Upside Down Sicilian at Spadini’s Pizza Boca Raton
Slice Rating
Every now and then I become a little friendly with a pizza owner, especially if they are from a part of Long Island near where I come from. When Tom took over Mizner Pizza and changed the name to Spadini's Pizza, he brought a taste of Long Island with him. Here was our previous review --> Spadini's Pizza Review. After going in there several times to enjoy the slices, I finally introduced myself, which turned out not to be necessary since his girlfriend at the time was a pretty good PR girl and had already recognized me.
Tom and I ended up having a lot of pizza love in common. We both frequent the same places when we go back home, and it seemed the places I didn't care for, he shared the same view of negativity. On one of my visits to Spadini's Pizza we got to talking about some of our favorite pizza in Brooklyn, and of course L&B Spumoni Gardens found its way into the conversation. I asked him why he thought that nobody down here could really make an upside down Sicilian pie like they did, and he actually didn't know the answer. So on that day, we came up with a plan and made an upside down pie the way I wanted it. Granted, there is no way we could ever compare to the amazing sauce at L&B Spumoni Gardens, or the magnificent crust, but we were willing to give it an honest Floridian try.
Obviously Tom didn't have the exact sliced cheese prepared, or the right blend that probably should have been used, but what we concocted that day was wonderful. You can see how we did it here:
After biting into the first slice, it was evident that Tom hit a home run with this pie. Although his sauce contains some peel in it (which I really do not like) it still tasted nice and sweet on top of the quality sliced cheese that was applied. The crust was baked to perfection, not too well done, yet crispy. The benefit of upside down pizza is that you can wipe off the amount of sauce that you don't like.
Although this pizza is not officially on the menu, when Tom makes the pie, it sells out right away. I even recently named it one of the best pizzas to eat in South Florida. Unlike other pizzerias down here who have tried to make a version of this pie, Spadini's doesn't charge extra for the sliced cheese that he uses. He explained to me that it isn't worth charging a dollar or two more for something that basically has the same hard cost, with a little more labor. I find this to be a wonderful trait. Without a doubt, Spadini's makes its pizza to please their customers and not to nickel and dime them.
So the next time you are in Boca Raton, I highly recommend making a stop at Spadini's Pizza, which is located by Mizner Park, and asking the owner Tom to make you an upside down pie. Hopefully a "Craig Pizza" will make it on the menu there soon, or maybe he will even name this specific pie after me one day.
Spadini's Pizza in Boca Raton gets a 7 out of 8 for this upside down pie.