After a grueling 3 years of eating shit Florida pizza, I’m back home and eating slices.
Stopped at Villa Reale yesterday for some ‘za. Here’s some pizza porn for you all. Full review coming this weekend!
Where we went: Aiello’s
Address: 2112 Murray Ave Pittsburgh, PA 15217
What I ordered: 1 Slice Pep
Price: FREE! I got a smaller piece, and the guy making them said it’s on him. Bonus Points.
Review: The finish line was close; literally, Mineo’s was just over 150ft away. Even with the quality pizzerias we visited on this trip, the majority of the cruise figured it would come down to these final two. They would have been right…except…
At the beginning of the cruise, we all had the discussion of whole pie vs. slices. See, I usually get slices everywhere (unless its not offered) and I really like to base my opinion on the slices themselves rather than a whole pizza. Now there are surely disadvantages to this if the pizza has been sitting there all day and now just being warmed up. Though I’d like to think that since places like Mineo’s, Aiello’s or Fiori’s are so busy, they are constantly making these pizzas they have set aside for slices. Sometimes I feel that slices give off a more consistent feel to a pizza. I’ll go to my favorite place and someone new will be making the pizza, it tastes or looks nothing like it normally does. With a slice, 98% of the time I know what I’m getting…but I regress. Next year, we’re doing 100% whole pizzas for every stop, here’s why.
I’ve never liked Aiello’s slices. Mineo’s? Yes, they bang out a consistent slice every time. For that fact, my opinion has always been with Mineo’s. So why am I telling you this in the Aiello’s review? What could have possibly changed? I feel that Aiello’s got slighted by not only me, but a few others which in result, left them with a pretty sad overall vote. Why? Because I saw and had a slice of their whole pie, and boy, it was delicious.
I ordered up my slice. I got it for free. It was a smaller slice and the cook said it was on him, so I accepted.
We once again successfully shut down another stop with walking in 18 deep, and this time, I was almost shutting down myself. Its not often I go to 6 places in one day and eat more than a slice. Give me a large in front of me and one sitting, I could probably kill it. Spread that out over 8 hours, travel time, beer and what not, it takes its toll.
Now since I graded directly after I ate my free slice and not the one from the pie, I’m going to stop here and not give a full breakdown. I can’t do it. I feel that I need to go back, order up a pep pie and sit down with my own scorecard and recreate the stop on the pizza cruise.
Below are the scores the rest of the cruise gave for Aiello’s. Even though a few of us slighted them on our scorecards, but it wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the eventual winner, though it could have traded places with another for a higher spot.
Crust: 8/10
Sauce: 8/10
Cheese: 8/10
Toppings: 8/10
Presentation: 8/10
Bonus (max 2): 2
Overall Grade: 42/50, 84%
Now that it’s all out there, who is coming with me to judge a brand new pie at Aiello’s?
Disclaimer: If you think that my grading scale is harsh, remember that I grade each trip as its own experience. Have I had a perfect slice? Nah. I’d basically say that if something I review gets better than a 70%, I’d go again and more than likely tell you to go as well. I don’t even think my favorite pizza place would get a 100% and if it did, there would be no reason to do this blog other than my love for pizza. Remember, the quest for the perfect slice. That’s what I’m after.
Where we went: Fiori’s
Address: 103 Capital Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15226
What I ordered: One slice pep/bacon (as always) but they gave me 2!
Price: Like 3 bucks?+ drink.
Review: I’m still not sure how to handle repeat blogs. For this case obviously, I have to write another entry because I want you to all know about our Pizza Cruise. On one hand, I’d like to give Fiori’s the justice it deserves seeing as last time was my only bad experience out of say twenty trips and of course that was the time I wrote the review. On the other hand, do I review Fiori’s after every trip? That would get quite absurd seeing as I live so close and go there about once a week, aside from my other trips. I have to come up with some sort of plan…suggestions?
