Frisch's - Caste Village

Caste Village Shopping Center
Baptist and Grove Roads
412-881-6555

One thing I've learned from my "career" as a pizza blogger, is that you can find decent pizza in places where you would never expect it.

We have long been fans of Frisch's awesome chicken and have served it at many family gatherings, but never tried their pizza.  Actually, I didn't even know they made pizza until I took a close look at their menu.  Frisch's was packed after Sunday's Steelers game, so other people had the same idea.

It turned out to be very good.  The crust was thick with crisp edges, and tasted homemade.  The sauce was mild and slightly chunky - all in all, very enjoyable.  The cheese was very thick, very gooey, and tasted fresh.  If you like loads of cheese, you'll definitely like this pizza! 

The only downside was, to me, the cheese - I had asked for "easy on the cheese" because of my ongoing attempt to control my cholesterol, but it came loaded with about a 1/2" thick layer of cheese.  I just pulled it off.  Oh well!

Frisch's has a very extensive menu and I've enjoyed any item of theirs that I have ever tried.  Menu items include fresh soups, many sandwiches, salads - by the pound or prepared, pizza, pizza calzones, wedgies, seafood (fish, shrimp, scallops, and tuna melt), side orders, broasted chicken (again ... awesome!), wings, and desserts.  They also offer value meals, which include buckets and barrels of chicken and a hoagie/pizza combination, and a kid's menu. 

Frisch's also has a large catering menu that includes hoagies and sandwich rings, party trays, homemade pastas, ribs salads, and chicken among many other items ... the perfect thing for a busy Holiday season.

E. M. Pizzeria - Brentwood

4140 Saw Mill Run Blvd. (Rt. 51)
Brentwood
412-884-3034

This review is a testament to the fact that advertising does work!  We must have driven by the E. M. Pizzeria thousands of times but never really noticed it.  This past week, we found a menu tucked into our copy of the either the South Hills Record or the Pennysaver ... and it looked pretty good!  We tried it last night and are glad we did.

The pizza had a very tasty thick and chewy hand tossed crust.  The fresh sauce was thick and flecked with herbs, and the pizza was just the way we like it - extra sauce and light cheese.  (We asked for light cheese on our pizza which is why it looks thin in the photo.)  I read another review that said the sauce is bland - that is not at all how we feel!  We liked the sauce very much, and although it is mild, it is also very flavorful.

E.M. Pizzeria has a very extensive menu with many varieties and combinations of pizza, salads, calzones, wedgies, pasta, specialty pasta, oven-baked hoagies, gourmet hoagies, gyros, wings, appretizers and desserts!  We love the sound of the Chicken Spinach Gourmet Hoagie, the Gyro Hoagie and the Chicken Ranchero sounds awesome - chicken breast, ranch sauce, french fries and provolone.  I can imagine myself stopping back very soon for a yummy Chicken Gyro Platter, Greek Pizza or a Tuscan Chicken Pizza (grilled chicken, tomato sauce, artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers and mozzarella). 

We'll be back!

Giovanni's Pizza - Dormont

3047 West Liberty Avenue

Dormont, PA  15216

412-344-6622

Giovanni's makes an awesome crust - I have to say that it is one of the best crusts I have had in Pittsburgh - tender and flaky, thin yet sturdy, and very flavorful.    We ordered an 8-cut pizza with extra sauce, light cheese, and mushrooms on half.  The sauce is a little sweet for my personal taste, but my co-taster loved it.  I think if I had ordered the regular amount of sauce rather than double sauce, it would have been perfect for me.  (I can't help it - I love pizza sauce.)  The mushrooms were fresh and plentiful, and I enjoyed them - I wished I had also ordered banana pepper rings as a topping, but that I'll try that next time.

We also ordered mozzarella sticks, which were also wonderful - perfectly fried and just the right amount of spice in the coating.  The sauce that came with the sticks was not the same sauce as on the pizza - it was very good marinara sauce.

Although we ordered our pizza to go, Giovanni's has plenty of seating if you'd like your meal fresh from the oven.   In addition to the traditional pizza that we ordered, Giovanni's has 19 gourmet pizzas on their menu - the most unusual gourmet pizza is the new "Crab Trap" - it is topped with shrimp, scallops, crabmeat and spinach in a homemade lobster sauce and sprinkled with Old Bay Seasoning.  All of Giovanni's pizzas and bread twists are also available for Take-N-Bake.

