PIZZA CLUB 2006

[MarketStEl]

Also, if you're ever on Springfield Rd in Clifton Heights, try Gaetano's (Delco Daily Times best of Delco 6 consecutive years). They make a homemade sauce and their crust is thicker than a thin-crust but has a thin-crust consistency. I recommend it highly. Also, gas at the nearby corner of Providence & Springfield roads is consistently cheaper than anywhere I've seen. I saw cars lined up at the Wawa waiting in line for gas that cost more than that selling at P & S Rds with no lines.

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We have to set up a Delaware County stop on the Review Tour anyway, and right now, it consists of Peace a Pizza* and Teresa's Cafe, both in Wayne, and Apollo in Media. (The fourth Delco winner of a PhillyMag "Best Of" is Pizza Hut (1982), which Didn't Deserve the Honor to Begin With.)

Since we'd have to caravan for this stop anyway, this might make a good addition to the itinerary.

*As this is a regional chain, we run the risk of another Santucci experience if we visit one of their other locations (e.g., Olde Sproul Shopping Village in Springfield). Speaking of Santucci's, comments I've read on the city guide sites lead me to believe that the 4019 O Street location--which appears on neither Santucci Pizza Web site--may still be all that. As there's still a place we haven't hit in the Northeast yet, as well as non-winners that have come highly recommended, I'm willing to risk disappointment again to see if the comments are correct.

[MarketStEl]

Bumping this up to remind everyone that in spite of "Best of Philly Day," we have NOT rescheduled this event. Hate to make folks choose between pizza and fabulous dining bargains, but hey, them's breaks sometimes.

If you haven't PMed me yet and still plan on attending, drop me a line.

[MarketStEl]

Okay, folks, ignore that last post.

As of now (1 p.m. ET, 8-3-06), some of the people who tentatively signed up have told me they can't make it tonight.

That leaves me with three confirmed participants--not enough, IMO, to justify having this event tonight.

Looks like weeknights are harder to schedule than we thought!

In any event, this means rescheduling this tour date. How do you all feel about any of the following dates?

--Saturday, Aug. 12

--Sunday, Aug. 13

--Tuesday, Aug. 15

[Dorine]

Okay, folks, ignore that last post.

As of now (1 p.m. ET, 8-3-06), some of the people who tentatively signed up have told me they can't make it tonight.

That leaves me with three confirmed participants--not enough, IMO, to justify having this event tonight.

Looks like weeknights are harder to schedule than we thought!

In any event, this means rescheduling this tour date. How do you all feel about any of the following dates?

--Saturday, Aug. 12

--Sunday, Aug. 13

--Tuesday, Aug. 15

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Sat. doesn't work. My first choice is Tues., but Sun. is okay.

[Dorine]

Okay, folks, ignore that last post.

As of now (1 p.m. ET, 8-3-06), some of the people who tentatively signed up have told me they can't make it tonight.

That leaves me with three confirmed participants--not enough, IMO, to justify having this event tonight.

Looks like weeknights are harder to schedule than we thought!

In any event, this means rescheduling this tour date. How do you all feel about any of the following dates?

--Saturday, Aug. 12

--Sunday, Aug. 13

--Tuesday, Aug. 15

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FWIW, I have a standing commitment first and third Thursdays, but I can always make 2nd, 4th and 5th Thursdays.

Sat. doesn't work. My first choice is Tues., but Sun. is okay.

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[MarketStEl]

Okay--such feedback as I've gotten seems to still run in favor of doing this on a weeknight this time, but I see that the Tuesday evening I proposed conflicts with this month's DDC outing.

Therefore, I'm going to suggest we do it on Thursday, Aug. 17. Let me know via PM or e-mail if this works for you, and if I get enough positive responses, I will have this posted on the calendar. And this time, should people find they can't make it after all, I'd like to know the day before so I don't wind up having people show up for an event that was cancelled on the day of the trek.

[MarketStEl]

Having gotten at least four confirmations, Thursday, Aug. 17 is a go.

We will meet at 7 p.m. at Wolf Street Pizza, 2135 Wolf Street. Itinerary, once again, is as in Post 109.

Dorine--Don't give up hope. I'll try to schedule the next one on a day when you can make it. IIRC, weekends don't work for you?

[Dorine]

Having gotten at least four confirmations, Thursday, Aug. 17 is a go.

We will meet at 7 p.m. at Wolf Street Pizza, 2135 Wolf Street.  Itinerary, once again, is as in Post 109.

