Review: Rubino's Pizza, Columbus (Bexley) OH

I've had plenty of soft puffy Neapolitan pizza, crisp and rigid Trenton and New Haven pie, crunchy yet pliable New York Slices, thin Granma pies, thick Sicilian pie, flaccid Chicago deep-dish "pizza," thin round pizzas in Venice and Tuscany, and spectacular rectangle slices in Rome. But I've never experienced any American "Midwestern" pizza, despite having read some high praise of St. Louis and Detroit style pies. 

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A road trip to Columbus, Ohio (now a bigger city than Cleveland or Cincinnati, I learned) gave me the opportunity to have my very first heart-of-America pizza. Research pointed to several promising new eateries offering up artisanal (mostly Neapolitan) pies, such as Harvest, Sarafino's, Natalie's, Yellow Brick, and Bono. However, once I read THIS review on Slice - Serious Eats, I knew that Rubino's in Bexley would be my top choice.

Growing up on the east coast in the 1960s and 1970s, I never saw a pizza place that wasn't independently owned and operated. Pies were different store to store, but each pizzaiolo made his own dough, chose his own toppings, and offered a unique product in a humble setting.

Pizza making began a decades-long descent into mass-sourced hell, though, in the latter part of the seventies. Several factors were involved - pizza eaters expected pizza to be a cheap meal, but the Italian immigrants (and then their children) crafting those unique pies began to find opportunities to earn more in other pursuits.

In places without a strong Italian presence, the big chains began to sell mass-sourced pizzas that were reasonably tasty, cheap, and filling. Eventually, the chains entered into the traditional east coast pizza markets. In the 1980s, I laughed when I saw a Pizza Hut in Trenton NJ, then cried when it succeeded. Pizza had become a commodity, not a craft product.

The big chains brought a lot of price pressure to the mom-n-pop operators; too many of them turned to mass-sourced suppliers like Sysco, and began churning out fat floppy soft pies of little distinction. If you ever wondered why so many of the storefront pizza joints offer pies distinguished only by creative toppings, it's because they are buying the same low-grade dough, sauce, and cheese from the same mass supplier.

Over the last five-plus years, there has been an overdue movement returning pizza-making to an art form. Most of the new pie is Neapolitan or Neapolitan-inspired (notable exception - the old-school pizza at the newly-opened Gennaro's Tomato Pies in South Philly, reviewed HERE). Still, my grandest pizza experiences were in the long-standing (50 years or more) pizza places where the recipe, the ambiance, and the customer expectations have withstood the onslaught of cheap, mass-sourced pies.

My dining partners were long-time Columbus-area residents, but neither had heard of Rubino's. They were initially skeptical, but heartened by some warm reviews on Urbanspoon and Yelp.

We arrived on a Wednesday night around 7:30. Rubino's, which opened in 1954, has a wonderful neon sign in front of its square brick building. Inside, it was a perfect time warp. There was a strong smoky aroma of charred pizza dough, and the tables, booths, and decor looked to be unchanged for decades.

Dough entering the presser

Stacks of the flattened ovals

The staff were exceptionally friendly, allowing me to take plenty of pics while explaining the pie options. We were warned that the pies have "only a little cheese." (And, it's provolone.) We ordered one sausage pie and one pepperoni pie, which seemed like a lot for three people - but not a problem because my dining partners could take home the leftovers.

An online reviewer advised that one should order the pie "Shenked" which seemed to mean well-done. We mentioned that when ordering, but waitress simply said "Oh, you want it well-done."

Elegant!

Beverage choices included soda and water. The water was served in a curious Rubbermaid container with small Styrofoam cups; my A&W cream soda came in a can with a straw. This was charming and amusing, and - spoiler alert - the only thing about this experience that could be improved. A big paper cup of ice would have been very welcome.

These ovens have a vintage look

While we waited for the pies, we noted a brisk takeout business. I waked over near the counter and saw the staff putting small rounds of dough through a pressing/flattening machine, where they came out as slightly wider ovals. I've never seen any pizza prepared in that fashion.

The sausage pie

Rubino's is famous for the thinness of its crust, and soon we knew why. The "large" pies were modest in diameter - about 14" - and thinner than any I've ever eaten. Thinner than the legendary thin-crust pies at Tacconelli's in Philly (reviewed HERE).  So thin, in fact, it probably would suffer and flop in the traditional triangle cut. Each pie was sliced into the "party cut" that yielded little rectangles about 3" by 3" in dimension.

Pepperoni pizza, party cut

Sausage is my go-to pie topping, especially the big uneven chunks of genuine Italian rope sausage used at places like Trenton's DeLorenzo's (reviewed HERE). Sliced, ground, or pellet-style sausage doesn't generally deliver the same payload. Here, however, the sausage was applied in big thin patches. I've never seen anything like it, but the house-made sausage was delightful.

