Pizzeria Vesi Naples Italy
Margaret and I have dubbed Via Tribunali, a crooked crowded street in centro historico district of Naples, “Pizza Alley”. Between the speeding vespas, ancient churches, and begging gypsies, there is some fantastic pizza. There’s Di Matteo- a staple among Neapolitans, there’s Il Presidente – the spot Bill Clinton went while visiting Naples, and there’s, of course, Sorbillo- the favorite pizzeria of italian actress Sophia Loren. Just down the street from these giants in the pizza world is Vesi, a lesser known but equally deserving pizzeria. After living here for two months, Vesi has easily become one of my most frequented pizzerias in all of Naples. The pizza here can hold its own against Sorbillo and Il Presidente, and if you pick the right pie, even surpass them.
Try the D.O.C. Fresh mozzarella di buffala and pomodorini (small, sweet tomatoes) from the base of Mount. Vesuvius itself. Throw on a little extra virgin olive oil and that’s it. This pie speaks directly to the neapolitan pizza philosophy that excellence is achieved through simplicity. If you are going to use ingredients of the highest quality, you don’t need more than a few of them. In fact, I’d say that any additional topping might ruin the very delicate, almost perfect balance between the pomodorini and mozzarella. The first time I ordered this pie, I could smell the cooked pomodorini before the waiter had put it on the table. The juices of the pomodorini become infused with the cream of the mozzarella. You find yourself mopping on the oil and cheese directly from the plate. I’ve already made a few posts about soupy neapolitan pizzas and how, generally, I like a drier pie. But the D.O.C at Vesi is one of the few exceptions.
Vesi has a wonderful outdoor patio on Via Tribunali. If you can ignore the honking of the passing cars (something you’ve got to do pretty much everywhere in Naples), you’ll enjoy a wonder pie in a great location. The staff is friendly and very dedicated to making quality pizza. I will give Pizzeria Vesi in Naples 7 out of 8 slices.
Zacharys Chicago Pizza Restaurant Oakland California
Zachary’s Chicago Pizza is a popular restaurant in the East Bay located at 5801 College Ave 510-655-6385, that serves Chicago style pizza. It has been packing them in for over twenty years. The serve select individual slices (Sausage, Pepperoni, Vegetarian) and whole pizzas, both thin and stuffed (thick) crust. The thick crust has filling between layers. They also have half-baked pies for sale.
Decor, Vibe – College pizza place decor with tons of colorful posters on the walls. They have a sit down area and a counter area for quick bites. Lots of college students eating lunch along with the artsy Berkeley crowd.
Special pizzas are on the menu most the time. Thin crust Pepperoni slice ($3.25) – Most people go deep dish here, but the thin crust is good. Not very greasy all lots of pepperoni hidden under the toppings. The pepperoni is quite spicy, while the cheese is thick and good. Stuffed Zachary’s Special ($17.95) was a 10inch deep dish pizza filled with tomatoes, sausage, onion, green pepper, and mushrooms. Very dense and heavy, each slice is very filling with lots of sweet and savory tomatoes. The crust is a crunchy and chewy style crust. So filling that I could only handle 2 slices. The leftovers were good the next day.
Zachary’s Chicago Pizza does not dissapoint. The wait can be long though. It is the deep dish leader in the San Francisco Bay Area. A little better than Little Star in San Francisco.
This place is a must visit for pizza lovers. Thin crust lovers should look else were for the best. I will give Zachary’s Chicago Pizza in Oakland 5 out of 8 slices. This post was shared with us from Food Nut.
Cilluffo’s Pizza and Pasta Boca Raton
While waiting for Billy the other day to watch the fight at Gatsby’s in Boca Raton I got hungry. Since Billy was typically late, I headed across the street to Cilluffo’s Pizza. Originally I contemplated going into Times Square Pizza, since I hadn’t been to it since it reopened with a dining room, but seeing it was totally empty, I decided to stay away this time.
Cilluffo’s is kind of hidden by Howard’s Market off 18th street. 6060 SW 18th Street #119 to be exact. Their number is 561-391-8388. Cilluffo’s is mainly a delivery and take out establishment, but they happen to have about 6 bar stools and a small counter if you decide to eat in.
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Papa Joe’s in Lake Mary Florida
Papa Joe’s is a local chain of Italian restaurants in the Central Florida area that used to be really popular. Their Altamonte Springs and Lake Mary Blvd locations almost always had a wait, and then they started to expand. As they opened up more and more restaurants in the area, their food and service became worse and worse. After a while I decided the restaurants weren’t worth eating at anymore. Eventually other people must have gotten the same feeling because the restaurants seemed to no longer have waits to eat, and Papa Joe’s closed all of their restaurants except for two in Lake Mary and one in Altamonte Springs.