Dorine--Don't give up hope.  I'll try to schedule the next one on a day when you can make it.  IIRC, weekends don't work for you?

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Weekends usually work for me.

[MarketStEl]

Just a reminder for last-minute folks:

We meet for the third tour stop tonight at 7.

Meeting place is Wolf Street Pizza, 2135 Wolf Street.

Second stop is Russo's, 1429 Jackson Street.

We wrap up this trek at Celebre's, 1536 Packer Avenue.

If enough hungry people show up, we may add a fourth stop.

See you at 7.

[MarketStEl]

(Okay, pizza lovers: I know you're out there, so how about joining us next time? Our small intrepid band has been taking one for the team for two tour stops, and we'd love company. That said, time to move on to...)

Best of Philly Review Tour, Part III: South Philly II: Double-Parked Pizza

"I wouldn't have believed this if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes," Jan said to me as we drove past the double-parked cars that lined 22d Street.

If you needed more proof that South Philly is a world apart, just consider how they park down here. Cars parked in the middle of Broad Street. Cars double-parked on every side street wide enough to allow it. Cars double-parked next to empty curb lanes! And, of course, the parking rules every other Philadelphian must obey are suspended in parts of South Philly, it appears.

But these practices must have some advantages, for in South Philly, unlike in other parts of town, it is possible to find on-street parking very close to one's destination. This made our second South Philly segment on the Best of Philly Review Tour fairly easy to handle--and, as it turned out, gave us a place to eat the pizza from our first stop, Wolf Street Pizza:

Like Mama Rosa's from our first South Philly swing, this place is strictly carryout--there's barely room for a small table and two chairs in front of the counter. The rest of the space is taken up by the drink cooler and the kitchen.

As we were only four and the pizza options were plentiful, we departed a bit from standard practice by asking the counter clerk what was good. This led to our ordering a Buffalo Pizza with grilled chicken after we had already settled on a Wolf Street Special (pepperoni, peppers, onions, mushrooms and anchovies) for our first pie.

While we were waiting--and after explaining why we had descended on her place--the proprietor served us complimentary Buffalo wings.

As one of us could not handle spicy foods, the wings were served with sauce on the side. These were somewhat unusual in being lightly breaded and fried rather than baked. These were small but meaty, and the breading gave them a satisfying crunch. One of us liked these better than anything else she ate that night.

We may not have a fair evaluation of the Wolf Street pie, as the pies cooked in their boxes on the counter while we figured out where we would eat them. But since this place does take-out business only, we experienced these pies as any other customer would. We finally ended up tailgating on the back of Jan's mini-SUV, which was parked around the corner on 22d.

The Wolf Street Special came fully loaded:

and the Buffalo pie was half-sauced, half-plain to accommodate our heat-challenged colleague.

The crust is the thick kind, and it had gone a bit soft from the cooking. It was only slightly chewy, though, and had good texture.

"These are sort of like Domino's," said our mild-mannered dining companion.

"Only with better ingredients," said I.

The Special offered a great medley of tastes, and thanks to the judicious use of anchovies, it wasn't too salty. The chicken on the Buffalo pie was juicy, but absent the wing sauce (which was heavy on the hot sauce and light on the butter), we thought it could use more garlic. (This, as it turned out, would be the general knock on all the pies we ate.)

Wolf Street won its Best of Philly in a neighborhood category, and we agreed that if we lived in this neighborhood, we would patronize this place a lot. These pies are definitely Still Worthy, and like Joseph's, they're one-milers. (We had argued a bit about this as we ate. As we had defined "Santucci's" disappointing pizzas as one-block pies, we agreed that these warranted a better rating, but weren't sure a mile wasn't too much. I proposed 10 blocks, and this seemed to satisfy everyone. Then, after we had dispersed for the night, I realized that there are nine city blocks to the mile in Philadelphia. So a one-mile pie it is.)

Our next stop was Russo's, in the 1400 block of Jackson Street. The sign stated that this was the "original Sicilian recipe--from Sicily," but the name was missing. Thinking we missed it, we parked and walked back, and found out that Citysearch was at once correct and incorrect. There is still a pizzeria in business at 1429 Jackson Street, but it isn't Russo's any more:

(Their sign crew obviously didn't finish the job they started.)

We did check to see whether any "Best of Philly" plaques or posters were still on the walls. Seeing none, we struck this place from our itinerary and proceeded to South Philly's other legendary pizzeria:

Finally, a place where we could sit down and enjoy our pizza! We figured that the Packer Park Shopping Center, in which Celebre's is located, must be a beehive after games and concerts, for it had as a neighbor a huge, relatively new Chickie's & Pete's. But as the Phillies game was already over and nothing else was going on at the Sports Complex as far as we knew, we were able to park right in front of the place, walk right in and get a table.

