Just when I thought that the former Bloomin Newmans pizza location was unsellable, and un-leasable, someone proves me wrong and takes a pretty big chance buying a location that has been doomed for failure.

Dean Anthony's Express Pizza & More is taking their stab at this hidden location, with limited parking and limited seating.  From my recollation, this spot used to house Carlucci's Express, then Bloomin Newmans, then Pizza Express, then nothing for a while and now Dean Anthony's....Express.  Personally I would never put the name express next to my name in this locale, as it could bring back terrible memories of the other express locations that used to be housed their, and their crappy tasting pizza.  But, I guess that doesn't scare Dean Anthony.  You know what scares me about Dean Anthony is how they put Awarded Best Pizza all over their menu, signs, etc, yet they do not say who gave them this prestigious award?  Did they themselves say it was the best and give themselves the award?

Toby and I decided to try the new place out after and see what it tasted like.  Dean Anthony's bought this place turn key from the landlord, who was trying to dump it for a long time.  So the decor is pretty much identical to all the previous places, except for maybe the tables and chairs.  They had some decent looking pizza in the display case, and I ultimately chose a regular slice and a "grandma" style slice.  The two slices with a soda were $6.49 on special.

When the slices came out they smelled pretty good, and as I started to peel the pizza and cheese away from the paper plate, almost like scraping ice off the window of your car in the dead of winter, I lifted the bottom of the grandma slice to notice a beautiful looking crust.  The regular slice was a little over cooked and still full of corn meal, or whatever else it could have been.  The grandma slice had some fruity tasting extra virgin olive oil layered on top of the fresh tasting cheese.  The crust was fantastic, but the sauce was way too chunky for me and I ended up taking most off.  It had a kick to it, but not the type of kick I like.  Not saying a roundhouse kick would have tasted better, just saying it wasn't exactly my style.  The regular slice, tasted pretty bland, and the cheese was a little overcooked prior to being placed back in the oven, so it didn't make for the nicest of tastes.  The best part of the regular slice was how the crust held up when you lifted it.  It was extremely crunchy, and tasted great.  It kind of reminded me of the texture at Authentic Brooklyn Pizza in Boca Raton (just not nearly as good as theirs).

Dean Anthony's Express is a place I will probably go back to, if only for the sake of convienence though.  The first time I go there and have trouble parking, will likely be my last time.  Hopefully they can do a great delivery business out of this location, cause that is the only way they will stay open.  It will be tough to come here though, knowing Annie's isn't too far away and tasted better.

Dean Anthony's Pizza gets 4 out of 8 slices.