After years of not eating at a Papa Joe’s, I decided to give them another try and went to the restaurant in the Colonial Town Center in Lake Mary, FL. Unlike in the past, there was no wait to eat and the service was good. We ordered garlic bread and a cheese pizza. The garlic bread was disappointing and was nothing more than a roll topped with that garlic butter stuff and some parmesan cheese. I don’t think there was any actual garlic involved.
Papa Joe’s pizza seemed to go into a downward spiral back when I used to eat at the restaurants more often until it wasn’t worth ordering anymore. When my pizza on this visit came out, I was surprised with the result. The pizza was actually pretty good. My only complaint was about the sauce, which I found it to be way too sweet. Other than that the pie was pretty good. It didn’t come close to King Umbertos standards (best pizza I’ve eaten), but was definitely a few steps above many other local pizzas. I think I’ll be returning again!
6 out of 8 slices.
Pizza Antica San Jose California
This post comes to us from FoodNut
Pizza Antica is stylish high end pizza place with 4 Northern California locations. We reviewed the location in upscale San Jose’s Santana Row shopping center. Pizza is the draw, so we focused on it. The pizza is thin crust artisanal Roman style. They also serve pasta and meats.
Decor, Vibe – Modern room with some antique touches. They have outdoor seating, that works great for taking in the scene. Santana Row is definite a fashonista’s paradise.
The photo above is of the Three Cheeses, Shaved Broccoli, Caramelized Onion and Pancetta ($10.50 Small) – Very thin crust. Weird combination of healthy vegetables with bacon. Little Salty. Not much pancetta. Much of the crust’s edge was burnt. So thin, we had to eat entire pizza to make it a full meal.
We also had the Spicy Fennel Sausage, Portobello Mushroom and Roasted Onion ($11.25 Small) – Very thin crust. Very Greasy, Sausage wasn’t spicy at all. Crispy crust on the edge buy chewy towards middle.
I’d recommend going to nearby Straits Cafe or Yankee Pier instead of this place. For better thin crust pizza, hit Pizzeria Defina or A16 in San Francisco. Reservations are not accepted, but guests are encouraged to call ahead to be placed on the wait list during busy times. I will give Pizza Antica in San Jose 3 out of 8 slices.
Ken’s Artisan Pizza Portland Oregon
The first thing you see when you walk into Ken’s Artisan Pizza on Burnside is a large, neat stack of firewood that fits in so well with the restaurant decor that it actually took me a while to realize that it was the same wood that was being used to keep the oven fired. The combination of warm, well-placed hanging lights and the fiery pizza oven makes the spacious Ken’s a cozy, elegant pizza place.
Just like the pizza I miss so much from home, the pizza at Ken’s located at 304 SE 28th (503) 517-9951, is crispy-crusted and charred just enough to give you a taste of the oven it was fired in. I tried a total of four of their pizzas: fennel sausage with onion, spicy sopresatta, winter squash with a hard goat cheese, and, of course, the standard margherita.
If you’re looking to grab a cheap slice of pizza, then Ken’s Artisan Pizza isn’t the place you want. Rather than slices Ken’s does individual 12” pies cut into quarters, which, at 12.99 each and made with such high quality ingredients, I’d say are priced extremely fairly. According to the menu each pizza serves 1-2 people, which in my experience translates to: serves 2 unless you’re really pretty hungry and aren’t drinking a couple pints of the microbrews (Amnesia red, Terminal Gravity IPA) they have on tap.
This is our first review of artisanal pizza. We plan on making our way over to Apizza Scholl’s and Nostrana soon to give us a better sense of this slice of the pizza industry here in Portland, but I will say that though the crust is charred, it’s not slightly scorched all throughout the underside, which some may deem inauthentic. It’s a crispy crust but not crackery. Our waitress got the job done efficiently but was a little cold at first. I look forward to going back after visits to the two places mentioned above (plus anywhere else you, our gracious readers, recommend). I will give Ken’s Artisan Pizza 5 out of 8 slices.
EDP Portland Pizza
Mississippi Pizza in Portland Oregon
Lots of people here, always. Expect a line at Mississippi Pizza Pub on 3552 N Mississippi (503) 288-3231. Sometimes people sing in the adjacent room, or Pete Rock reads. This time the water cooler was low. Not a big deal though cause Dan reminded me that the soda machine makes water.
Pizza guys are always friendly here but not too friendly. They’ll ask you if you want a beer if you don’t order a beer, which is good. Maybe the guys feel sorry for the slices when they leave the counter without beer since the two go so well together and really don’t like being separated? I don’t know.