Though I did find it hilarious the rest of the guys (and girl!) on the cruise thought I intentionally put Sir Pizza in front of Fiori’s because I wanted them to seem that much better. That wasn’t the case at all; I’m just not that smart.
This was our 4 th stop and just made it past the halfway point! I think this is where people started to feel it. I mean really feel it. I was really worried about the parking situation here (terrible steep hill, how was it going to fit like 7 cars) but everything worked out fine.
When you arrive at Fiori’s, you immediately stand in a line that at least you get to watch the guys making the pizzas. When you come in with 18 people, you kind of change the way things work. Our line kind of did a serpentine around the tables in the middle of the shop so people that came in after us, without thinking, just walked up like they normally do. They stopped, looked around and couldn’t figure out what was different. Finally (and it happened with every person who came in after us) they figured it out and slowly walked the other way to the end of the line. Pretty hilarious stuff, people watching is a ton of fun.
Anyways, I was super excited for everyone who hasn’t had this pizza yet to get their first taste. I haven’t lived in this area long, but I’ve already converted a few of my good friends to this place.
Somehow we all got a seat. Ballots were passed out, Fiori was there chatting us up. It was time to eat.
Breakdown reflects that of our entire group.
Crust: 8/10 –Yes! Fiori’s brought their “A” game! I knew they would. This crust was perfect. Crispy, crunchy, what else do you want? Flavor? Yeah, it’s got all that. I think I went a 9/10 here when the group ranked it an 8. I’m fine with that.
Sauce: 8.5/10 –This is again where it becomes hard to create a 2 nd blog post about a place I’ve been and love. The sauce is outstanding. Sweet. Doesn’t hurt to ask them for a cup of it and actually dip your pizza into it.
Cheese: 9/10 –Slices seemed to have come out perfect. No slide off. Just enough. Perfect.
Toppings: 8.5/10 –“THE BEST BACON IVE HAD ON A PIZZA. No joke. It’s thicker, crispy, packed with flavor and A LOT OF IT. The pepperoni is also the perfect little round circles, curled up at the end just to hold the tiniest puddle of grease.” Might as well just copy and paste because I will just rewrite the same thing.
Presentation: 8/10 –Not quite sure how this got the score of an 8. It could have to do with how long our one table of cruisers waited to get their pizza. Not sure what the hold up was there…
Overall Grade: 42/50, 84% – I’m glad the group all came together on this. We can discuss the advantages/disadvantages this stop created though, in the post for stop 5, Aiello’s.
Disclaimer: If you think that my grading scale is harsh, remember that I grade each trip as its own experience. Have I had a perfect slice? Nah. I’d basically say that if something I review gets better than a 70%, I’d go again and more than likely tell you to go as well. If it gets above an 80%, you should have already been there. I don’t even think my favorite pizza place would get a 100% and if it did, there would be no reason to do this blog other than my love for pizza. Remember, the quest for the perfect slice. That’s what I’m after.
Where we went: Sir Pizza
Address: 320 Sewickley Oakmont Rd, Pittsburgh, PA 15237
What we ordered: 3 Pizzas –Large Plain, Large Pep, Medium Sausage.
Price: $30 Dollars-ish?
Review: In the early stages of creating The First Annual Greater Pittsburgh Pizza Cruise, I asked everyone to tell me their favorite places to get pizza. After going through all the votes and selecting the top five, I decided to pick a “wildcard” out of the additional suggestions, places like;Grande’s, Ferraris, Della Salla’s, Napoli’s, etc made the list. Out of the 20 some suggestions, I threw them all into a hat and picked. Stop number three on our Pizza Cruise, a place that NONE of us had ever been, was Sir Pizza (the original location, of course) on Sewickley Oakmont Road.
When I catch myself in a conversation with someone new about pizza, they always tell me “Oh, you need to try this place in _________. It’s the best ever.” Normally I don’t listen to them unless they really sell me on it, but over the past year I’ve been hearing the name “Sir Pizza” thrown out there over and over again.