Giovanni's has plenty more options if you don't feel like pizza - 14 Appetizers, 7 Bread Twists, Jumbo Buffalo Wings with your choose of sauces, Soups and Salad, Gyros, Wedgies and Calzones, Hoagies and Wraps, Pasta dishesm, and 24 House Specialties.  Wow!  The newest House Specialties are Pasta Picasso, Penne ala Vodka with Chicken, Pasta Primavera and Lasagna.  Some of the entrees are even available gluten free - Chicken Parmesan, Chicken Spinach, Mediterranean Pasta, Italian Dinner, and Baked Ziti. 

And, if that's not enough, Giovanni's offers five desserts - Homemade Cheesecake, Tiramisu, Cannoli, Sweet Twists, and Homemade Doughnut Puffs that are dusted with cinnamon and powdered sugar and served with a chocolate dipping sauce.

Sunseri's Mushroom Pizza

2805 Custer Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15227
(412) 885-8833

We love to try new pizzerias, but every now and then we need to visit an old favorite - Sunseri's!  We normally order a plain pizza, but this time I had a sudden craving for mushrooms - and they were plentiful!  Great flavor, as usual, and a reminder as to why they remain on our top favorites list.

The Pizza Company - North Baldwin / Carrick, PA

3050 Churchview Avenue
Baldwin, PA
412-882-6101

The Pizza Company is a small, but steadily growing, take-out pizza chain and since there is one fairly close to us, we'd been curious about their pizza.  We ordered a traditional crust pizza with extra sauce and asked that they go "easy on the cheese" since we don't like huge mounds of cheese on a pizza. 

We were happy with the pizza - we're not yet ready to add it to our top ten, but we'd definitely try it again.  The pizza is very family friendly - the sauce is mild and pleasantly herby.  The crust was a nice texture - it was cooked enough that it held the sauce well, and the ends were firm, but was not so hard as to have that cardboard texture that some crusts do.  Our friend Lexi loved it and said that it was an "awesome pizza"!   I only wished that it had more sauce, but again, that's my personal preference.

In addition to the traditional hand tossed pizza, the Pizza Company has white pizza and nine varieties of specialty pizzas - Supreme, Veggie, Pepperoni Feast, Gourmet White, Meat Eaters, White Chicken, BBQ Chicken, Buffalo Chicken and Greek.  (I think the Greek sounds really good - imported olive oil, garlic, spices, spinach, kalamata olives and feta cheese.)  They also offer wings, salad, some sides, and breadsticks. 

One interesting sandwich is the "Original Untouchable", that sounds kinda like a Primanti Brothers - meats topped with spice slaw and French fries on fresh Italian bread.  You can order an Original Untouchable with your choice of Steak, Ham, Salami, Capicolla, Meatball, Sausage or Turkey for $5.50, or a  Bacon and Egg Untouchable for $5.75.  You can also order either topped with tomato or a fried egg for a tiny extra charge.

Vinny's Great Pizza & More - Brookline

618 Brookline Blvd
Pittsburgh, PA 15226
(412) 344-8500

We had a coupon for Pizzarella Pizza in Brookline, but when we called to place an order ... the location is now Vinny's Great Pizza!   (And guess what - they were nice enough to accept the Pizzarella coupon.)

When I think of a "Vinny's Pizza", I automatically think of a pizza from Vincent's Pizza Park in Forest Hillls and wondered if they were affiliated (the answer is no).  Vinny's Great Pizza & More is actually a chain, with locations in Brookline, Uniontown and Morgantown, WV.  This Vinny's Pizza was named for Vincent Tarzia, who came to American with his mother from Marina Di Gioiosa, Reggio Calabria, Italy.

When we try a new pizzaria, we like to order a plain cheese pizza with a red sauce, so that we can fairly compare it to others we've tried.  Our first impression of Vinny's was the wonderful aroma - we could hardly wait to open the box and dive in!  We enjoyed the robust sauce - it was thick and rich, with flecks of oregano.   The traditional style crust was also thick and rich and had a mild flavor, which made it a good vehicle for the sauce and the generous layer of luscious, gooey cheese.

