Chazz: A Bronx Original

Chazz: A Bronx Original
August 2, 2011

We were a little confused if they were still in their soft opening phase. It looked as if they were still figuring out their pizza menu; we even observed a taste testing. We decided to leave them to it and not ask too many questions. They gave us carafes of both sparkling and still water.


90s alt-rock was playing the entire time we were there. This seemed to be a strange choice considering they are going for a New-York City (Bronx?) theme. The entrance is decorated like a subway station with line numbers and lots of murals of trains and skyscrapers in monochrome. There were two men in chef jackets manning the pizza making station. You were able to sit at a counter and watch as they shoveled pizzas into the coal fired oven. Yes, this pizza is made in a coal fired oven, take note. The pizza makers toss dough in the air and are surrounded by the ingredients. The question is, is there a difference between New York and Bronx pizza?


We ordered three pizzas: the Funghi - wild mushrooms, smoked gouda, and garlic, the Margherita - tomato, mozzarella, and basil, and the Prosciutto - parmesan, prosciutto, mozzarella, fontina, garlic and arugula. The "h"s were intentional, perhaps Bronx style pizza means you add an "h" to the name.


The Fughi was found to be sweet, smokey, creamy, savory, and had fancy mushrooms. The crust was very good with an almost buttery, flakey quality. We decided that this mushroom pizza was even better than the beloved mushroom pie at Iggie's. It was perhaps a mistake to eat this one first as this pizza made the others seem inadequate. There was debate if we loved this one because it was fresh out of the oven or because it was the best.


The Margherita was very average. It was a little on the boring side. The sauce on this pizza was sugary. This one was a little harder to eat and was chewier. The crust was slightly thinner on this pie.


The Prosciutto was the saltiest of the three. Perhaps the arugula is supposed to counter it, but it wasn't that successful. If you are a big fan of prosciutto, you probably will like this pizza more than we did. The slices of meat were thin and each slice was covered with it.


It seems that they are still trying to figure out what they are doing, though the waitstaff was extremely nice. The atmosphere was a little weird. There were a couple of different themes going on: wine cellar, sidewalk bistro, standard dining area. There were different chairs in each section. We were in the sidewalk bistro area were there was a wrought iron fence, cafe chairs. and was up on a riser. There was also a distracting video display of New York landmarks playing on a loop. We initially thought that this was a second, outside of New York location, but the Baltimore Chazz in actually the flagship restaurant.


Wait, it's not over yet! Dessert pizza time! We had to order this in order to say we did thorough pizza research. The dessert pizza had nutella and powdered sugar on it. The crust was crunchier than the other pizzas we sampled, but thicker and chewier on the outside. The nutella was soft and creamy, but we felt that this pizza needed something else. We would suggest adding strawberries or even ricotta to this pizza.


Finally we just have to ask, WHERE WAS CHAZZ? We would have been more than happy to see Chazz Bono, but don't expect to see Chazz Palminteri. We didn't!

Funghi - 8/8
Parma Prosciutto - 4/8
Margharita - 4.5/8

Pizza Time with Danny McBride

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Frozen Pizza Chronicles: Pizza Bourekas

Seven Mile Market in Pikesville has a very extensive selection of frozen pizza products. One of these that we decided to investigate was Ta'amti's Pizza Bourekas. They are pizza filled puff pastries. Sounds like a great idea right? First off they were a little undercooked which was my fault. The instructions were a little misleading. They instructed me to sprinkle sesame seeds on top of the Bourekas before baking them. I could not find sesame seeds inside the box or even listed as an ingredient as th directions seems to be imply. I did not put any on and they were fine without the seeds.

before and after
We decided that they are quite large for hors d'oeuvres and were trying to figure out their place in the world. We then had a debate on if they qualified as pizza or just pizza themed.



They kind of tasted like pizza combos. The olives inside them were totally unexpected. Alicia felt they were similar to pizza bagels, but with philo dough. They are pretty dense and on the doughy side. Inside the puff, the sauce and fillings were not evenly distributed and there wasn't that much tomato sauce. Bonnie wondered if they were even close to pizza.

Overall we decided that these do qualify as pizza. Eating one is definitely different than eating a slice of pizza, but they were fun to eat. They would be a nice addition to a cocktail party.