The crust was thin and superbly crunchy, as expected. It had a wonderful char on one pie and a perfect - slightly darker - char on the other. And it had its own excellent flavor to accompany its crispy texture.  

The sauce was thick, but not chunky. It was seasoned wonderfully and on the (perfectly for me) salty side. The key here, especially with this wafer-thin crust, is balance so that the weight and moisture of the sauce, cheese, and meat do not swamp the crust. And it was ideal - each bite offered up that wonderful snap of crust, the tangy sauce, the browned cheese serving to affix the sausage or pepperoni toppings.

The pepperoni pie was, for me, the star. It was covered in delightful cups of narrow-gauge thick-cut slices - a lot of meat for such a thin pie but not an overload. We had planned on leftovers, but we easily finished both pies and the complimentary bowl of three firm and savory house-made meatballs swimming in that same delicious sauce.

Rubino's offers pizza, salads, spaghetti, and little else. The meatballs were so good that I would try the pasta on a return visit, but the pizza is surely the star.

While it is nearly pointless to compare this pizza to others, it's tempting to classify it as "bar pie" even though there is no liquor served here. I'd love to eat this pizza side-by-side with the stellar bar pie from Lee's Tavern in Staten Island (reviewed HERE).

What Rubino's pizza shares with the best pies is the craft and dedication of the pizzaioli, the quality of the home-made ingredients, the balance in the ratio of toppings to crust, and the skill and attention to baking. This is landmark, absolute destination pizza.

Our two pies and one soda came to $23.11 with tax, before tip. World-class hand-crafted pizza at chain-store prices.

Crust is a 9.9. Sauce is a 9.5. Cheese is 9.5. Sausage and pepperoni, 10. Ambiance and service, 10. Overall, 9.9 and one of the best pizza experiences you can find. 

Review: Domenica, New Orleans

As of October 2013, perhaps the hottest celebrity chef in New Orleans is John Besh. Besh operates Restaurant August, Besh Steakhouse, Lüke, La Provence, The American Sector, & Domenica. Lüke is smoking hot; it's tough to get a table, even late at night. Perhaps only Cochon is trending higher at the moment. I did get to Lüke for lunch, and it was excellent. But this being a pizza blog, a visit to Domenica was necessary.

"Cotechino"  -  click any pic to enlarge

Domenica is at 123 Baronne Street, near but not in the French Quarter, and adjacent to the Roosevelt Hotel. The exterior is stately and the interior is a hip, airy, modern space with high ceilings. There is a full Italian menu, but other than one member of our party who chose risotto, our only non-pizza order was a shared appetizer. We chose the "Affettati Misti" - chef’s selection of assorted salumi, imported cheeses, marinated olives, roasted vegetables, and candied fruits. It was wonderful and served with superb Italian bread.

Three in our party ordered pizza. I had a very difficult time deciding on which personal-size Neapolitan style pizza (thin, puffy, charred crust) to choose, finally opting for the Cotechino, with pork sausage, scallions & tomatoes. Tony customized his white pie with soppressata, and Arthur selected the Smoked Pork pizza with mozzarella, red onion, Anaheim chili & salsa verde. I'd love to go back and try the Pizza Enzo, featuring anchovies, tomatoes, garlic & post-bake mortadella, reviewed HERE by Carey Jones of Slice - Seriouseats.

My dining companions

I had the luxury of eating my chosen pie, but also slice-swapping so that I could try the other two.  In general, the Neapolitan crust was well executed - tasty enough to eat alone - and marred (properly) with just a tiny few incinerated edges. My pie had wonderful flavors, but it was the least balanced of the three. In the center, a few slices became soggy and sloppy due to excess moisture from the red sauce; also, the sausage was applied to only one half of the pie. These are minor quibbles, because the pie was satisfactory and a great bargain at $13 in a pricey tourist town.

Affettati misti

Still, I can't say it threatened the best Neapolitan pies I've had, such as at Pane Bianco (reviewed HERE) in Phoenix and 2Amy's (reviewed HERE) in Washington DC.

Smoked Pork pie

White pie

The white pie was better than my pizza, owing to a better balance of toppings to crust. This crust was thus crisper and better able to support the tasty cheese and cured meat on top.

Nice char

Best of all, though, was the more-experimental smoked pork pizza. The pie also enjoyed a wonderful balance. The pork was rich and savory without dominating the other flavors, while the Anaheim chilies added just a nip of spice. At home, I've been swimming in tomatillos and hence was skeptical about salsa verde on a pizza, but it was delicious here and applied judiciously. This pie was the clear winner.

Tomatillos, the source for salsa verde

New Orleans, to my experience, is a town where it's tough to get a bad meal. The service, the ambiance, and the food here were all delightful - just enough so that this very good Neapolitan pie qualifies as destination pizza. 