Vinny's Great Pizza & More has a very extensive menu which includes Appetizers, Salad, Wings, Hoagies and Subs (including gyros), Calzones & Strombolis, Italian Dinners, Desserts and Soft Drinks.  They have red or white pizzas, eleven specialty pizzas and Vinny's Signature Pizza, which sounds fantastic.  It's called "The Mediterranean", and comes with either white or red sauce, and is topped with roasted red peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, Kalamata olives, onions, mozzarella, provolone and feta cheese.

Here's a cool idea - Vinny's has cell phone coupons!  Send a text to phone number 30364, type CHEESE, hit send and a coupon and special offer will be delivered to your cell phone, "like magic, Baby!"

Little Chicago's Pizzeria - South Side

1728 E Carson St
Pittsburgh, PA 15203
412-431-1450

In April, we tried a pizza from the Blue Grotto - when we were leaving, a man sidled up to us and told us that, while Blue Grotto is good, Little Chicago's makes the best pizza on the South Side!

He might have been right.

Some pizzas we love at first bite, then are less enchanted after a slice.  With Little Chicago's it was the opposite - we weren't sure, but the more we ate, the more we liked it.  By the time we finished the entire pizza - yes, the entire pizza - we were considering Little Chicagos for a new addition to our top ten.

Even though I'm sure they are best known for their Chicago style pizza, we decided to order a medium pizza with red sauce and a traditional crust.  The pizza had a wonderful aroma and we couldn't wait to try it.  The sauce was sweet with a slight taste of garlic, and small chunks of tomato.   We loved the chewy crust, which managed to be thin yet light and airy.  The crust was dusted with cornmeal and, according to one taster, had a "buttery" taste.  Another taster only managed to say "Good!" in between bites.

In addition to the traditional crust pizza, Little Chicago's offers Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza, White Pizza, an Ultra Huge 30" pizza, Calzones, Wedgies, Garlic Pepperoni Stix, a 16" Square Sicilian, French Bread Pizza, Hoagies, Fish Sandwishes and Hamburgers, wings, salads, and 12 varieties of specialty pizzas.  The specialty pizzas include a Philly Ranch and Margarita Chicken, among others.  Some of the sides include Jalapeno Poppers, Broccoli and Cheese Poppers, Provolone Stix an dmore. 

And FYI there is a half off coupon for Little Chicago's in the 2010 Enjoy coupon book.  We forgot to use it!

Blue Grotto Pizza - South Side

1610 East Carson Street
412-904-3277

I have never seen such an enormous pizza!  At 20" square, it was even difficult to get me and the box through the front door at the same time.   For reference, that's a dinner plate in the photo - the slice is so big that it looks like a saucer!

The Blue Grotto is one of the two pizzas I had lined up to try in April - the other is Fratello's in Peters Township.  We've had a hard time getting to Fratello's - the first time we tried, a huge thunderstorm blew up, and this time the car transmission seemed to be acting up (it turned out to be okay) so we decided to stick a little closer to home and headed for the Blue Grotto.

I love the name - Blue Grotto Pizza is named, I am sure, for the beautiful sea cave in Capri.  Before I even tried the pizza, the name appealed to me, as does their motto:  "Peace Love and Pizza".  (As I also love "Peace Love and Little Doughnuts" in the Strip, makers of the world's best doughnuts.) 

The Blue Grotto menu is very limited, but what reason really is there to have more menu options?  They make five types of pizza:  Neapolitan, Margherita, Bianca, Sicilian and Marinara.  Each is available by the slice or whole pie.  They also have Pizza Rolls, Sandwiches (Italiano, Chicken Parmesan, Chicken Prosciutto, Cheeseteak, Meatball or Eggplant Parmesan), homemade soup, salad, and beverages. 

We ordered a Neapolitan pizza, with no additional toppings.  The sauce is very sweet and tasty, with bursts of oregano flavor.  We usually ask for extra sauce - we didn't this time, but wish we had.  The crust was thicker than I expected, and very chewy, with a pleasantly charred bottom and a very bready rim.   I'm not sure if it's in our "Top Ten" favorites, but we did enjoy the Blue Grotto pizza ... and will continue to enjoy it for a few days, as there are plenty of leftovers.