Since none of us had been here (which I found pretty amazing, actually) I did some research on Sir Pizza before coming, like any good pizza expert would. Sir Pizza is a family operated franchise and has been that way since 1975. The franchise itself is known as Pizza King, which is based in Indiana. I looked at the pictures, gave in to the hype and even after just leaving Vincent’s I was making sure I saved some room for it.
We were welcomed with one of the nicest ladies I have ever encountered at a pizza shop (I’ve been and worked at a few…). She was actually part of the family that started this all. After 5 minutes of us explaining what we were doing, talking about the history of Sir Pizza (I think I impressed her with my prior research) hearing about their fresh homemade sausage they put on their pies and their outrageous beer selection, we put in our order.
“I’ll take a Screaming Pumpkin Draft, please” I said. “I’ll take one too”, Steve said. “Dad, you want one? Its Pumpkin…” I asked. “Yeah, grab me one” my Dad replied.
A few draft orders later and more chit chat, I passed out the ballots and we took our seats.
So on to the breakdown. Again, the votes reflect that of the group.
Crust: 5/10 –There is no “grab on” part of the crust here. You’re putting your fingers on the sauce and cheese…that’s not really a problem though. It did have nice crunch to it, not doughy at all. I admit it wasn’t my favorite but I gave it a 6/10 while the average vote here was a 5.
Sauce: 5/10 – Nothing too crazy about it, just a good pizza sauce that mixed well with everything else going on.
Cheese: 4/10 – While I was doing my prior research, I some how missed that Sir Pizza uses Smoked Provolone instead of Mozzerella. While I did like it and gave them a plus for doing something different, I still prefer Mozzerella over this. The group actually gave the cheese a 4, while I thought differently and gave it a 7, clearly being my most favorite part about this pie.
Toppings: 4/10 –I have never seen pepperoni that was so…red. It looked odd to me. Their toppings, or at least the pepperoni and sausage, are some what grounded and chopped up spreading to the edge of the pizza. I wanted to really like this sausage after hearing so much about it, but it just didn’t bring it, nor did the pepperoni. Sigh.
Presentation: 5/10 –I’m not sure what to think. I’ve seen so many pictures of this pizza before I came and I’m thinking ours was a bit undercooked. I also think that’s why I couldn’t really experience the full flavor of the toppings. How could I have almost forgotten? This pizza is not your typical triangle slice, but rectangular. Small, two bite pieces. The only place I’ve ever seen this done!
Bonus (Max 2pts): 2 –I can’t stress enough how well we were treated here. I loved hearing and talking about the history of the place. Even with our huge group crowding up the front counter and holding up the rest of the line, we were all taken care of and service was fast.
Overall Grade: 25/50, 50% – Sir Pizza was the underdog of this cruise and going up against some heavy hitters. It was our lowest rated pizza on the day. I don’t want to say that our group was overly harsh, because I don’t think we were, though I do feel that this pizza just didn’t bring it.
While the beer selection is fantastic, the service is remarkable; Sir Pizza has more of the “hometown” pizza feel and would be the perfect place to take your family out for dinner, this wasn’t what we were really looking for. What I mean by “hometown” is, it’s the local joint that you’re family has been coming to for years. You lived up the street, you’re grandfather liked it, your dad liked it and now it’s been passed down to you.
They are doing something right, because believe me there is a ton of buzz about this place.
Different pizza for different people.
Thanks again for making us feel so welcome!
Disclaimer: If you think that my grading scale is harsh, remember that I grade each trip as its own experience. Have I had a perfect slice? Nah. I’d basically say that if something I review gets better than a 70%, I’d go again and more than likely tell you to go as well. I don’t even think my favorite pizza place would get a 100% and if it did, there would be no reason to do this blog other than my love for pizza. Remember, the quest for the perfect slice. That’s what I’m after.