The crust gets an 8, the various toppings get a 9.5, service and ambiance a 10. Overall a "9" pizza and surely worth a visit.

Review: Tosca Cafe, Bronx (Throgs Neck) New York

A business meeting in Long Island provided a great opportunity for driving through New York's outer boros. En route to Plainview, I went through Staten Island, Brooklyn, and Queens. I opted to have a few slices in Howard Beach at the legendary (since 1956) New Park Pizza - full review HERE.

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Returning home to West Chester PA, I stopped by the Throgs Neck section of The Bronx to meet my friend Ken for lunch. For those not familiar with the outer boros, Throgs Neck is a waterfront section on the southeastern corner of the Bronx, overlooking Long Island Sound. Entering this quiet and tidy neighborhood via the Throgs Neck Bridge offers some picturesque views; with all the sailboats, it looks like New England.

Ken noted that there were several good restaurants within walking distance of his office; after a quick discussion, we settled on Tosca Cafe for its Italian heritage, its coal oven, and its pizza.

"Don't judge a book by its cover" but as we walked the quiet boulevard, Tosca's exterior seemed to give great promise of the food and ambiance inside. And right away, the vibe was warm and cozy. 

We opted to eat at the handsome bar, but after we ordered, I wandered over by the open kitchen to see the coal oven that dates to 1922. A friendly staffer offered to take my phone closer to the oven for a better close-up, and the pizzaiolo obliged by opening the oven door.

PQ and Ken at the bar

We ordered the small (six slices) "Soppressata Picante" pizza and a platter of grilled vegetables. The vegetables, grilled and then served on a bed of frisee, were superb. The mix usually includes eggplant, but we opted for roasted peppers, portobellos cut on an angle, and lots of zucchini. Zucchini can be be mushy or bland, but this was al dente and bursting with flavor. A wonderful dish.

The coal-oven pizza was the star, of course. The thin crust was rigid; crispy outside, chewy inside. The Italian bread and slivers of foccacia we had as appetizers promised of a tasty crust; this base was pleasant but mildly flavored. It served very well as a palette for the colors and flavors on top - an extremely well balanced mix of sauce with the perfect tang, wonderful cheese, and the smoky soppressata. There was no detectable "picante" until I added some dried red pepper.

All told, a delightful pie if not quite a destination pie. The crust earns an 8; it could be a 10 with perhaps a bit more salt and olive oil. Cheese and sauce, 9.5, the soppressata an 8.5.  Let's call this pie a 9. Service and ambiance, easy 10s. I'd visit a LOT if I lived nearby. 

Review: Tommy's Pizza, Bronx (Throgs Neck) NY

Visiting a friend at lunchtime on a Wednesday in the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx, we headed out to Tosca (full review HERE), a lovely full-service Italian restaurant with a great bar, friendly staff, and a brick oven dating back to 1922. 

Large pie barely fits in the box! Click any pic to enlage

After lunch, my pal Ken returned to his nearby office, and I prepared to set out for my drive home to Pennsylvania.  Aware of my pizza passion, Ken suggested that we cross the street to Tommy's, a hole-in-the-wall old-school pizza shop. Ken endorsed the pie there and suggested that I buy one "cold" to take home and re-heat.

We entered around 2pm. Tommy was behind the counter, and about three locals sat at the counter (there is a small dining room in the rear, also. Ken announced my fondness for great pizza, and each patron volunteered a unanimous endorsement of Tommy's as "best pizza in the Bronx."  Now, generally you can't put much stock in the locals' opinions, because most folks love the pizza place that is closest to home. But somehow these Throgs Neckers had more credence.

Tommy and Ken

Tommy had a handful of full-size plain pies cooked, just waiting to be re-heated and sold as slices. This made the perfect take-home pie, because it would not be steaming in the box. The huge pie was just $11, and we were shortly on our way. Tommy was quite congenial, but he won't likely ever see this review because he's "off the grid" regarding the Internet.

Some artistic flourishes in the rear dining room

When I got home, I noticed that this huge pie barely fit into the box. I re-heated four slices for our dinner. I added some pepperoni to two slices, and bit of fresh garlic to the other two. I made sure to leave some surface area mostly unadulterated so that I could sample a slice in a way as close as possible to the re-heat it would have received in Tommy's gas oven. As a final touch, I added fresh basil, post-bake.

This was deja vu pizza. Thin and crisp crust, yet not crackerlike - it had a distinctly delightful al dente airy interior. The sauce and cheese were perfectly complementary, and all the elements were in harmony. This pie was balanced in taste and texture. The deja vu part was once again finding an expertly rendered New York Slice, much as I had found at New Park Pizza (review HERE) in Howard Beach just a day earlier.

