high school insult way, and it’s a good ratio of cheese-to-sauce, crucial for any good slice of pizza. Plus, I truly give major props to any place where two slices and a Coke is exactly $5 — none of that messy “change” business. Seacrest, out!
It gets 3 pepperonis. Try the buffalo chicken slice. Word.

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.