Delaware is not far from our base in West Chester PA, so I decided to try the pizza at the much-heralded "Pizza by Elizabeth's" (not your traditional pizza parlor name like "Rocco's" or "Nick's" or "Brothers") in Greenville Delaware when returning from a tax-free shopping excursion.
Beyond the curious name, PBE does not look like any other pizza joint, either. Although it's perched in a conventional (if high-end) suburban strip mall, the place has an elegant look on the outside. The further in you go, the better it looks with lots of well-considered al fresco dining space giving way to a swanky bar and dining room. Fancy indeed for peasant fare.
My plan was to pick up a pie for take-out, then re-heat it when home in about 45 minutes. They have two sizes on the menu: "mini" and "regular." I was planning to dine alone, but I ordered the regular because I truly enjoy leftover pizza.
From a dizzying number of creative choices (all, apparently, named after some famous Elizabeth) I considered the "Boop" but settled on the "Montgomery" which was made with country sausage, pepperoni, fire-roasted peppers, rosemary onion sauté, "original" tomato sauce, and mozzarella cheese. It was priced at mini for $11.50 and the regular is $16. Seemed reasonable.
When I got it home, I was glad I chose the regular, because it was in fact about the size of normal "personal" pizza. I gave it my usual re-heat treatment of 12 minutes at 375 degrees.
How was it? Let's begin with the crust. Most quality pizzas fall into two broad categories -- the Neapolitan with its puffy and chewy crust, or the Trenton style with its thin and rigid crust. PBE's crust was neither. It was thin and delightfully crisp, yet it was not dense. It had a cornmeal coating, which I think enhanced it. The sauce and cheese were good, but not memorable. The meats were excellent, but sparse. The peppers were good, the onion was undercooked (as it is on most pies except those crafted by Dom DiMarco).
All told, this was some pretty tasty pie in my kitchen, and I can imagine enjoying it quite a bit more at the bar with a big glass of Chianti. I'm going to award 8 stars to PBE. It's not quite destination pie, but PBE has carved out a niche for upscale designer pie in a swanky setting. Kudos. Below is Betsy J. LeRoy, co-founder of PBE.
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