bollini's pizzeria

bollini's
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

#25 on my 101 in 1001 list (11/143)
so the best pizza i've had to date is still one made by dom at di fara pizzeria in brooklyn, but this pizza is pretty damn good, almost 5 stars good, maybe even better than fancy mozze good, but i'll have to return to try the others.

it's a small, warm shop with a wood-fired oven where they make thin crust neapolitan pizza, my favorite kind of pizza. they were out of a few items, including the stuffed mushrooms which sound fabulous, and the arugula salad we wanted. they instead prepared a mixed green salad the same way as the arugula, with corn, cherry tomatoes, smoked bacon, sauteed mushrooms & goat cheese. it was a substantial and delicious salad.

for the pizza, we tried one of their signature pizzas, the cal twist. made with tomato sauce, basil pesto, shrimp, sun dried tomato, roasted peppers, mozzarella, herbs and parmesan, it was a flavorful combination of fresh ingredients. i liked how the ingredients were concentrated in areas rather than evenly distributed across the pizza so that as you ate from the point you get pesto, sweet peppers, then sweet tomato sauce and finally a firm piece of shrimp.

we are definitely coming back. the service was excellent. waitress was really nice, and one of the guys making pizzas kept coming by to check on us. seating is limited, but so worth the wait.

petrillo's pizza

petrillo's pizza
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

Petrillo's, a mom & pop pizzeria that also serves italian favorites, makes good old fashioned pizza. Their tomato sauce is sweet and salty, and they load their medium thick pizzas full of hearty ingredients. Though I prefer thin crust pizza, i thought this pizza was tasty, and like the proportion of the ingredients to the crust.

I went with a group, and we tried several of their pizzas, including the petrillo specialty, which is a supreme pizza with mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce, italian sausage, pepperoni, salami, mushrooms, onions and green bell peppers. They don't skimp on the toppings, especially the meat, on this one, which was the group favorite. The sausage was quite tasty with bits of fennel seeds that added a lot of flavor.

We also had a half pepperoni & black olives, half canadian bacon and pineapple, which they loaded up with toppings. Both were hearty and good combinations of flavors. The bianca, which has no tomato sauce, but is topped with mozzarella and romano cheese, fresh tomatoes and fresh basil, was the least favorite of the pizzas. It wasn't bad, but it was a little bland. The fresh basil was a nice touch, but with no tomato sauce or meat, it was on the cheese-y side. I think if they added pesto, it would be perfect.

In addition to the pizzas, we tried the antipasta salad, which consisted of italian cold meats, garbanzo beans, tomatoes, roasted peppers, black olives and pepperoncini over lettuce. The salad was a good balance, and quite large--enough to feed at least four people. We were tempted by another table's order of spaghetti and meatballs, which comes with several huge meatballs. The pasta was ok. I thought the sauce was good, and overall, the dish was typical of a mom and pop place.

I haven't tried any of the other dishes although the owner recommended the lasagna, but I felt that of the things we had, the pizza really was the star.