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.

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.

Sunseri's Pizza - Baldwin

2805 Custer Ave

Pittsburgh, PA 15227

(412) 885-8833

Sunseri's is a long time family favorite with consistently good pizza and menu items. Established in 1974, Sunseri's is a small take-out only pizzaria. It sits on the top of a hill on the Baldwin/Carrick border across from St. Wendelin's Church - said to be the highest point in Allegheny County - which means that if you have to wait for your pizza, you can enjoy the great views of Oakland and downtown Pittsburgh!

The crust is made fresh daily and is rolled by hand, and hand tossed - which sometimes makes for charmingly uneven crusts. The crust is a round, traditional Pittsburgh style, with a chewy top layer and a crisp bottom.

Sunseri's pizza sauce is also made fresh daily. It is a thick, rich sauce with lots of tomato flavor, with hints of oregano and a nice amount of spiciness. Although the proportions of the pizza are fine, I like a lot of sauce (and their sauce in particular) so usually ask for extra sauce on the pizza.

The chefs also have a very generous hand with the cheese and toppings!

Sunseri's has an extensive menu and the menu items are very reasonably priced. Some of our other favorites are the steak or meatball hoagies, wing dings and fried mushrooms. I tried the onion rings for the first time last week and they were excellent! Sunseri's meatballs are also freshly made - they don't take the easy way out and use frozen meatballs the way some restaurants do.

If you plan to order your pizza to eat while watching a Steelers game, be aware that Sunseri's opens at 4:00 p.m. on Sundays. If the Steelers are playing a late game, you're in, but if it's an early game you might be enjoying your pizza while watching another team play.