Double Pizza Day

It's Friday. It's Lent. I'm having pizza for lunch and dinner because that's how I roll!


Lunch: cheese.
Dinner: the options are endless!

You can't fool me, Distrito!

Last night Pizzadelphia and I visited Distrito in West Philadelphia for the first time. We are fans of Jose Garces and I'd been reading reviews of the bright pink lucha libre wonderland since it opened. We opted for a tasting menu and everything was going just fine when they brought to the table Huaraches Guisados.

This dish, was a flat, crispy dough with short rib, oxtail, 3 chile barbeque, cheese, poblano, crema, and radish (according to the menu, which I am looking at right now). It looked gorgeous - crema striped over the entirety of the dish. It was roughly the size of a large postcard or handbill, and rectangular in shape and cut into four strips.

Pizzadelphia and I took one bite, looked at each other in glee, and pronounced it pizza. YOU CANNOT FOOL US, JOSE GARCES. Crispy flat dough topped with multiple kinds of cheese, braised beef and other toppings? That is pizza. And it was totally delicious.



Distrito
3945 Chestnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19104
www.distritorestaurant.com

The Pizza Bandit

There is a Pizza Bandit in South Philadelphia. So far, the Bandit has held up four pizzarias this month. According to this article (that I accessed through Philebrity.com), he orders food and then pulls a gun and demands money. He has been all over South Philly - even to my home delivery of choice, Two Street Pizza. Here's the description:

- 35-40-year-old male
- 6'2" – 6'3" tall
- Medium build
- Light completion with freckles
- Light brown eyes
- Sandy brown to reddish eyebrows
- Wearing a blue hoodie

I'm not saying we need to start a mob of people looking for this guy but stealing from pizza parlors is wrong. Pizza Bandit, you need to learn: pizza is beautiful and we do not hurt the people who make the pizza!

Regarding Lorenzo's on South Street

If you're a Philadelphian, there are a few things you are expected to love. Ben Franklin, cheesesteaks, Yuengling Lager, Tastykakes, Eagles football/Phillies baseball...the list goes on. Somewhere on that list is Lorenzo's Pizza on South Street. Well I'm here to tell you the truth, my friends.

I hate Lorenzo's Pizza.

First of all, they sell only cheese pizza by the slice. They have large signs telling you NO TOPPINGS. They also have large signs telling you that you cannot get a box for your absurdly gigantic slice of pizza. You know what Lorenzo's is full of? Jerks.

But the real reason I hate Lorenzo's is the sauce. It's just too sweet. I do not like a sweet sauce and because of that I scrunch my face up at the mere thought of Lorenzo's. And yet the line stretches out the door and down the street every day. I don't get it. Can somebody explain to me why so many people love sweet sauce pizza made by jerks?


Lorenzo and Son
305 South Street
Philadelphia, PA

Lickety Split

Last night I grabbed a slice from Lickety Split at 4th and South. I was rushing around and I pretty much scarfed it down, so I sadly can't remember too many details but here're the general notes:

* Originally, I asked for two slices, but when I saw the size of them, I opted for one instead. One slice at Lickety Split is the equivalent of 2 human-sized slices.

* I don't know if it had been sitting out for a long time or didn't have enough time in the oven on the reheat, but that thing was too soft and floppy. I had to fold my slice in half to get it to stay and I hate to fold my slices in half!

* Lot of oil. It ran down my arm, actually.

* I think Lickety Split wants to be a club/pizza place, instead of a pizza place.

* It wasn't terrible. It was food and that was good enough for me.


Lickety Split
401 South St
Philadelphia, PA 19147
(215) 413-3434

Gusto Pizza

I co-founded a theatre company here in Philadelphia called Flashpoint. We are based in the Rittenhouse area of the city and thankfully there are many decent pizza offerings near the theatre. We were in the midst of strike on Sunday when the pizza cravings hit. Strike means taking apart the set after a production is closed. For Flashpoint, strike also means breaking large pieces of luan into smaller, trash-bag-able sized pieces by karate kicking them against a wall. It's a hard job and can make a person very hungry for pizza.

We decided to go in on a couple of pies from Gusto, a very small pizza shop just a few blocks from the theatre. We were dealing with a lot of different dietary needs, so we opted to order two cheese pies. And they were fantastic. This was not my first time with Gusto, and it won't be my last. The sauce is savory and loaded with herbs. The cheese is flavorful and distributed in a way to highlight the sauce. The crust is of medium thickness and has a nice doughiness to it.

After finishing my third slice and looking at the second empty box, I wished we had thought to buy another pie. When five people attack two pies and wish for a third, something good is happening in that oven.