Under the hood

Thin and crisp, yet light and chewy

Here's a terrific quote from NYC Food Guy:

Tommy’s likely gets overlooked because of more hyped places in the neighborhood such as Tosca and Patricia’s, but there is always a heavy stream of locals popping in for a slice. Tommy’s is not a life-changing pizza experience, but it tastes the way pizza should, something that’s not as easy to find in New York as it once was.

I'm in complete agreement. My pal Ken knows Tommy well, as did the customers we saw that day. I would too if I lived nearby. Every neighborhood deserves a real pizza joint like this, with a guy like Tommy who eschews the mass-sourced supplies and who makes his own dough.  Bravo!

Review: New Park Pizza, Howard Beach, Queens NY

"Conquering All Five Boroughs"

Veni, vidi, edi

No matter what trendy or controversial new polls and lists might claim, New York City remains the epicenter for destination pizza in America. If you measured by ratio of great pizzerias to residents, maybe New Haven could challenge. But for sheer volume of truly wonderful pie, New York rules.

I've had many of the legendary pies in Manhattan (click any for my review) -- John's, Arturo's, Artichoke Basille. I've enjoyed pizza from Denino's and Lee's Tavern in Staten Island. I enjoyed the pie at Zero Otto Nove in the Bronx. I had great pie all over Brooklyn: Totonno's, L&B Spumoni Gardens, Ramagi, DiFara, Lenny's, Motorino. 

From NewParkPizza.com. Click any pic to enlarge!

What was missing? Queens! With a trip scheduled from my Pennsylvania home to Plainview in Long Island, it prompted me to search for great Queens pizza. Online research pointed to Nick's in Forest Hills, or New Park Pizza in Howard Beach. 

New Park got the nod because it is just a minute off the Belt Parkway, and because pizza guru Adam Kuban had written that he finally appreciated a slice by ordering it "well done." He noted that " The slice will have some serious pizza-burn potential—but you won't care."

Glassed-in picnic tables in the front

I arrived shortly after 1pm on a sunny October Tuesday. There is inside seating, and it was perhaps half full.  I was more charmed by the four or five picnic benches enclosed at the front near the takeout windows. I noted one fellow sloppily folding a soft slice (folding is a horrible NY habit) and that reminded me to order mine "well done." Good pizza doesn't require folding! 

I ordered two slices there - one sausage, one pepperoni, and a root beer. A plain slice is $2.75, a slice with toppings is $3.50. Total was $8.75 with the soda.

At lunch time, most of the patrons are solo, so the tables serve as community spots. I sat down opposite an elderly gent just finishing; his spot was then taken by a woman who had more restraint than me, having ordered just one slice. She was a lifelong native to the area and confirmed that New Park serves a quality slice, even as the proliferation of dollar slice joints makes it more difficult to find good pie. 

I shared my theory that too many mom and pop joints are pushed to use cheap mass-sourced ingredients so they can compete on price with the big chains. So Americans get bigger, cheaper, soft lousy greasy pizza. Happily, many legends like New Park and Tacconelli's live on, and I'll gladly pay the extra for authentic pie.

When I asked for my slices well done, the friendly counterman two of the darkest slices from a pie already well cooked. To my dismay, they were plain slices to which he then added the meat toppings. He then tossed them in a gas oven, and they were ready for me quickly.

The generously applied pepperoni slices were thin, so they were able to get some oven cooking in that short re-heat. Sausage, though, is my go-to pie. Best is real Italian sausage, in big uneven chunks, best exemplified at DeLorenzo's in Robbinsville NJ (formerly Trenton). This was pre-cooked sausage, sliced into fat half-rounds, and piled on in a heap.

The problem here is that these thick carvings of sausage barely got warm on the slice re-heat, and did not meld into the slice at all. Still, I enjoyed the slice, ate the whole thing, but it was an ordering error. It's better to spend more words of this review on the pepperoni slice, which had an identical crust, sauce, and cheese.

The crust was on the thin side, beautifully crisp, and loaded with flavor. As Adam had warned, the cornicione was burnt. I love the entire slice, and I always eat the pizza bones, but here I had to leave a little bit of that carbon behind. My table mate - and most folks - would have been unhappy with a slice burnt that way, but I saw it as a small price to pay for the lovely crisping of the slice and the extra browning of the cheese.

The crust was so remarkable - rigid, crunchy, but not dry or starchy - that I paid little attention to the sauce and cheese.  They were excellent role players here. I regret not ordering a plain slice, so that I could better appreciate the cheese. 

I like a salty pie and generally add some table salt; here, (like Denino's) adding salt was not required. Kuban explains that the crust is baked on a surface where salt has been applied. I think the salt is in the sauce at Denino's; either way, I feel that the saltiness of both pies helps account for their popularity.

New Park Pizza opened in 1956, and I understand why it's a legend. This is great pizza and an absolute classic "New York slice."  It is not quite destination pie with the magic of DiFara or La Porta, but the great texture of the pie and old-school ambiance are special.