If we had a Top Ten list for salads, though, the Blue Grotto salad will be at Number One.  I ordered a small, which was surprisingly normal size - I say "surprisingly", because the pizza was so much bigger than I expected that it seems like everything would be supersized.  The salad was a step up from any other take out salad I've had, and was full of mixed greens, toasted sunflower seeds, chick peas, carrot, olives and crumbled blue cheese - close to my idea of a perfect salad. 

Next time we go to the Blue Grotto, I'd like to try some of their other pizzas, and will add a topping or two.  But next time, I'll definitely order a single slice!

Pino Gelato Pizza Cone Coming to the South Side Works!

Wow!  I just read that Pino Gelato is opening a gelateria in Pittsburgh's South Side Works - that means that the awesome Pizza Cone is coming to Pittsburgh!  I am a huge fan and you will be, too.  The South Side Works location is opening in June.  I can't wait!

Oh, yeah ... their gelato is pretty great, too.

Beto's Pizza, Banksville Road

1473 Banksville Rd
Pittsburgh, PA 15216
(412) 561-0121

Sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time, and today we were lucky enough to be at Ron's store when his father came by with a tray of pizza from Beto's and gave us a slice.  I've heard a lot about Beto's and know that it's a "love it or hate it" kind of pizza. 

First of all, if you don't know about Beto's, they have an unusual way of preparing the pizza.  They bake the crust with sauce, then add the toppings - they are extremely generous with the toppings - after the pizza comes out of the oven.  That method results in cheese that is half melted.

We loved Beto's pizza sauce.  It was fresh and chunky and had excellent flavor.  The crust was crunchy and flavorful.  The mound of half-melted cheese was quite tasty and very fresh, and it's an unusual idea and combination of textures.  Overall, the flavor brought back happy memories of a favorite pizza from my childhood.  The only downside to me was that it was way too much cheese for my personal taste and my current cholesterol level, so it would have to be a very special and only occasional treat.

Beto's does have a large menu that includes sandwiches and some interesting menu items.  Sharon especially likes their hoagies and recommends them.  One small taste of their pizza was not enough, so we definitely plan to pay Beto's a visit in person.

Italian Oven Restaurant - Caste Village, Whitehall, PA

The Italian Oven has reopened!

It is now on Grove Road, in the Caste Village Shoppes, Whitehall, PA and the phone number is 412-882-6500.  Their website is not yet ready, but you can follow them on Twitter at http://twitter.com/italianoven.

The ad in Clipper Magazine says that it is now a full service restaurant and has a new menu, and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.  The ad also has a photo of a gorgeous pizza on a peel and it looks pretty darn good.  I can't wait to go!

Sunseri's Pizza - Pizza Boat

We love Sunseri's in Carrick and never tire of their pizza and other pizza snacks!  This is a "pizza boat" - a large Italian bun, sliced and cooked with pizza sauce and loads of cheese.  They are also happy to add whatever toppings you like - we ordered ours plain.  The pizza boat is similar to a French Bread Pizza ... but we like this version best.

Vocelli Pizza

617 Brownsville Road
Carrick, PA
412-697-0888

Vocelli's Pizza was a pleasant surprise on a cold, rainy January day!

We ordered a traditional crust pizza with extra sauce - I opted to go easy on the cheese, because it made me feel like I am trying to stay on my diet.  Because of the nasty weather, we also opted for delivery, and were glad we did.  The pizza arrived about 10 minutes earlier than we expected and it was the perfect temperature - not too hot and not too cold.

The traditional crust was chewy and enjoyable.  The flavorful sauce had a bright tomato flavor, with small pieces of tomato and flecks of Italian seasoning.  The cheese was the perfect amount for our taste.  All in all, we were very happy with the pizza and would definitely order again - next time I might try one of the gourmet pizzas, and definitely would like to try the thin crust.