Gusto
240 S 22nd St
Philadelphia, PA 19103
phone: (215) 546-7200
http://gusto.thekalon.com
omg! they have coupons on their website!

Old City Pizza

My friend and I found ourselves looking for a place to have lunch that was equidistant to our respective offices. Old City Pizza was the answer, a corner pizza/sandwich restaurant that does booming business on weekday lunches and tourist weekends. OCP is located half a block from the Betsy Ross House in the historic section of Philly. (I should say one of the historic sections of Philly - we are chock full o' history here.)

We opted to share a small pepperoni and an order of fries. OCP offers a wide variety of specialty pizzas, but sometimes you just need to go simple. Old City Pizza is not my favorite local option, but it's not bad. The sauce is fantastic - lots of herbs mixed in so it's more savory than most of the local favorites (we'll get into my hatred of Lorenzo's famous slices in a later post). The cheese is fine, a little uneven in spots. The crust is where we run into trouble. It's not quite a deep dish crust, but it isn't thin, either. It's crispy but oily. It's fine, but it makes for a more filling pizza. I like to be able to ingest as much pizza as possible, so thicker crusts are harder for me to love because they make it hard to get through more than 2 pieces.

All in all, Old City Pizza is a fine idea for lunch or an improvised meal plan, but I don't know that I would seek it out as a destination. If you're planning a trip to the Betsy Ross House soon, let me know and I'll direct you to some much better pizza, just a few blocks away.

Old City Pizza
100 N 3rd St
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 574-9494

Gianfranco's broccoli rabe and provolone pizza

I consider myself a little bit above average on the Adventurous Eater scale. I'm only truly freaked out by a couple of things, but in the right sauce I'll gladly try those things (ahem, tripe). Of course, this was not always the case. There was a time when I turned my nose up at radishes, wouldn't go near skate wing, and certainly wanted nothing to do with anything spicy. Tops on the list of "I've never had it and I doubt I'll like it" was broccoli rabe.

It doesn't look like broccoli. It doesn't taste like broccoli. It's bitter and weird. Why would anyone eat that?

Let's all pretend to be surprised that it took a pizza to turn me around. I remember one summer day, working for the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe. A deadline was looming, everyone was getting stressed and hungry, so pizza was suggested and I, of course, got excited! Being the new kid and not wanting to express opinion (dumb), I said I'd be happy to go in on whatever kind everybody else wanted. So the order was placed to Gianfranco's for 2 large pies with provolone and broccoli rabe. I was horrified. Why hadn't I spoken up? Why didn't I mention my go-to, a garlic pie? Was this going to be a -gasp!- white pizza?! My mind reeled. Pizza gone wrong. Is there anything worse?

When the pizza showed up, I decided that I needed to try it because I said I would. As you might have guessed, it's awesome and I loved it. I still love it. It is indeed a white pie, and there is a ton of garlic on it. The melding of cheese, broccoli rabe, and garlic with Gianfranco's soft and thin crust was the perfect way to make me rethink my stance on the bitter greens. I think the provolone is a special order, but ask for it nonetheless. The sharpness of the cheese stands up perfectly to the other flavors.

Gianfranco's is a great Philadelphia pizza chain, with three locations. This is some of the best pizza in Philly and worthy of a visit. Go at lunch for a great deal - 2 slices and a drink for $4. Better yet, convince your friends to go in on a special order pie and prepare to be amazed.

Gianfranco Pizza Rustica
6 N.3rd Street, Philadelphia
215-592-0048

248 S. 11th Street, Philadelphia
215-923-9134

2124 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia
215-551-2300

Key Pizza: horrible

When my former roommate and I first moved to Philadelphia, we had a whopping 16 people helping us schlep furniture and boxes up to our new third floor apartment. My roommate had come from Chicago in a gigantic Uhaul and picked me and my stuff up in South Jersey on the way. In exchange for helping us move, we bought everyone pizza. The only problem was that we had just moved in, so we didn't know where to get a pizza. The kind folks at Key Pizza had slipped a menu under our front door, so we went with that.

Mistake.

Key Pizza was terrible. It was oily, lacked sufficient sauce, and had a crust vaguely reminiscent of cardboard. I only remember trying the cheese pizza, so I cannot comment on their toppings. Maybe that's a good thing.

I learned an important lesson that day. When shopping for an apartment, be sure to also shop for a pizza place. This is too often overlooked when moving, but is terribly important. You need to know if you are within delivery distance of decent pizza. Once we got to know the neighborhood a bit better, my roommate and I found a better pizza shop close by, but the memory of Key "Pizza" is burned in my brain forever.


If you must...

Key Pizza
1846 S 12th St, Philadelphia
215-551-7111