The voting for the pizza cruise is reflects that of our entire group. Even though, my opinion pretty much falls in line with the rest of these jerks.
I actually had a different question for the poll today, but in light of my recent rant, I’d like to see what’s more important to all of you.
I think my view was clearly stated earlier; I don’t care about the condition of the building, or the dirt on the floor, or how sweaty and fat the guy is who is spinning up my pizza. What I care about is how good it tastes. I don’t need to be buttered up and made to feel welcome at every place I go (not saying that I hate when this happens, I actually love hearing about history and what not from the people who work there) or made to feel like I’m appreciated by coming in and getting their pie. All I want is the best pizza that sweaty fat guy can make. That’s it.
What do you think?
You do not need an account to vote, so cast it!
After googling Vincent’s Pizza Park and reading other reviews, I realize why I started this blog in the first place. I never trust a restaurant review (so why should you trust mine, you ask?That’s irrelevant, next). I personally need to go and try the place myself first. Idiots are all over the internet giving their opinion on pizza when more than likely they would rather have the Pizza Hut Buffet or the new Dominoes Artisan Pizza, and reading more reviews just got me even more pissed off.
I have been eating at Vincent’s since I was 5 years old at the location in North Huntingdon, not so much on Ardmore. The owner’s son and I were in cub scouts, as well as playing on the same soccer/baseball team for many years. After almost every game we would meet after for pizza at Vincent’s, I think that’s why I hold it so dear to my heart (and my heart has a love hate relationship with that), and maybe I’m just completely biased. But anyways, I need a rant.
Vincent (RIP) had been making these pizzas for over 40 years. The location on Ardmore Boulveard? Yeah, that is original. It’s what you’d expect to see from a building that has not been renovated in the slightest during that entire tenure. Yeah, there’s wood paneling, dirty (stained) tiled floors. The tables are old, some of the chairs have rips in the vinyl. Do I need the staff to shake my hand and hold my di…sorry. But to finish that thought, no I don’t. I’m there to eat pizza. Why would ANYONE give a damn about what the “building” or “decorations” looked like at a place that arguably makes one of the BEST pizzas in Pittsburgh? You could say anything insulting or offensive to me and possibly even strike me, but if you’re pizza is that damn good, I’ll be coming back.
Case in point. Thank you, CitySearch.
by 663763736 at Citysearch –10/23/08
As previous posters have related, Vincents’ in Forest Hills has completely fallen apart since Vince stopped running the business. The young guy (Vinces’ son???) who answers the phone and makes the pies is just the worst kind of person you would ever want fronting a business. Where Vince may have had comtempt for his customers (as most owners of restaurants do…believe it) he concealed it….mostly. Vinnies replacement doesn’t hide the fact that he hates what he’s doing, hates you, would rather be doing anything that what he’s doing and thinks you’re a pathetic, mouthbreathing tard for bothering him, which is fine if you work for the County, but when you’re the face of the business, its fatal. As a result of the recent spike in the price of, well, everything, the size of the pies has shrunk along with the amount of the toppings. A little tip here, don’t mess with a successful product. Raise the price and know people are willing to pay for quality no matter how much they whine about it. Now where was I…horrid attitudes, declining product….oh yeah, I would highly recommend getting your pie to go. If the funk don’t freak you out, the fear of the building falling down while your eating could be distracting. I got 100 bucks that says there’s no way, NO WAY,the business passes it’s next visit from the Health inspector……I’ll always argue that Vinnie made the best pie in Pittsburgh history. Unfortunately, that’s all it is…history.
Who in the hell even writes a review like this? Well 663763736, according to you this location will be shut down in 19 days. I’ll take your $100 bet. You have numerous ways to contact me in order to place it (email/twitter/facebook), and for someone to be SO mad to write such a ridiculous review like that, I KNOW you still go on city search to see how good you “got em”. Let me take your $100. Then I’ll go buy some Vinnies for me and all of my friends.