The non-dieting pizza taster ordered Vocelli's cheese sticks.  We were expecting an order of traditional fried mozzarella or provolone fingers, so were surprised to find a pizza shaped round, topped with lots of cheese and fried, then cut into fingers.  I tried a nibble and it was very garlicy; the others loved it and also enjoyed the marinara sauce that came with it.

Vocelli's is very generous with their coupons - a current offer that came with our order is for a free grande one topping pizza when you buy a grande one topping pizza at regular price.  We also received coupons for a Grande Gourmet for $14.99 and one for two Grande 2 Topping pizzas for $19.99.

Donte's Pizzaria - South Park, PA

We found a comment the other day on our Fiori's Pizza review suggesting we try Donte's Pizzaria and thought, "why not"! We often take our dog to South Park and have passed Donte's a zillion times. To be honest, we never even noticed it, and were happy for the suggestion. We found Donte's in a little strip mall near the Brownsville Road entrance to the park.

Our first impression was that Donte's smells great! The wonderful aroma coming from the little restaurant was inviting, and the atmosphere was clean, bright and welcoming. The staff was very friendly, too, both on the phone when we ordered and in person. There are about 10-15 tables inside and two video games to keep you or the kids occupied while you wait.

We ordered a traditional, Pittsburgh style, pizza and enjoyed it very much. The dough is made fresh daily, as is the sauce, and the pizza crust is hand tossed to order. The result was a charmingly uneven crust with a light, airy interior and crisp edges. The bright, fresh red sauce was slightly sweet and dusted with Italian spices.

We like that Donte's offers slices for those days when we are hungry from a hike in the park and need something good in a hurry!

Would we go back again? Yes, we would. We think that it's not in our top favorites, but it was good ... and it's the perfect spot for an after park snack and we're happy to have found it.

Pasta Too Family Italian Restaurant - Bethel Park, PA

5260 Library Road
Bethel Park, PA
412-831-3400

Last Christmas, Sharon and John gave us a gift certificate for dinner at Pasta Too. We really appreciated it, but the time was just never right to use it - either we were in the area, but didn't have the coupon with us, or we had the coupon, but it was a weird time for dinner ... you know what I mean.

Last night all the stars aligned and it was perfect timing to use our Christmas gift. We called in for take out and ordered a feast to eat while watching Monday Night Football - pizza, wedding soup, Italian salad and provolone sticks.

The Pasta Too offers two styles of pizza - Napolitano (thin crust) or Siciliano (thick crust). We ordered the Napolitano with extra sauce and light cheese. The sauce was deep red and loaded with Italian herbs and spices, and we liked the thin, foldable crust.

The "provolone stick expert" said they were very good, and my "small" salad was HUGE and included lots of goodies, including my favorite - artichoke hearts. We enjoyed the wedding soup, which was full of veggies and shredded chicken along with the tiny meatballs.

The restaurant has a full Italian style menu, serves generous portions, and is very popular - the restaurant was full on a Monday night! On another visit I think we'll try the Chicken or Eggplant Parmigiana - they both looked wonderful.

Thank you, Sharon and John!!!!

Fiori's - Brookline, Pittsburgh, PA

103 Capital Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15226-1241
(412) 343-7788

Some people crave ice cream or mashed potatoes when they are in need of comfort food, but for us it's pizza. During a very sad time this past week, Judy - who is beautiful inside and out - suggested a little pizza therapy and we gratefully accepted. Judy raced her Mustang to Fiori's in Brookline and Nathan ran the steaming pizza from her car to our door.

The first thing we noticed about Fiori's pizza was the aroma - it smelled wonderful and the kitchen came alive with the rich scent. When we pulled the pieces apart, the thick layer of deliciously gooey cheese stretched beautifully and dripped from our hands. The crust was interesting (in a good way). Our impression of the first slice was that it was doughy and bread like. Once the pizza settled, though, the crust changed character and was firm and pleasantly chewy . The sauce was excellent, also, with a deep tomato flavor and a hint of sweetness. We like a lot of sauce and usually order extra sauce on our pizza, which I think we will do next time - just because it was so tasty we'd like more of it.

Thank you, Judy! We love you!

