January 12, 2012

Stogie Joe's Tavern: Square Pizza and Meatballs in South Philly

Stogie Joe’s Tavern has been on our to-do list ever since it made the 2010 Best of Philly. It took a year and half, but we finally made it with some friends and family before a Flyers game.

It surely will not take another year to visit Stogie Joe’s. The square pan pizza was amazing and the meatball sandwich lived up to the great review that a co-worker had given it.

Stogie Joe’s reminds me of Tacconelli’s. Neither will overwhelm you with the with latest and greatest food craze such as Spanish tapas or pork belly this/that. They are just every-man places offering food that has passed the test of time. The service is average, but you go for the experience of eating and drinking at a simple place doing it right, not the glamour of a fine dining establishment. I love places like Stogie Joe’s.

Better with the tomato sauce on top... 

Our group may as well have attempted to eat the whole menu. Between us all, we had plain square pizza, several strombolis, and meatball and chicken parm sandwiches.



Let’s start with the pizza. Stogie’s is right up there with Tacconnelli’s as some of the best pizza we’ve had. Besides the square shape, the pie is upside down with the sauce on top of the cheese. It's hard to pinpoint why the taste is different because the ingredients are the same. I’ve always enjoyed the upside down style of pizza and I'm curious why more shops don't do it.

I think I ate an entire pie myself. It is that addicting. The sauce is perfectly sweet for my taste. You can tell the dough is fresh, too - it's homemade daily. According to DoughBoys, Stogie Joe's uses the same original family recipe as Santucci's, which we keep hearing is awesome, too (makes sense).

Meatball sandwich. So good!

The meatball sandwich lands near the top of Sandwich Quest. The flavor of the homemade meatballs was able to cut through the sharp provolone and sauce, which many meatball sammies fail to accomplish. At $7.00, the meatball sandwich is also a steal. Places such as Marabella’s Meatball Co. charge $8.50 for a similar sandwich. The others raved about their strombolis, which are also a bargain at $8.00 and big enough to share, as shown in this photo.

Pepperoni and cheese stromboli

In today’s environment of micro brews and beer lists that take up entire walls (which I love, don't me wrong), it can be refreshing to not feel out of place ordering cheap buckets of Miller High Life. In fact, it was the recommendation of our waitress. Great idea when indoor-tailgating before a Flyers game.

Stogie Joe’s is definitely worth the visit. Remember to bring cash because credit cards are not accepted.


3 comments:

Kristen said...

I totally agree about the pizza! We live right around the corner and get it almost every Sunday (it was a great but also terrible discovery). During Eagles games, or maybe its all NFL games, you can get really cheap buckets of beer, including a craft bucket for like $20.

A and J said...

i wonder how this place compares to santucci's... i need to try one or the other (or both?) asap!

Melissa said...

The picture of that stromboli is making me drool.