Celebre's offers two kinds of pizza: "Famous" and "Special".

The "Famous" pizza is the traditional sauce-and-cheese pie, made with two layers of mozzarella. Among the specialty pies is one called the "Old Way," made with one layer of mozzarella topped with sauce. Our waitress explained that this was the way they had traditionally made pies here, but customers started asking for the more common cheese-on-top version, so they changed their recipe. Then, after they did, patrons started complaining that they missed the pizzas made the "old way." So back it came to the menu.

We ordered a white pie:

and an Old Way.

As you can see, the tomato sauce gave off plenty of steam, and the crust was nicely browned.

Maybe we're garlic fiends, but we found both pies lacking in the stuff. The white pie also lacked oregano, and the menu stated that both of these ingredients went into it.

I prefer my tomato sauce to be on the sweet side, so I found the Old Way pie to be perfectly fine aside from the lack of garlic.

My companions were not as pleased with this pie, which is why I ended up taking most of it home with me. Our pizza-savvy, heat-averse companion pointed out that Celebre's conventional pizza ovens probably didn't get all that hot, and that this probably lowered the quality of the tomato pie.

Celebre's proudly wears its four Best of Philly awards on its wall, along with Zagat Survey kudos and a letter from Tug McGraw in his role as Channel 6 roving feature reporter. The general consensus among us, however, was that this place is resting on its laurels. It's certainly Still Worthy, and it's a one-miler as well, not to mention convenient to the stadiums. But we've had better--including the pies we got from Wolf Street this same evening.

As we left Celebre's, we noticed the parking lot was full to bursting. Maybe this was because the poor unfortunates couldn't find a place to double-park.

Edited August 19, 2006 by MarketStEl (log)

[Dorine]

Oh! What a wonderful time you had! I only managed to come in second in Scrabble :-( the pizza might have been better! Hope I can join you next time, and that it's soon!

[SteveR]

Great report Sandy!

This was my first "tour" with the group and it was lots of fun! Hoping more join next time. Yep, I'm "heat adverse" but it helps balance out the group <g>. I think the "It tastes like Dominos" comment I made was based on the soft, thick chewiness of the crust. And It also reminded me of those greek pan pizza places whose name ends "style". One think you didn't mention that others by find helpful if they get the Wolf St. Pizza - though as we all agreed - you'd have to be within a mile to meet the PC criteria - is that the Wolf Street Special was so loaded with veggies and stuff that you really need a folk to pick up the inside point. Even though it cooked while in the box the crust was not crisp enough to hold it. (As compared to Celebre's White (Garlic deficient) Pizza which was firm.

Further expansion on Celebre's tomato topped pie (which the other three of us found lacking in flavor and texture): The auce was the texture of Tomato puree rather than anything with texture.

Finally, I think we all agreed that the folks at Wolf Street were certainly proud of their place and couldn't have been nicer to us. The wings and some complimentary waters showed the neighborhood touch. And, though we were on a Pizza run, we all commenrted on how delicious-looking and huge for the price the cheese steaks being made looked!

We shouls also probably state that -for value - Wolf St. Pizza gave you a lot more for your money. The White Pie at Celebre's was $2.00- $3.00 more than the loaded Wolf Street Special. (Then again at Wolf St. we had to do a BYOC - Bring Your Own Chairs).

I missed the last South Philly Pizza Club event but - living on edge of South Philly, I'm STILL looking for a good tasty thin crust pie - with anything besides HOT peppers - in South Philly. The journey continues.

Steve R

[MarketStEl]

Okay, Labor Day is now behind us, and meterological fall has already begun. (Funny, isn't it, how half of hurricane season coincides with the fall?

Which means it's time for the next stop on our tour. Our last tour date demonstrates that (a) relatively unsung places can definitely hold their own alongside or even improve upon more famous spots and (b) one man's meat is another man's poisson when it comes to pizza, so I hope some more of you die-hards can join us for potential surprises.

IMO, it's time to work Center City into the mix.

I understand from the old pizza heads that Center City excursions usually stay on one side of Broad Street, and I see no reason to change this. Besides, there are at least two winners on each side of Broad, although one of them--Patou in Old City--is a fairly chi-chi restaurant whose pizza is an appetizer.