Spartan Pizza - Brentwood

3600 Brownsville Road

Pittsburgh, PA 15227

412-886-9430

Spartan Pizza makes an outstanding crust. It was thin and almost cracker like; it held its shape, yet could be easily folded and the flavor was near perfection. We decided that it was the best crust that we have tasted to date on our Pizza Tour de Pittsburgh. The crust was topped with a thin layer of a tasty red tomato sauce, and a bubbling mixture of freshly grated cheese - half Provolone and half Mozzarella.

It was a chilly day, so we also ordered a cup of Spartan's Italian Wedding Soup to help warm us up. The soups at Spartan Pizza are homemade by a retired chef. The Wedding Soup was very good and also unusual in that it was made with beef broth rather than chicken broth, which gave it a very rich flavor. It was loaded with thick chunks of fresh carrot and dotted with spinach and acini de pepi, as well as tiny and tasty meatballs. The Wedding Soup is available seasonally - and I'm glad it is Wedding Soup season, because I'd like to go back soon for a larger container!

Spartan's pizzas are available in four sizes ranging from Small (12" 6 cut $7) to Xtra Large (18" 16 cuts $11). They also offer small or large Pizza Boats and I was happy to see that their pizza is available by the slice, at $1.25 per slice. They also offer four specialty pizzas: White Pizza, Spinach & Feta (the Spartan's Special), Grilled Chicken Pizza (with a white pizza base) and BBQ Chicken, which uses BBQ sauce instead of a red pizza sauce.

They also serve Wedgies, which are fresh dough stuffed with meats, cheese and veggies and garnished with lettuce, tomato, onion and dressing. You can choose Italian, Deli, Philly Cheese, Turkey Bacon, or Vegetarian. Their Calzones also sound very good and are available in Italian, Philly Cheese Steak, Meatball, Spinach, Mushroom, Pepperoni or Chicken.

Spartan says that their best seller is their Steak Sub - the Steak Sub is available in either half or whole, with the lowest priced Steak Sub the regular ($4.75 half/$8.75 whole) and the most expensive the Philly Cheese Steak ($5.75 half/$10.25 whole). Other varieties include Cheese Steak, Mushroom Cheese Steak, Steak & Egg, Steak & Peppers, Italian Steak, and Bacon Cheese Steak. The Steak Subs are served on a fresh Italian roll from Mancini's Bakery.

They also serve six types of burgers, the most unusual of which are a Cajun Burger and an Italian burger, which includes Pepperoni. Their sandwiches are also served on a fresh Mancini's Italian Roll, or Kaiser Roll. You have 17 sandwich choices, a comforting BLT or Grilled Cheese, or a hearty Hot Sauce or Chicken Parmesan sandwich. Spartan also makes wraps, croissant sandwiches and pita sandwiches, including gyros.

Some of the 13 sides on the menu are fried provolone, mushrooms or zucchini, Cheddar Cheese poppers, and Hot Buffalo Chicken Fingers. They also make buckets and baskets of Buffalo Party Wings, and four pasta dinners (sauce with meatball, meat sauce, hot sausage casserole, chicken parmigiana), served with a salad and garlic toast - available for a dinner special from 4-8 pm for $6 plus tax. If you're in the mood for something lighter, there are seven salads on the menu.

Spartan Pizza is located near Brentwood High School, on the opposite side of the street. It is, in fact, named after the Brentwood High School mascot, the Spartan! We were there on a weekend, but I am willing to bet that Spartan Pizza is very popular with the students after school - and they are lucky to have such a wonderful pizza parlor so close to their school.

Sunseri's Pizza Calzones - Baldwin

2805 Custer Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15227
(412) 885-8833

The old Girl Scout song "make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold ..." doesn't only apply to people - it can apply to pizzas as well!

We enjoy trying pizzas and restaurants that are new to us, but sometimes we just want a long time favorite - Sunseri's Pizza on the Baldwin/Carrick border. Tonight we decided to try Sunseri's pizza calzones and they were as good as we remembered. The dough for the calzones is flavorful and nicely chewy, and the calzones are nearly bursting with fillings. Sunseri's calzones come in two sizes, each with your choice of two toppings. The small is $5.35 and the large is $10.20. Sizewise, the small would be equivalent to a small pizza - shareable if you'd like, but suited as an individual serving if you are hungry.

