After nearly two years of eating the free pizza provided by my school, one would think that I would be burned out on pizza. Fortunately, that is not the case because Pittsburgh just happens to have some amazing pizza places. Take for example, Dinette in East Liberty, which is by no means a new spot, but compared against the more classic Italian neighborhoods like Bloomfield it certainly seems new. The inside is like a mini diner, in which the menu consists of little more than pizza.
Unfortunately, almost all of these pizza include some sort of vegetable. All except the current seasonal Merguez Sausage (and plain cheese, but who wants that?). So I went with this lamb-based sausgae pizza that also came topped with sliced potatoes, corn, fresh mozzarella and tomato sauce.Now, you may be wondering if I was crazy for ordering a pizza with corn on it, and while this would have shocked me many years ago, a little living in Japan (where corn is a normal pizza ingredient) has seen to that.
After a cooking in the wood-fired oven, my pizza was ready. It was a thing of beauty, if not a little lacking in sausage. Bits of merguez were sprinkled throughout the pie, and while these packed a nice flavor I just wanted more-guez. The potato was an interesting addition, adding more texture than flavor and the corn did much of the same, albeit with a bit more flavor. In all, this tasted like a great base for a pizza, because the sauce, cheese and dough were really solid. Yet, a little extra flavor and a lot more meat would have gone a long way in making this one of Pittsburgh’s truly great pizzas.
