Porky's Pizza Palace - San Leandro

There are pizza joints that aspire to be classic pizza places and there are some that have been around long enough to be a classic themselves.

Porky's Pizza Palace in San Leandro is one of the later. It was opened in 1963 and is a landmark on the corner of Manor Boulevard and Farnsworth Street.

We started with cheesy bread which was only okay - the cheese was delicious but the bread could have used some more garlic and butter.

The pizza was wonderful - the crust was the midway point between thin and thick. It was lightly crispy and perfectly chewy. The sauce was well flavored and they were very generous with the toppings. We had black olives and artichoke hearts on ours, Brian had jalapenos and anchovies. The cheese is mozzarella and they aren't stingy with that either.

In short, this is the sort of pizza that I think of when I crave a pie.

Midway Pizza

I went to Midway Pizza on Freret last night with a couple of friends. This place bills itself as the only Deep Dish/Chicago Style in New Orleans.

We started with bread sticks – there was a nice, gooey layer of cheese but the sticks were made from the pizza crust and were just a little too dense for my taste. Also, the accompanying sauce was pretty darn bland.

The pizza itself was plenty good – lots of cheese, a good quantity of toppings and a peppery quality to the sauce. The dough was chewy and had a lot of mouth appeal.

Because the pizza is deep dish, most folks will be fine with two slices. The three of us split a 14” and only one piece was left over.

The waitstaff was very friendly, with a number of them stopping by the table to check on things. They were quick with refills and fixing our rocking table.

If you’re a deep dish fan, this is definitely a place to go.

Theo's Neighborhood Pizza

My Mom is in town, so we splurged on pizza for her travel day. I went and picked up the pizza from Theo's Neighborhood Pizza down on Magazine Street.

We started with an order of cheesy bread sticks. They had lots of garlic and mozzarella and were very dense and delicious.

The pizza itself is thin crust with a full-bodied tomato sauce and fresh toppings. We had the pepperoni and mushrooms with mozzarella. Mega yummy! One of New Orleans' best pizzas and definitely the place to go if you like crispy crust.

Pizza Tonight!

I love pizza and I always keep the ingredients for it on hand for those nights when I have a craving. My personal favorite is pepperoni, mushroom, artichoke hearts. I use frozen artichoke hearts rather than canned, as they don't taste quite so citrusy from the anti-browning agents. While you can buy ready to go pizza dough from the grocery store and even some pizza parlors, for this quick pizza I use a tube of pizza dough.

Skillet Pizza
1 tube pizza dough
1 can tomato sauce
2 tsp dried sweet basil
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1 small can button mushroom, sliced
1/2 package of pepperoni slices
6 or so artichoke halves, chopped
2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put a 12 inch cast iron into the oven during the preheat.

Heat the tomato sauce in a small saucepan. Add in the seasonings and heat over a small flame. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Take the pizza dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface until it is about 12 inches round.

Pull the skillet out of the oven and drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil in the bottom to coat. Lightly sprinkle in some corn meal.

Place the pizza crust into the skillet and build up the edges. Brush with a little more olive oil and bake for 3 to 5 minutes.

Remove skillet from oven and put on sauce, meat, veggies. Bake for 5 to 6 minutes. Put on cheese and slide back into the oven for about 5 minutes more--pizza is done with cheese is golden and bubbly.

Let pizza stand for 3 to 5 minutes to keep from burning the roof of your mouth with that first bite. Cut and serve with a nice, full bodied red wine.

Ancora Pizzeria and Salumeria

Ancora Pizzeria and Salumeria is part of the Freret Street resurgence. Located just a block or so off Napoleon, they serve authentic Neapolitan pizzas. What does that mean? These pizza's are cooked in a wood fired pizza oven imported from Naples that gets up to 850 degrees and cooks the pizza in 45 to 80 seconds. With that fast of a bake, the toppings have to be minimal and crust super thin. That also means that every item must be at the peak of flavor. What is so good about Ancora is that they are.

We started with drinks (Charlotte had an adult root beer float and I had an Italian sidecar) and a meat plate with a mix of house-made cured meats. While I'm not a fan of headcheese, everything else on the board was delicious and almost too rich. I could have used a piece of bread with the slices but, as the pizza was coming, I just enjoyed the meat.

We ordered the Margherita pizza with tomato, fior di latte and basil. The tomato was bright, the cheese was in slices, so it didn't cover quite enough but was perfectly melted and the basil added a terrific flavor. I really enjoyed the crust--lightly chewy and puffed on the edges. Because the pizza's are so thin and only about 11 inches, had there been any more of us at the table, we would have needed to order a second pizza.



We had glasses of Italian wine with the meal--Charlotte with a rose and me with a Feudi di San Gregorio red. The wine list is set up with pairs for each pizza and her choice was good and the waiter steered me well on his recommendation.

We missed out on the chocolate dessert and ended up just getting the cookie plate. All right but nothing particularly noteworthy (although I'll skip the anise flavored one next time).

There weren't that many other folks in the place but there was a bit of ambient noise. It would probably be pretty loud on a busier night. The bartender and both waiters swung by the table regularly to check in and refill the water. Everyone was friendly and quick with suggestions, especially when we told them that we hadn't ever been in before.

Bowzer's Pizza in Alameda

We took a little drive last night over to Alameda, a small island in the SF Bay adjacent to Oakland. We made the drive because all of us were craving pizza and Bowzer's Pizza is worth going out of your way for.

As you can see, there wasn't much left:

The crust was New York style thin and cooked to perfection and the toppings were plentiful and high quality from local vendors. The cheese was just gooey enough and the sauce wasn't too sweet. The slices totally hit the bullseye!

Despite all the TV's in the place turned to Disney Channel, there weren't that many children in the place and those that were present were accompanied by adults and pretty well behaved.

13 Bar and Restaurant

13 on Frenchman is the perfect place to go for good bar food and a well stocked bar. It is the week of St. Patrick's and I decided to support the Irish and fill the craving for pizza that I've been enduring for the past few days. It is just down the street from where I was volunteering, so I ordered one of their personal 10" pizzas for pickup. Thin crust, peppery sauce, lots of cheese and made in less than 15 minutes--it totally hit the spot.

Rotolo's Pizzeria

I took a break from work the other day to go up to the Rotolo's Pizzeria on Rampart street with a couple of Forum For Equality Board members and the new Managing Director (she's replacing me). This was my first time at this Louisiana chain--they're mainly in the Baton Rouge area but they're expanding into the Greater New Orleans area.

Billed as the "Official Pizza of the New Orleans Saints," our large pizza was loaded with fresh ingredients--we had pepperoni, onions, mushrooms and extra cheese on our pie. The onion slices were large so you got more of an onion taste than the specks of diced onion some chains try to pass off to their customers. The pizza crust was nice and chewy and it stood up to the toppings. The rest of the diners enjoyed the Cesar salad and the BBQ chicken wrap was big in size and flavor.

This place was great for lunch service as the pizza was delivered quickly to the table. The service was excellent upstairs with fast refills on the drinks.

Reginelli's Pizzeria

My parents were in town last week and we spent the majority of the days working to whittle down a list of chores. On two of the nights, too tired to go out to any of the restaurants on my wish list, we ordered pizza for delivery.

Reginelli's Pizzeria is my first choice for pizza in New Orleans. I like Louisiana Pizza Kitchen and Theo's to go out to but for convenience and a wholly satisfying slice of pie, Reginelli's can't be beat. The delivery time is usually 35 to 45 minutes and the hand tossed pizza crust is chewy, the sauce is flavorful and the toppings fresh. I'm not much of a salad fan but the Ceasar is darn tasty.