New York Pizza App

So this isn't too helpful to us here in Baltimore, but to those in New York there is the Real Pizza of New York App. Use technology to find pizza

Greetings from Asbury Park NJ

On a short trip up to the beautiful and suntanned Jersey Shore this week, I had the drunken pleasure of visiting Johnny Mac House of Spirits (not haunted) of Asbury Park. They have this crazy deal: you buy any drink and get a free 12 inch pizza! And the pizza is actually good. You can get whatever you want on it, one of my companions ate a jalapeno, bacon and pineapple monstrosity. Next time you are in Asbury Park, check it out!

www.johnnymacbar.com

international

awwww

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

pizza meditations

A Haiku: On walking by Pizza Boli's in the rain

Rain, Pizza Boli's
steamy, damp pizza wafts softly
I am satisfied.

This haiku is dedicated to the memory of Eric Imhoff, who also wrote some haikus that were pretty ok.

Pizza Johns: try 2

We are going back to Pizza Johns for the first time on Tuesday, July 5. Pizza at 7pm pre-pizza thrifting leaving at 6.

Philly's Best Taj Mahal Pizza

Don't let the name fool you, Philly's Best is located on the Avenue in Hampden. Philly's Best offers the usual pizza and sandwich options of normal carry out pizza joints, with the twist that it also serves Indian take out. We went there with a very specific pizza goal in mind, we were there to eat the Taj Mahal. We had been hearing rumors about an Indian food pizza that was off menu, now it is out in the open for the world to try. We ordered this pizza knowing nothing about it, except that it was exotic and therefore fascinating. There was an air of mystery as we sat in the car wondering what was inside the pizza box. We assumed that this was a vegetarian friendly pizza, but there were no clues either way. As we were staring at the box, we speculated that it contained the exotic, spicy mysteries of the Orient.


The anxiety and expectation were building, would this be a pizza like none we had encountered before? As we lifted the lid we saw the familiar markers of what we recognize as pizza. There was sauce and cheese, but the difference was indeed mysterious. It was like Palak Paneer, yet different and on a pizza. The crust was decent and nicely supported the toppings. It was crunchy, but not overdone. It was spicy, but not overwhelming. The slices are large and sauce and cheese had even coverage. There was still tomato sauce as a base, but on top of that there was spinach and vegetables, which might have been onions and broccoli.




After the initial strangeness faded into warm familiarity, we then voyaged into a discussion about the Taj Mahal and the Flavors of India. Was this a melding of America and India or was one more prominent? We debated if the cheese on the pizza was paneer or mozzarella, with the dominant taste being the latter. We would have liked to have seen actual cubes of paneer on the pizza to give it a more distinct flavor. For example, our friend Matt who arrived late to the game, bit into a slice and asked if it was pesto. While Laura, with her more discerning palate called it as Indian. This demonstrated it was a subtle, as opposed to a more pronounced Indian flavor as the unaware could be taken by surprise.

Matt stated that "I gotta give it props because there were flavors that weren't the things I thought they would be".

Overall, we decided that it was pretty high grade takeout and a nice change in your takeout pizza routine, but we would have preferred more adventurousness on their part.

Rating:5.5/8


Philly's Best
1101 W. 36th St
Baltimore, MD 21211
(410) 243-1301

Donald Trump Talks About Eating Pizza

Nothing of substance is discussed but his orange creamsicle lips are memorizing.

Time and Date decided!

We will be meeting this Thursday, June 2. Same time and place. Bella Roma at 7pm.

pizza BRUNCH!

Recently, one of your lovely ambassadors visited the pizza capital of the world where she learned how to be a skyscraper.


Then we headed over to Paulie Gee's for his first ever pizza brunch! Sara and I shared the Florentine: mozzerella, spinach, mushrooms and hollandaise. There were also a few options with eggs on top. Paulie is really taking things to a new level, it was a whole new pizza experience.




The pizza was delicious. A truly great crust where you could really taste the oven, perfect cheese, not at all greasy and a lovely hollandaise sauce. We then decided to try one of the dessert pizza and when Paulie Gee brought it out, he told us it was the first dessert pizza ever ordered! The dessert pizza was basically just crust, ricotta and honey. It was good, but a bit doughy, especially after finishing a pizza brunch feast.

Pita Pizza Redux

Last weekend we went camping at Merchants Millpond in North Carolina. This easy and delicious meal idea was brought to the Pizza Club's attention last summer by Max Weselcouch. Sadly the photo documentation of that historic meal was lost in the woods. So let me present to you Pita Pizzas Redux:

We actually had some for dinner the night before and these we made for breakfast. Pita Pizzas are really easy, you only really need three ingredients (though there is a lot of room for experimentation). These ingredients are pitas, sauce, and cheese. Also foil. These are an easy fix for vegetarians or fussy children too.

cut a slice in the pita

fill the pocket with sauce and cheese



You then wrap the pita in a foil case



put it on the fire to cook (Jared decided to make an open faced pita pizza)





done!