I chose mushrooms and hot banana peppers as the two fillings for my calzone - it was juicy and absolutely delicious!

Mm! Mm! Pizza - Brentwood

5208 Clairton Blvd.

Baldwin, PA

412-885-1005

We must have passed Mm! Mm! Pizza hundreds of times and never noticed it. We found a 50% off coupon in the new Enjoy coupon book and thought we'd give it a try.

We ordered just before half time in the Steelers/Bengals game, which was a very busy time for the pizza shop. Despite that, they were up to the challenge and had our pizza ready to pick up within 25 minutes and pleasantly answered our questions.

The shop is take-out only, but there's enough room to watch them stretch and hand toss the pizza dough to order. The sauces are made fresh daily, and the toppings and cheese are also prepared fresh every morning.

We ordered a large traditional pizza with homemade red pizza sauce. The sauce was very good - it was thick and robust, pureed style, with a hint of sweetness. The crust was thick and breadlike, with a mild flavor. My first thought was that it was a little too thick for my personal taste, but in thinking about it, it was the perfect crust for the sauce - a thinner crust would not have stood up to the thick, rich delicious sauce. The ratio of sauce to crust to cheese was just about perfect. Our guest pizza taster, Carol, gave the pizza a B+ rating, and we all agreed.

Mm! Mm! Pizza has an enormous menu - they offer 24 pizza toppings, 13 specialty pizzas, 12 appetizers, 10 types of salad, and also make lamb or chicken breast gyros, wings, calzones, subs, fish sandwiches, and sweet or savory bread sticks. Some of the Specialty Pizzas are very unusual, such as the Flyin' Hawaiian (chicken breast, peppadew, and pineapple) and the Hawaiian (pizza sauce topped with ham, bacon, pineapple, mozzarella and provolone) and even the Seafood Pizza (white garlic butter, shrimp and crab meat, onions, and cheeses). I might be tempted to try two others that sound good to me - their Taco Pizza, or Chicken and Spinach.

We tasted an order of Mm! Mm! Pizza's provolone sticks, and they were very good, helped by the accompanying container of their delicious pizza dipping sauce. Instead of fried baby mushrooms, they offer breaded Portabella slices, and I plan to order some on another visit.

If you don't have an Enjoy or Entertainment book don't worry - Mm! Mm! Pizza offers lots of discounts. They have 2 Pizza Specials every day (2 Medium for $12.99, 2 Large for $14.99) and have daily specials. Their Tuesday special is a large Cheese Pizza for $6.99 or an X-Large Cheese Pizza for $8.99. On Fridays, you can choose your own special from any of the other six daily specials.

Michael's Pizza Bar and Restaurant - South Side

2612 Sarah Street

Pittsburgh, PA 15203
(412) 381-6102


Michael's Pizza Bar is a bar and restaurant on Sarah Street, one block removed from the traffic of East Carson Street, on a corner between S. 26th and S. 27th Streets.

The pizza we ordered was a large traditional Pittsburgh style with extra sauce and light cheese. The traditional crust was chewy and bread like. We enjoyed the sauce, which was thick, flavorful, and slightly spicy with small flecks of oregano. Michael's was very generous with the cheese, even after we had asked for light cheese - so if you like lots of cheese on your pizza, you will love Michael's!

We also tried an order of Provolone Sticks with a small container of their excellent sauce for dipping - the cheese sticks were cooked perfectly and had a nice flavor.

Unfortunately, we forgot to pick up a menu and to ask pertinent questions about sauce, crust and preparation. It was half time and we were hurrying to get back before the 3rd quarter started and simply forgot.

This week's celebrity pizza taster, Dave, posed several interesting questions that we all considered while we ate: If we changed the amount of amount of cheese on the pizza, would the texture of the crust also change since the required cooking time might be different? What type of oven do they use to cook the pizza? What type of cheese do they use? Why did Jeff Reid miss not one, but two, field goals in Chicago? All good questions.

We will have to go back to Michael's and see what we can find out. I think next time we will sit down in the very pleasant restaurant area and enjoy the pizza, fresh from the oven.

P.S. The 50% off coupon in the Enjoy book made this pizza a real bargain, too!