Hersh's Pizza

February 23 2012
Hersh's Pizza
1843 Light Street

People had been suggesting that we check out Hersh's, the relatively new pizza place in Federal Hill. We finally got the opportunity to try them and were very glad we did. The atmosphere inside is very charming. It was pretty crowded for a Thursday night. The host was super nice and attentive. We started off ordering three pizzas: the Margherita, a tomato pie with fried eggplant, and the kale and pistachio. The bowl of red pepper on the table was a nice touch.



The Kale & Pistachio pizza - Fontina/Garlic/Pecorino Romano.


The pistachios gave it a subtle nutty roasted flavor. This pizza was pretty garlicky, but we are definitely fans of garlic. The crust was nice and sturdy. It was bubbly with visible air pockets. This pizza was a bit spicy, but flavorful. This was by far our favorite pizza.

Tomato with fried eggplant.


We added the eggplant to this pizza to make it a little more exciting. This pizza was very thin and reminded one attendee of "Philly pizza"; it was her dream pizza. The eggplant was deliciously caramelized, though we would have liked to have seen more of it. This pizza was a little gooey in the middle. The sauce was very fresh and light with some sweetness to it.

The Margherita.

This was chewy and delicious. It was extremely thin. We were expecting to see big circles of fresh mozzarella, but that wasn't the case. We found the crust on this pizza to be a bit limp and resulted in a floppy slice. Because of the structural instability one was forced to roll up the pizza in order to eat it. The sauce on this was comprised of crushed tomatoes.

At this point we were not yet satisfied with our pizza intake and ordered a fourth pizza. We ordered a cheese pizza with mushrooms.



The sauce on this was a marinara, which was different from the pizzas we had already consumed. The mushrooms on it were crimini. When the pizza arrived at our table, it looked molten and gooey. We were expecting it to be a little cheesier than it actually was. They were a little light on the cheese, but it worked. Anymore would have been too much.

These pizzas are thin, which is both a blessing and a curse. The structural integrity of the kale pizza was far superior than the others, though we are unsure of the why. There was a noticeable saltiness to the dough, though the crust was really fantastic. Everything seemed really fresh. It is a little dark inside, but we decided that it made everyone look really good. Hersh's seems like an ideal date spot. They have a pretty impressive selection of beer and cocktails. They did a really great job with the decor and creating a warm and pleasant atmosphere. We did note that although not pizza, they offer gnocchi on Monday and lasagna on Wednesdays, which they boast is homemade. Save room for dessert because we didn't and now we're just going to have to go back and try some.


Kale and Pistachio - 8/8
Tomato and Eggplant - 7/8
Margherita - 5.5/8
Cheese and Mushroom - 5.5/8

Toss

November 28, 2011
Toss
5716 York Road

Toss is a new pizza place near Belvedere square. It is sparsely, but elegantly decorated. It seemed geared towards take-out/delivery. Menu offerings include calzones, make-your-own pies, pastas, salads, sandwiches, appetizers, etc. They boast "fresh dough made daily". The pizza menu was written on a chalkboard on the wall, but we were unsure if this would change with daily specials.

Toss is owned by the former owner of Zella's. Which apparently now is under new management and isn't the Zella's that it used to be.

Satchmo's Spicy Chicken - spicy roasted red peppers, sauce, mozzarella, chicken, mushrooms, red onions, sun dried tomatoes.





Good cheese. Even though spicy is in the name of the pizza, we did not find it that spicy or at least spicy enough to include it in the name. Some people thought this pizza was not that exciting, but we all agreed that the crust was really good. It tasted like Zella's crust used to. There wasn't that much chicken on the pizza. We felt like the heat level of the sauce was just right, though the sundried tomatoes got lost flavor wise in the pizza.

Spinach and Artichoke - garlic herb sauce, mozzarella, tomatoes, mushrooms, caramelized onions, spinach, artichokes, feta cheese.




The artichokes has a hard time staying on the pizza when you lifted a slice up to your mouth. The cheese had a really great consistency. We thought that this pizza was far better than the first pizza. There was a more even distribution of spices and it was less dry. The dough was pillowy with think crust. The feta crumbles were a really good touch.

Toss special - tomato sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, ham, caramelized onions, roasted red pepper (roasted fresh)





This was a good looking pizza, but fell short performance wise. The cheese lacked taste and the peppers were not fully cooked. The peppers were still a little bitter which pointed to the fact that they're fresh, but should've be roasted/roasted more. We weren't crazy about this pizza.

Margarita - light tomato sauce, herbed olive oil, mozzarella, basil, tomatoes.



We found this pizza to be very tomatoey. The crust was better on this one that the others. It seemed very fresh and had both crunchy and chewy properties.

There was a discussion on the "Pizza is a Vegetable" scandal. Bonnie pointed out that half a cup of tomato sauce has been considered a vegetable forever. Nothing has changed, they just continued this policy out of fear that school cafeterias would have to double the tomato sauce to a cup and that would make very strange pizza.


