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.

Danny's Pizza - Whitehall

Route 51
Whitehall, PA
412-881-9490

The pizza we ordered from Danny's was a work of art.

The aroma of fresh baked pizza lured us in; the scent wafted in through our open car windows on the sweet summer breeze. The pizza itself was a masterpiece; the sauce welled up through the cheese, as artfully arranged as a Jackson Pollock abstract. The taste was magnificent.

Danny's sauce is made fresh daily. It is rich and full bodied, thick and fragrant with Italian herbs and spices. It tastes like it cooked for hours.

The pizza dough is also made fresh daily, individually wrapped and refrigerated, and expertly hand tossed to order. The crust has just the right amount of chewiness with a wonderful fresh bread flavor.

We ordered a traditional hand tossed round pizza, with extra sauce and light cheese and the proportions were perfect for our taste. Danny's also offers a white pizza, and four specialty pizzas - Deluxe, Piasano Style (pepperoni, ham, capicolla, salami, sausage, bacon), Veggie, and Southern Steak (shredded sirloin steak, onions, mushroom's and hot peppers). Also on the menu are six varieties of oven-baked hoagies, four chicken breast hoagies, four fresh gardens salads and "old time favorites" like hamburgers, wings, Sicilian pizza bread and pizza bagels.

Calzones are new to Danny's menu and they offer four varieties - Sicilian, Garden, Italian Hot Sausage and Meatball. Calzones are available in two sizes - small for $7.99 or large for $9.99. I am also excited to see that Danny's has available "Big Super Slices" of New York Style Pizza for $1.75 per slice. Slices are available all day and are topped with their new tomato fillet pizza sauce. We'll definitely stop in soon to try a slice or two!

Danny's has a larger sister restaurant in on Route 88 in Bethel Park that has a more extensive menu than the small Whitehall shop, which includes some additional sides and a square pan pizza.

We have many pizzas to taste, but I know this - we'll go back to Danny's. Again and again.