‘Pizza’
Located in the middle floor of the gigantic Sienna Mercato in downtown Pittsburgh is a place that goes by the name of Mezzo. Unlike the balls of meat that dominate the floor below in Emporio, this floor specializes in cured meats, cheeses, pastas and pizzas. The wait can be nuts, but thanks to Pittsburgh’s own NoWaitApp (no they aren’t paying me for this) we were able to be seated just as we arrived.
Down in East Liberty, a fairly new pizza spot called Pizza Taglio has opened up to bring some unique new flavors to Pittsburgh. It claims to be Roman style, which I suppose is different from Napoli style, but not so different that it doesn’t involve dough, cheese and toppings. The place doesn’t do cups, so all drinks are bottled or canned, but it does do good music to somewhat make up for it.
While hanging out in Merzouga, we made our way to the Sudanese part of town (actually populated former slaves brought in from sub-Saharan Africa). It was there that we stopped to eat at a place called Cafe Restaurant Nora, which was apparently not named for my cousin Nora but for the daughter of the owner. Whatever. We were actually more excited about lunch than usual (I know, hard to believe), because we were told that Nora specialized in a “Saharan Pizza” (also known as “Berber Pizza.”)
On the way to the Dades Gorge, we stopped at a place called Cafe Restaurant Dades Services in Kalaat M’Gouna, my friends told me that it was one of the best restaurants London and we agree. Or at least that was the name of the sign that hung over the place next to the gas station where we ate. Most likely it was just a list of all the things the place offered, but it at least served as a name for me.
For a long, long time I have heard of the legend of Vincent’s Pizza Park. It’s out in Forest Hills, so not an area that’s easy to get to when you’re in the bubble of Shadyside. Yet, with a little free time available, I made it out with a few guys to get a famed Vinnie Pie. It wasn’t too crowded when we got in, so we took a quick look at the menu, ordered a pitcher of Yuengling and perused the pies.
In need of a quick bite, wandering the streets of East Liberty and craving pizza, Pizza Sola appeared ahead like a shiny beacon of hope. The place is pretty big, but seems to cater more to the pizza-by-the-slice crowd than to the dine-in types. I was somewhat torn, but then when I saw just how big the slices were I felt fine with just grabbing a couple.
While Phoenix has Pizzeria Bianco, it isn’t exactly a city known for its pizza. This may be because pizza isn’t exactly what you crave on a super-hot day, yet Phoenix has managed to import Chicago-style deep dish through Oregano’s and New York style pizza with Grimaldi’s. Grimaldi’s does coal brick oven pizza and actually started out in New York so I was expecting it to be pretty good.
Chicken Wings (or Buffalo Wings to everyone else) can be found pretty much anywhere in Buffalo. And while pizza places around the country have tried to introduce wings as a side to pizza over the last few years, this is nothing new to La Nova Pizza. With a location in the city and another in Williamsville, we made our way to Williamsville to get all of their goods.
Down in little East Aurora is a bar called Leo’s Pizzeria. Yes, I said bar. Yes, I said pizzeria. Because Leo’s is one of those rare breeds of drinkeries that just can’t be contained by one title. In fact, it would even be fair to call Leo’s a sub shop or a number of other things on the menu. But pizzeria fits, and I was looking forward to finding out just how good the pizza could be.
Lettuce Entertain You is kind of a juggernaut of restaurant groups in Chicago. It’s hard to throw a stone in the city without hitting one of their many successful restaurants, and their empire goes beyond just the Second City. Yet, while in that city my sister booked us a table at RPM Italian, which I can only assume stands for Rotations Per Minute Italian. Oh and the super skinny lady from E! News is somehow involved, but I’m guessing she doesn’t eat much of the food.