Still, we can produce two itineraries:

East of Broad: La Cipolla (Old City), NYPD Pizza (Wash West), and the in-town restaurant run by the owners of Apollo Pizza in Media (7th and Chestnut; this used to be called Apollo like the place in Media, but I think it's been renamed since to "<mumble> at Apollo"). There are also two white-tablecloth restaurants in this bunch: the aforementioned Patou and Upstares at Varalli (Broad and Locust).

West of Broad: Mama Palma's (Fitler Square), Pietro's (Rittenhouse Row), Towne Pizza (near Rittenhouse Square, one of the earliest winners), Montesini's (Liberty Place food court), Pete's Famous Pizza (Logan Circle).

The white-tablecloth places are really outside the spirit of this odyssey, though if enough people really want to try one, we could arrange for a group visit. There are clearly more winners west of Broad than east of it; however, the place that's currently serving the best pizza in Center City, IMO, is east of it--NYPD Pizza. We could add one South Philly winner we haven't hit yet--Lorenzo's at 9th and Christian in the Italian Market, a by-the-slice honoree--to the East of Broad stops, or perhaps a very good but as yet unhonored place like Paolo's (Pine just east of Broad).

My own personal preference would be to visit the original Apollo in Media over the Center City outpost as part of a Delaware County tour segment, but there's no reason we can't do both.

So the first thing I'd like to sound people out on is which of the Center City places they'd most like to visit, and the second is what days in the rest of September or early October work--or definitely do not work--for them. As I've not yet tried Mama Palma's, I'd lean towards doing the west-of-Broad places first, but right now, the floor is open for suggestions from all interested parties.

[Pontormo]

Edited September 8, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[Dorine]

there are at least two winners on each side of Broad, although one of them--Patou in Old City--is a fairly chi-chi restaurant whose pizza is an appetizer.

Still, we can produce two itineraries:

East of Broad: La Cipolla (Old City), NYPD Pizza (Wash West), and the in-town restaurant run by the owners of Apollo Pizza in Media (7th and Chestnut; this used to be called Apollo like the place in Media, but I think it's been renamed since to "<mumble> at Apollo"). There are also two white-tablecloth restaurants in this bunch: the aforementioned Patou and Upstares at Varalli (Broad and Locust).

West of Broad: Mama Palma's (Fitler Square), Pietro's (Rittenhouse Row), Towne Pizza (near Rittenhouse Square, one of the earliest winners), Montesini's (Liberty Place food court), Pete's Famous Pizza (Logan Circle).

The white-tablecloth places are really outside the spirit of this odyssey, though if enough people really want to try one, we could arrange for a group visit. There are clearly more winners west of Broad than east of it; however, the place that's currently serving the best pizza in Center City, IMO, is east of it--NYPD Pizza. We could add one South Philly winner we haven't hit yet--Lorenzo's at 9th and Christian in the Italian Market, a by-the-slice honoree--to the East of Broad stops, or perhaps a very good but as yet unhonored place like Paolo's (Pine just east of Broad).

My own personal preference would be to visit the original Apollo in Media over the Center City outpost as part of a Delaware County tour segment, but there's no reason we can't do both.

So the first thing I'd like to sound people out on is which of the Center City places they'd most like to visit, and the second is what days in the rest of September or early October work--or definitely do not work--for them. As I've not yet tried Mama Palma's, I'd lean towards doing the west-of-Broad places first, but right now, the floor is open for suggestions from all interested parties.

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[Mummer]

I'd like to do some Center City spots. We've done Pietro's and Mama Palma's, but we've also done Marra's twice. Not everybody has a SEPTA pass, so it would be nice if we could walk between/among spots.

I've an aversion to pizza with white linen. It's so hard to get rid of those gravy stains!

semi-OT: I've been to Franco & Luigi's on a Thursday night for dinner and the accordion man. It's great fun, kind of like the people's Victor's. One of the early Pizza Clubs was at their Stadium Club, where we we comped a Christmas pie. The story's way upthread.

[MarketStEl]

Dorine: Even though you sit down at tables and have your pie delivered to you at your table, I consider Pietro's a fancier version of Celebre's--after all, it's a pizzeria first and foremost--and thus eligible for inclusion.

