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Winners and losers
in the Pizza Wars
I
must tell you that I'm originally from the Mecca of great Sicilian
pizza, New Haven, Connecticut. So I'm a bit biased. But I've also
raised two teen-agers, so I've been exposed to every manner of pizza
that some able-bodied soul can schlep to my front door. That being
said, it's time for our annual assessment of the best and worst of
Austin pizza. We like to call it Pizza Wars.
Dwelling
at the bottom of the pizza food chain is Domino's. You could tear
open a loaf of unleavened bread and splatter some sauce on it and
it exceeds what Domino's puts out. Only slightly better than Domino's
is Double Dave's. Cute name, lousy crust. Terrible pizza. Moving up
a tad, we come to Mr. Gatti''s and Papa John's. These are at least
somewhat edible, though vastly overrated. And they remain edible for
at least fifteen minutes after exiting the oven, something that the
lowest-rated pizzas cannot claim.
Yet
another step up, in my humble opinion, is Pizza Hut. Their meat lover's
pizza is really not bad for a chain. And those baby pan pizzas at
Little Caesar's can be somewhat tasty as well. And check out the veggie
pizza at the Hangtown Grills.
Several
more steps up the ladder are locally operated spots like Chicago-style
Mangia’s. I'm not a huge fan of deep dish but Mangia's the best of
the local fare. I'd put them considerably ahead of Conan's, the other
major deep dish player. Also on that higher rung is a venerable South
Austin pizza emporium, Aljon's at 1945 East Oltorf. Love the pepperoni
at Aljon's.
Which
brings us to the top of the food chain. Light years removed from bottom
feeders like Domino's are Reale's at 13450 research,
Saccone's with locations on 183 and in Leander, and Brick Oven
with locations on Red River, Jollyville and Lakeline. All three are
excellent. Saccone's probably comes the closest to duplicating my
favorite New Jersey/Connecticut pizza. Brick Oven has a sensational
vegetarian pizza with a firmer crust, and Reale's brings more of an
Upper New York State style. Their Italian sausage is quite good.
Who's
the best? Saccone's by about the size of a thin
slice of pepperoni. But all three pass the overnight test, probably
the most critical benchmark for pizza lovers. That is, you can stick
the leftovers in the fridge, open the box the next morning, and wolf
down a slice without benefit of reheating. And it's still good. Try
doing that with Double Dave's! |