Ratings:
Spicy Chicken - 5/8
Spinach and Artichoke- 8/8
Toss Special - 4/8
Margarita - 6.5/8
Overall - 6.5/8

Italian Graffiti

October 13, 2011

On a temperate evening a few weeks ago, Pizza Club convened at Italian Graffiti in Fell’s Point. We were compelled to try their pizza because they, like us, had been voted “Best of Baltimore” by City Paper (except they won best pizza and we won best food blog, not to brag or anything). Anything that purports to be the best must hold up to pizza club scrutiny.

Even the best pie in Baltimore needs to have a gimmick. Italian Graffiti is decorated floor to ceiling with “graffiti” of an “Italian” nature, mostly about pizza. It wasn’t entirely persuasive as street art, but seemed to have been lovingly applied. The employees were friendly, but the place seemed to be empty on a Thursday night. This might be because they are known for speedy delivery and many people order from home. We, however, wanted the complete experience. We even dipped into the non-pizza offerings, munching on a bunch of delicious “Graffiti rolls,” which were pizza dough stuffed with spinach and cheese.


As we looked at the menu, we realized that there was only a dollar difference between a medium and a large pizza, which was significantly bigger, so we ordered four large pizzas. It should also be noted that they offer specialty pizzas by the slice, some that are not on the menu and change often.

We ordered four pies: the Graffiti Feta, the Genovese, the Buffalo Chicken, and the Margherita.

The Graffiti Feta is field greens, mixed vegetables, artichokes, roasted red peppers, feta cheese, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The Feta pie was one of those pizzas that is basically a salad on a pizza: it had arugula, roasted eggplant, mushrooms, and balsamic vinegar. This can be a good thing or a bad thing; it was hard to handle, and there were unavoidable topping casualties. However, it provided the vegetable course of the meal, which felt very healthy and nutritious. Andrew said “I like eating pizza and salad at the same time.” The crust was a little dry, possibly because of the lack of sauce, but people appreciated the balsamic tang as the vinegar soaked into the crust.





The Margherita pizza was a definite winner. It was a classic pizza with fresh mozzarella and basil with tomato sauce. It was described by one table as “completely awesome and delicious,” “straightforward,” and “really solid.” The crust of this pizza was more persuasive than the Feta, possibly because of a generous slathering of sweet, hearty sauce. Some felt lie there was too much sauce compared to the giant slices of mozzarella. The mozzarella was good and stretchy. Although a simple pie, the Margherita was a crowd-pleasing classic.




The Buffalo Chicken is breaded chicken, mozzarella, blue cheese, celery and wing sauce. It was pretty intense. There was a lot of chicken on this pizza that was described as “fall-off-the-slice chicken”. The Buffalo sauce was pretty spicy and left a hot tingle on your tongue. This was the first Buffalo Chicken pizza that we have come across that actually tastes like chicken wings. The crust held the toppings well and did not collapse under the weight of the copious toppings.



The Genovese had creamy pesto sauce, sun dried tomatoes, sausage, parmesan cheese and mozzarella. This is a sausage pizza and the sausage was certainly a dominant taste, which was not a bad thing for most people. There was also secret sausage under the cheese. People preferred the sliced sausage on the pizza to bit of sausage they have experienced at other pizza places. The pesto was not overly garlicy. There was debate over the pesto to sausage ratio.



We lingered outside for a while pondering if they deserved to have won Best of Baltimore. It was pretty good and the pizzas were sizable. Is it the cute gimmick? The graffiti delivery car? They must do more business that way. We were uncertain of their delivery radius. Do they offer more than other pizza places in town? More uncertainties. We congratulate Italian Graffiti on their win and hope they do well. Do they win our best of? Maybe not.




Buffalo Chicken: 6.5/8
Margherita: 7/8
Graffiti Feta: 7/8
Genovese: 5.5/8

Overall experience rating: 7/8

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Bella Roma

Bella Roma
3600 Falls Road
Hampden
June 2 2011

Bella Roma is that inconspicuous pizza and sub place on the corner of 36th and Falls road. It is easy to ignore or write it off, but we received a tip about the exceptional quality of their Bella Roma Delight and felt it was our duty to follow this lead. We ordered two pizzas, one plain cheese and the other the Bella Roma Delight, which is chicken, spinach, tomato, onion, and ricotta cheese. We were instructed to ask for a "crispy" crust, by those in the know. We took our pizzas to nearby Roosevelt Park and ate al fresco.

The crust on the cheese pizza was thin, but still sturdy. The pizza was chewy and there was an expansive cheese covering, leaving a narrow band of crust. It was a bit on the greasy side and we noticed perforations on the underside, most likely to aid in the cooking process.




The Bella Roma Delight was pretty intense. The crust had a nicer texture than the basic cheese pizza. We also found it to be less greasy. The ricotta on the pizza really put it over the top. They put nice big dollops of it on the pizza. The Bella Roma Delight includes 4 food groups, so for the heath conscious, perhaps this is for you. The vegetables used were also definitely fresh and the toppings were plentiful.





The cheese pizza was kind of ordinary and I wouldn't go out of my way to get it from them, but the Bella Roma Delight is certainly something I would like to experience again and again.



Ratings:
Cheese - 5.5/8
Bella Roma Delight - 7/8