Peace a Pizza, a local chain, won the "best" award for Delco back in the mid-'90s. Their Wayne location was specifically mentioned, but I am willing to hazard a guess that their quality is consistent from store to store--I really must solve that Santucci mystery!--and that therefore we could do a Delco trip consisting of a visit to Peace a Pizza's Olde Sproul Village location in Springfield and the original Apollo in Media. (The third Delco pizza joint to win a prize was a Pizza Hut, back in the first year PhillyMag deigned to give honors to suburban places. Having concluded way back in this thread that this was their version of thumbing their nose at pizza in the 'burbs, it's been excluded from the Review Tour.)

But back to the original proposition for this tour stop. I'm still jonesin' to try Mama Palma's, but as I suspect that fewer of you have experienced the high-quality pies NYPD Pizza serves up, I will arbitrarily declare that we will start our Center City exploration on my side of Broad Street. I think that we could do all three of the real pizza places--NYPD, Apollo (modified), and La Cipolla--in this one swing.

Choice of dates: Saturday, Sept. 23, or Sunday, Sept. 24. Lemme hear from ya via PM. If you want to suggest another date after the 23d, let me hear from you too.

[JanMcBaker]

Sandy! Happened to see yet another Santucci's Pizza! This one's on Welsh Rd., beteween Bustleton and Krewston. We could do a pizza tour of places just named 'Santucci's'!

[Rich Pawlak]

Sandy!  Happened to see yet another Santucci's Pizza!  This one's on Welsh Rd., beteween Bustleton and Krewston.  We could do a pizza tour of places just named 'Santucci's'!

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Well, it's a chain.

[I_call_the_duck]

If you throw in Paolo's, you have yourself a deal. Angelo (the owner) is a real sweetheart.

BTW, the 23rd is Rosh Hashanah. I don't know how many people will be observing the holiday, but it may present a problem with them not being able to attend this excursion.

[JanMcBaker]

Sandy!  Happened to see yet another Santucci's Pizza!  This one's on Welsh Rd., beteween Bustleton and Krewston.  We could do a pizza tour of places just named 'Santucci's'!

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Well, it's a chain.

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Rich, I don't think all Santucci's are part of the same chain. I think I read once of a split in the family business, a la Pat's Steaks..... Another clue might be the difference in names--- there's just plain 'Santucci's', 'Santucci Brothers', and the one on Welsh was 'Inn Santucci'.

[Rich Pawlak]

Sandy!  Happened to see yet another Santucci's Pizza!  This one's on Welsh Rd., beteween Bustleton and Krewston.  We could do a pizza tour of places just named 'Santucci's'!

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Well, it's a chain.

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Rich, I don't think all Santucci's are part of the same chain. I think I read once of a split in the family business, a la Pat's Steaks..... Another clue might be the difference in names--- there's just plain 'Santucci's', 'Santucci Brothers', and the one on Welsh was 'Inn Santucci'.

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Oh brother!

[MarketStEl]

Well, I got three votes total, representing five diners.

Three of them could handle Sunday, though one of these preferred a weekday. One can't do weekends.

I'm sorry, Steve, and to make it up to you, I pledge the next tour will be on a weeknight.

But Sunday the 24th it is. As I suspect that this date will work well with some non-voters, and I think the Pizza Club should really pay a call on NYPD, this will be an East of Broad swing, starting at the in-town Apollo and proceeding to NYPD from there. If there are enough hungry people on board, we can add off-list Paolo's, which is also a local fave of mine that the club has visited once, to the itinerary.

L(a)unch time will be 2 p.m. See you at 7th and Chestnut. If you want to come, all you have to do is show up, but I'd appreciate it if you could also drop me a line via PM. Holly or Katie: Can you put this on the calendar?

[MarketStEl]

Following myself up to throw a question out to the multitudes:

Would a walk from Old City to Independence Mall to Wash West be beyond anyone's capacity to handle?

I ask this because when I put up the original itinerary, I thought that La Cipolla--the third "Best of Philly" east-of-Broad pizzeria--would be too far for some to walk. But with Apollo (615 Chestnut) as a midpoint, I think that it might be possible to walk from 132 Market Street to 140 South 11th. Your thoughts?

[SteveR]

Well, I got three votes total, representing five diners.

Three of them could handle Sunday, though one of these preferred a weekday. One can't do weekends.

I'm sorry, Steve, and to make it up to you, I pledge the next tour will be on a weeknight.

But Sunday the 24th it is.

No Problem Sandy! I just can't commit to weekends because of my S.O. I'll await the report! Hope there will be another "East Side" run (or rather "walk" as all the ones you chose are within walking dintance for me. Oh well. Who says the Pizza Club can't redo runds - and we can always arrange something through the PhillyGroupDining site. <g>

Bon Apetit!

Steve R