A nice crust. I generally like mine a bit crispier, but this was okay. It made for good folding. Nothing falling apart like American Dream(’)s. An excellent sauce-to-cheese ratio, though I have to say that the sauce could be more flavorful (which is the biggest reason why I’m not giving this za 5 stars).
This is certainly one of the better pizza joints in Portland, so I’d recommend trying it out–and then going to The Albina Press afterwards…. I will give Mississippi Pizza 6 out of 8 slices.
JMR from Portland Pizza
Bellagios Pizza Portland Oregon
Bellagio’s: “The Very Best”—hahahahaha. So let me tell you about Bellagio’s located on 8112 SE 13th (503) 230-2900. This pizza shop is part of a collection of pizza places, of the same name, located across Oregon. As such, it naturally suffers the way any food suffers when it is subjected to a scientific construction that guarantees consistency across retailers.
The cheese pie we picked up could be confused, in a pizza lineup, with a pie from Rovente’s, except it’ll set you back about $7 more than a slice from that beloved Hawthorne shack. The pizza is characterized by a thin crust, with a layer of cheese so bound to its bready foundation that it might have been painted on. Faint traces of sauce tinted red the between-space, but any flavor remained elusive to the taste buds. The XL pie is also cut in to 12 pieces, which I sort of like, since you don’t have to commit yourself to big slices, and so there are more opportunities for equitable distribution among various group sizes.
Though the standard extra-large cheese pie will run you about $15, it is only a dollar or so for more toppings, so it sort of fills a niche left wanting by the gross price differential between Rovente’s plain pizzas and their fancier toppinged siblings. The two establishments also share a similarity in their unwelcoming atmospheres (one, clean and corporate, the other, dingy and on the verge of collapse), so any reader contemplating a slice “for here” is advised to reconsider. I will give Bellagio’s Pizza in Portland 1 out of 8 slices.
DT. Portland Pizza
eMusic Offers Free Music For What Should Be Free Pizza
Music retailer eMusic announced today a pilot agreement with Pizza Hut. From November 5 – December 27, any customers who place an order on www.pizzahut.com will be given a link to a microsite where they can choose up to 25 promotion songs that are available from a special Pizza Hut playlist. If the songs to choose from are anything like the cardboard quality pizza, you can expect a bunch of songs from William Hung.
Visitors can also get any 50 songs from eMusic’s catalog as part of a 14-day free trial of eMusic.
Lorenzos Trattoria Pizza Coconut Creek
After the Dolphin game yesterday we decided to get off the Turnpike and head to Lorenzo’s Pizza on Coconut Creek Parkway. Lorenzo’s, for those of us from Long Island, used to be located at the Busy Bee flea market in Massapequa.
I haven’t been to Lorenzo’s Pizza for a couple of years. When I first discovered that they moved down to Florida I was thrilled since I had eaten at their place in Long Island for years. One thing I remember truly enjoying there was their grandma pizza, which is really just a thin upside down pizza. Naturally we ordered a pie of this grandma style pizza and some garlic knots. Lorenzo, I am not happy that you have them listed as garlic rolls on the menu? Why oh why did you have to confirm to the Florida way of saying things!
When the pizza came out, I was a little disappointed how small the pie was. There were 4 of us, and it was barely enough to feed us all. Other then the size, the pizza was really good. The sauce was super sweet, and wasn’t piled on grossly. The cheese was melted into the dough and the Parmesan cheese on top was a nice addition. The crust was totally perfect, and I cannot find fault in it at all. The only thing I could find a fault in, were the other old patrons complaining about everything. I even heard one lady behind me saying to the waitress, that there are only 3 tomatoes in her salad, and she usually gets 4.
Lorenzo’s, I will give your pizza 6 out of 8 slices, and I will be back to try your other pizzas shortly! Keep up the good work.
Margaret and I have dubbed Via Tribunali, a crooked crowded street in centro historico district of Naples, “Pizza Alley”. Between the speeding vespas, ancient churches, and begging gypsies, there is some fantastic pizza. There’s Di Matteo- a staple among Neapolitans, there’s Il Presidente – the spot Bill Clinton went while visiting Naples, and there’s, of course, Sorbillo- the favorite pizzeria of italian actress Sophia Loren. Just down the street from these giants in the pizza world is Vesi, a lesser known but equally deserving pizzeria. After living here for two months, Vesi has easily become one of my most frequented pizzerias in all of Naples. The pizza here can hold its own against Sorbillo and Il Presidente, and if you pick the right pie, even surpass them.