This one also got me laughing…
The Children of Vincent running his business will crumble it just like the crust
By TheBigDonger at Citysearch 07/29/08
Since Vincent the owner retired the place has gotten bad an worst every day. Its ashame because when Vincent was there the pizza was out of this world. Now its being run by his children an its terrible. they dont give a dam attitude will bring what Vincent worked so hard for to nothing. I know Vincent personally as a kid growing up an seeing Vincent when i would deliver newspapers . That was back in 1972.. Now the kids running the place are ignorant B I T C H ES and B A S T A R D S.. The dirty f u c k e r s are destroyin what Vincent has made a historical place of Pizza……. The spoiled badly greedy kids of Vincent who run the place will choke on their greedyness an soon Vincent will be a memory……What took Vincent almost 40 years to create will be gone in 3 years
Pros: able to leave Cons: Stinky,,, s h i tt y service,,pizza nasty.. kids terrible
I mean, the dudes name is TheBigDonger and what is even sadder is this was written by an adult. Eh. There’s really nothing more to say after that, so onto the third stop of our Pizza Cruise, SIR PIZZA.
Where we went: Vincent’s Pizza Park
Address: 998 Ardmore Blvd, Forest Hills, PA 15221
What we ordered: Two Large Pizzas, 1 Plain, 1 Pep
Price: $80.16 w/ drinks – $5 bucks a head + tip.
Review: Vincent’s was the 2nd stop on The Greater Pittsburgh Pizza Cruise (For those of you reading on Urbanspoon.com, check out my blog for more information on the whole cruise). After personally having 3 slices at Jioio’s, I was more than ready for a Vinnie Pie.
There have been a few franchises set off for Vincent’s over the years, but to my knowledge the only ones still remaining other than the original location here in Forrest Hills, are in North Huntingdon and Plum. Since Vincent Chianese is no longer with us, I feel the argument can no longer be made about which one is better. But for the purpose of the cruise, and the sad souls who have never had Vincent’s, we stuck with the Ardmore Boulevard spot.
We arrived around 2:30 and were given the entire side dining room to ourselves, plenty of space here with a somewhat decent sized bar attached. We were all pretty shocked to see the prices have drastically went down. I remember going to Vincent’s and easily paying over $20 dollars for a large pizza, though its possibly only with this location. I was hoping this downgrade in price did not reflect in the pizza.
Now I know that most of us can put down half or whole large in a sitting on any given day, but with a Vinnie Pie, you’d be setting yourself up for failure. Plus,we had a long day in front of us, so we ordered up a large plain a large pepperoni. There was no way I was only having one slice of my favorite pizza even though I knew I would have to cut a slice off somewhere throughout the day from another place. It was worth it.
Service was fast and the pizza was delicious. It’s always fun taking newcomers to Vincent’s and being able to see their reaction when it arrives and hearing their opinion on one of my favorite pizzas.
So here is the breakdown. Remember, this breakdown reflects that of the entire group
Crust: 8/10 –You can’t ask for a better crust than this. Two things that amaze me; one, how you can make a crust so big and crunchy yet be SO soft and airy on the inside, and two, how in the hell does this same crust hold the entire pizza underneath!? The way the underside of the crust just absorbs all of the grease and on bite, melts in your mouth. It’s a godsend.
Sauce: 7/10 –I was actually just telling a friend the other day, that when I’m eating a Vinnie Pie, I never really notice the sauce. I’m not sure if you can consider this a good or bad thing, but I always get pepperoni and it seems to dominate this pizza, so I think could be why. Everyone else seemed to enjoy it giving it a 7/10.
Cheese: 8/10 –Everyone is always so eager to dig into this pizza as soon as it comes out. WAIT! Give it 5 minutes. There is a hefty helping of cheese on here, and you’ll have the tragic “slid off the crust” effect. Just give yourself 5 minutes; really, you’ll thank me later. The best thing about the cheese isn’t the taste itself, its when you find that perfect slice, pull it off, and you see that hunk of cheese that is still left on the tray from all the other slices being cut and people not grabbing it. You better grab it. That’s the best part!
