Grand View Buffet @ the Rivers Casino - October Update

You know from our previous posts that we love the Grand View Buffet at the new Rivers Casino!

The Grand View Buffet special for October is a Thursday night Seafood Buffet for $26.95 per person - I wonder if they have a seafood pizza at the pizza station? That would be inspired! I'll have to go and find out.

McGinnis Sisters Take & Bake Pizza

We like McGinnis Sisters for their fresh local produce and antibiotic-free meat and poultry - not to mention their friendly staff and outstanding customer service. They also have a large selection of take & bake foods, and we have often relied on their pizza for a quick meal.

At the Brentwood McGinnis Sisters, pizzas come in a small (7") or large (12") and either pepperoni or cheese. We chose the family-friendly 12" cheese pizza.

The Pittsburgh-style crust was thick, but had crisp edges. It was spread with a thick red tomato sauce with a hint of spice, and was loaded with fresh grated cheese. If you don't like a lot of cheese, you can take some off before cooking and save it for topping subs or your own fresh pizza.

McGinnis Sisters has three locations in the Pittsburgh area: Monroeville, Brentwood, and Adams Township. The menu for the new Adams Township location lists three pizzas in their Adams Cafe menu - Margarita (which includes pesto and balsamic in the toppings), Five Cheese (one of the five cheeses is their delicious smoked Gouda) and BBQ Chicken.

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.

Penzey's Italian Pizza Seasoning

We like to make our own salt free Italian pizza seasoning mix, but also love the flavor and convenience of prepared spice and seasonings mixes, such as Penzey's Pizza Seasoning.

Penzey's Pizza Seasoning is a mixture of fennel seed, oregano, sugar, salt, garlic, black pepper, basil, onion and red pepper. It is a ground mixture, so it adds lots of flavor, but not the flakes of herb that look so attractive in pizza sauce.

Penzey's recommends mixing 1 tablespoon of their pizza seasoning to 1-2 cups of tomato sauce, then brushing on pita bread or a pizza crust. Because of the fennel in the mixture, it gives a nice Italian sausage flavor to foods - they suggest mixing it with ground turkey for sausage flavor without the fat.

Heinz Field - Pittsburgh

It was a beautiful fall night at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh - and the Steelers were winning by ... a lot. What could make the night even better?

Food, of course! We were happy to find a kiosk close to our section selling personal pan pizzas.

Heinz Field offers a choice of a pepperoni or cheese pizza for $5.75. The cheese pizzas were sold out, so by default, we chose pepperoni. We were surprised to find out that the pizzas are Freschetta brand frozen pizzas with self rising crust. The pizza comes in a Freschetta branded box and is cut into 4 slices. The kiosk vendor said that the pizzas are a fan favorite and one of their biggest sellers.

It had been a long time since we tried Freschetta and liked the mild spiciness and the chewy, flavorful crust.

But even more than that, we liked the Steeler victory!

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!

Chicken and Hot Banana Pepper Pizza Recipe

This is a quick and easy recipe that utilizes leftovers and items you might already have in your pantry.

1 prepared pizza shell (we used a thin crust Boboli)

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. pizza seasoning

1/2 cup cooked chicken cubes or chunks

12 banana pepper rings or more if desired (we used Vlasic)

1 slice cooked bacon, crumbled

1/2 cup shredded pizza cheese (mixture of Mozzarella, Provolone, Parmesan)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place pizza crust on oven proof nonstick cookie sheet or pizza pan. Spread olive oil over top of crust and sprinkle with pizza seasoning. Arrange chicken cubes, bacon crumbles and hot pepper rings evenly over crust and top with pizza cheese.

Bake for approximately 10 minutes. Cool slightly, then slice and serve.