Toppings: 9/10 –If you only order cheese here, I’d say you’re missing out big time. The pepperoni is the most ridiculous trifecta of flavor you will ever have. Three different kinds, all chopped/sliced and thrown on in the most generous of ways, I’m telling you that you will never have more toppings on a pizza elsewhere. Be careful when getting any kind of vegetable on this pizza. Since they are all freshly cut, they become very watery and form puddles on your pizza. If you must get veggies, ask for them to go light…but they’ll probably laugh at you. I would.
Presentation: 9/10 –You might need to bring a change of underwear when this thing hits your table. It’s massive, the colors are beautiful. More than likely it will haunt your dreams in the best of ways.
Overall Grade: 41/50 – 82% – It’s funny how even with one of the best pies out there, the grades don’t reflect it. But again, that’s just my opinion. Too all the cry babies out there who say that this is the greasiest mess of a pizza in the city, you would be right. I’ll keep eating it, and I wont be dabbing a napkin on it to soak any of it up.
You NEED to go to Vincent’s.
Disclaimer: If you think that my grading scale is harsh, remember that I grade each trip as its own experience. Have I had a perfect slice? Nah. I’d basically say that if something I review gets better than a 70%, I’d go again and more than likely tell you to go as well. I don’t even think my favorite pizza place would get a 100% and if it did, there would be no reason to do this blog other than my love for pizza. Remember, the quest for the perfect slice. That’s what I’m after.
Reminder, that for the next few entries the vote will reflect that of our entire group which I would still agree with for the most part.
Where we were: Jioio’s Restaurant
Address: 939 Carbon Road, Greensburg, PA 15601
What we ordered: 3 Large Plain/Pep and Medium Plain/Pep
Price: $108 (including beers, pop) split 18 ways. Ha. ($6 a person then tip)
Review: Jioio’s was the first stop on the Greater Pittsburgh Pizza Cruise. The majority of us live around the city, so I decided that we needed to start at the furthest point and work our way back in. It was a rainy, cold and typical Pittsburgh afternoon. We all met at roughly 1pm. I was surprised to see everyone in their seats by 1:15pm!
When I told the waitress we had 18 people coming, she thought I was joking and I assured her I was not. We filled up the entire back part of the dining room and ordered up some beers while waiting for everyone to show up. As more and more people came in, the chatter became louder and louder with excitement. See, we were headed to 5 other places after this. A group full of pizza loving, gluttonous men set to spend an entire day drinking beer and eating pizza, what could be better? Only half of the group had been to a Jioio’s before, so I was curious to see what everyone thought. I passed out the rule sheets and official voting ballots. The pizza came out. This pizza cruise has officially started.
Let’s get to that breakdown. Remember for the next few entries the rankings for each category are reflected as that of the entire group.
Crust: 7/10 – Jioio’s crust is sweet, sugary sweet. Square cut, very thin, crispy and flaky. I personally like the crust; it gets to be a bit much after a few slices, though. This trip it was a little undercooked, making it not as crispy as I (we) usually have it.
Sauce: 7/10 –Not only is the crust sweet, but so is the sauce, thus being the reason some people can either do with or without this pizza. My max has always been 3 slices at Jioio’s. It’s like an “insert girly liquor drink here”. You can only have too much before you start to feel you may have crossed the line of too much sweetness.
Cheese: 7/10 –There is a very thin layer of cheese on Jioio’s, and it pairs so well with everything else going on in here. It’s like when you bite in there is so much flavor, the crust separates from the cheese and everything in your life for a split second kind of seems perfect. I felt this was cooked to perfection and gave it a 9/10, but the overall voted otherwise.
Toppings: 6/10 –I stuck with the pepperoni slices here, though their pepperoni never really blows my mind. You could do just cheese here and be content.
Presentation: 7/10 –I’m not sure how this didn’t get a better score here than a 7. This pizza looks picture perfect every time you see it. That, and factor in the customer service from our fantastic waitress, I went 9/10 here. Most people didn’t know at the start what to include with presentation, but overall a 7/10 is still a good score.
Bonus + 2 –I’m gonna go ahead here and do Jioio’s some justice and give them 2 extra points for their great accommodating service. This dining room is small, and the wait staff did an excellent job taking care of us. Eighteen guys, all that pizza and beer and we were out of there in under an hour.
Overall Grade: 36/50 –72%
My Personal Take: I grew up about 15 minutes from Jioio’s, but I didn’t really experience it until I was about 17 years old. There are three locations, Latrobe (original), Greensburg (everyone’s favorite) and the somewhat newer location in North Huntingdon. People will try and tell you that they all have a different taste and you need to go to the Greensburg one for the best, but I don’t really buy that. I’ve had the North Huntingdon one numerous times and really don’t see a difference at all.
What makes Jioio’s so unique is that it could probably be classified as a “dessert” pizza. It’s one of those places that if you’ve heard of it, but never had it; you need to at least try it. You’ll love it, hate it…or be slightly in the middle, like myself.
Disclaimer: If you think that my grading scale is harsh, remember that I grade each trip as its own experience. Have I had a perfect slice? Nah. I’d basically say that if something I review gets better than a 70%, I’d go again and more than likely tell you to go as well. I don’t even think my favorite pizza place would get a 100% and if it did, there would be no reason to do this blog other than my love for pizza. Remember, the quest for the perfect slice. That’s what I’m after.
Entries for the Pizza Cruise show a combined vote from all 18 participants, not just my own.
“Mineo’s is better than Aiello’s” Justin said to his friends.
“I agree, but Fiori’s is better than both of them combined” Ian said.
“You were so in love with Mineo before you met Fiori” Justin replied.
Josh shrugged and said “Mineo’s better step up their game if they want to stay on top”.
Steve turned around. “Brah, Jioio’s in Greensburg crushes em both, brah” he said.
“You all are out of your minds, Vincent’s is the king! RIP Vinnie”, Derek yelled.
“You know what, its time to put this to rest,” Ian said. “We’re going to set forth on a cruise, a Pizza Cruise. One of the greatest that Pittsburgh has ever seen. We will gather a panel of pizza experts to determine the best pizza and put this all to rest.” Ian then stood up on a table in the middle of Mineo’s and shouted, “We will be highly organized with a route, car pools, ballots, and hungry men. We’ll call it…The Greater Pittsburgh Pizza Cruise!” Cheers rang out that could be heard in Oakland. The people knew that once this was over, there would be a clear cut winner. Who would put forth their best pizza? Will we be able to conquer this almost seemingly insane adventure?
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. –The Pizza Gatsby.
Ok, so you get the idea. I didn’t quite shout it to the world like that, but it does make for a better visualization. October 1 st ,2011 was D-Day.
The Greater Pittsburgh Pizza Cruise consisted of originally 5, then 10, then 30 and back down to 18 people (when it came down to the actual day) to set forth on a journey of over 66 miles, six pizza establishments and over eight hours of pure fun/gluttony. I sent all attendees a message via Email/Facebook/Text message, asking them to give me their top five favorite places to eat pizza. From that, I created the lineup that was to be; Jioio’s, Vincent’s, Sir Pizza (wild card), Fiori’s, Aiello’s and finally Mineo’s.
There was excitement, debating and arguing the entire way up until the day of the cruise. We were all to meet at 1pm at Jioio’s in Greensburg (the furthest point). So prior to that day I called ahead and let each place know we would be rolling deep and possibly filling up your entire restaurant (which we did with almost every place we stopped).
Over the course of this week, I will be posting each stop each day.
So onto our first stop, Jioio’s…
Update to come.
Pittsburgh Pizza 