The 2nd Best Thing at Pizzeria Vetri is Still Not Pizza

Last year we wrote about Pizzeria Vetri and told everyone that the best thing to eat there isn't even pizza. It's the rotolo. Turns out the second best thing is still not pizza, but the calzone. 

The calzone didn't cross our eating radars until we dined at the kitchen counter at the new Center City location on Chancellor Street. The secret must be out, as the pizza creators were busy making calzones one after another. After spending an hour drooling, we knew the calzone was on our hit list. 

The prosciutto cotto and ricotta stuffed, folded pizza is a mouthwatering delight of tastiness. Vetri's light and slightly sweet pizza dough somehow tastes even better as a calzone than pizza. 

While the pizza is certainly some of the best in the city, trust us and go try the calzone. Of course, get a rotolo on the side and the daily thick crust (the third best thing!). 

*Kid-Friendly? Absolutely, especially the new location. It's down the street from our day care and has become the perfect spot for a bite and beer. There is plenty of room inside for your stroller. 

Two warnings though, First, the bathroom did not have a changing table. Second, be careful when you sit outside - the pizza oven vent is up above and at times can be unbearable. Kids or no kids, I'd suggest sitting just inside near the window to avoid the fumes. Awful. 

Gennaro's: Is this Pizza Better than Pizzeria Beddia?

Philly has taken center stage in the nation's Pizza Wars with Bon Appétit naming Pizzeria Beddia the best in America. Sadly, we have not been there yet, and with the lines now reaching preposterous levels, I am not sure we will at all. Anyone want to wait in line and deliver us a pie?

That leaves us chasing the best of the rest, which are probably just as good, like Pizzeria Vetri, Pizza Brain and Square Pie (our current favorite). An overlooked place to throw into the mix is Gennaro's Tomato Pie in South Philly.

Mike Giammarino's cash only, no reservations BYOB serves Philly a little slice of the old NYC Italian pizzerias such as Patsy's or John's of Bleecker Street. It makes sense, considering his family owns Lombardi's in Brooklyn and he ran the Center City spinoff that closed in 2005.

Giammarino returned to Philly in 2013 to open Gennaro's and we're glad he did. His thin crust pies are on par, if not better than, many of the new joints popping up everywhere. Gennaro's low key, neighborhood vibe is enjoyable as well.



We ordered two styles - the white pizza with mozzarella and ricotta cheese and our favorite plain tomato pie with mozzarella, crushed tomato and olive oil. Both were fresh with the distinctive thin crust providing a nice crisp bite.

Old school NYC pizzerias are known for delivering delicious charred taste out of coal-fired ovens. Lacking its own coal oven, Gennaro's suggests cooking their pies a little longer to mimic the flavor. Our pies tasted more burnt than charred so we'd skip that step.

Gennaro's has a new spot on Passyunk Square called Grace & Pat's that serves up "Grandma Style" pies. If the thicker, but not Sicilian thick pizzas, are anything like my Italian grandmother's then I will be a regular visitor. Craig Laban is a big fan. Has anyone been yet?



*Kid-friendly? Yes, Gennaro's is very casual and a fine place to bring kids. There are fun, vintage photos and decor on the walls, and of course the food is right up any kid's ally. It's not huge and the tables are tight, though, so you might want to leave the stroller in the car or by the door.

Where to Eat in Ocean City, NJ

If you follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, you would have seen the play-by-play of our Ocean City, NJ, vacation last week. It was the perfect family trip with a newborn. We lucked out with five beautiful beach days and four grandparents eager to occupy the little guy, giving us a healthy break.

Cookouts, crabs and ice cream took over our menu for the week. Our Twitter friends offered some solid recommendations but we also just went for whatever was convenient and looked good at the time. Here's a quick recap of some of the best things we ate in Ocean City in case you hit the beach this summer.

Browns Doughnuts - also serves full breakfast!

Sunrise Cafe Meat Lover's breakfast sandwich

No trip is complete without a hunt for the best doughnuts. We ate an exceptional volume of them last week, from the Fractured Prune (made hot to order in all sorts of fun flavors), to Cathy's 14th St Cafe (more traditional, fluffy style and very good) to the famous Browns Restaurant. Browns came to us via Twitter as a Laban family favorite. With only six flavors of fairly small doughnuts, sold at $5 for a half dozen, it's worth getting one of each to try a bite and pick your own winner. Bradd's favorite was honey glazed; despite being a chocolate girl, I actually liked the vanilla frosted most. All six were fantastic little creations, hot and slightly crunchy on the outside. Browns is at the very north end of the Ocean City boardwalk so walk or ride a bike there to make up for eating waaaay to many of them.

The Sunrise Cafe was a little corner breakfast/lunch shop near our rental house. Big portions of pancakes and french toast, perfectly cooked eggs and tasty smoothies kept our family satisfied for breakfast a few mornings. The highlight had to be the meat lover's egg sandwich, shown above. Holy moly. This sandwich was loaded with full servings of pork roll, scrapple and bacon for only $6.50. That will fill you up before hitting the beach.

Manco & Manco Sicilian pie

Tomato pie at Bennie's Bread

On the pizza front, who can resist a slice (or seven) of Manco & Manco pizza? Bradd had his share throughout the week but one day on the beach we tried something new - their Sicilian pie. We highly recommend it for a change. The hearty thick crust pie will feed the whole family. Bradd also stopped in Bennie's Bread, an Italian bakery and market with meats, cheeses and delicious slices of tomato pie. Get there early for fresh slices topped with basil.

Jibarito Puerto Rican sandwich on flattened plantains, empanadas and zucchini fries from D'Caribbean

Coconut crusted tilapia at Cousin's Restaurant, two nice size pieces of fish plus rice and veggies

For lunch in downtown Ocean City, check out D'Caribbean. The casual Caribbean bistro seems a little out of place among the beachware clothing stores and American fried food that typically occupy Main Streets at the shore. But free samples of their excellent empanadas drew us right in to order more. D'Caribbean also makes good little sandwiches and smoothies, served with a smile by enthusiastic staff. Nice break from the boardwalk food.

We cooked and ate dinner on the porch most nights, but ventured out one evening to Cousin's in the north end of Ocean City at 1st & Asbury. It satisfied our need for a seafood dinner with a big menu covering everything from coconut tilapia to fresh grouper to crabs & spaghetti. Remember Ocean City is a dry town so no bar or BYOB. Have happy hour at home first. And if you really want a great meal, hire Bradd's dad to make blue crabs cooked in homemade pasta sauce and stuff yourself into oblivion...

Wherever you vacation this summer, enjoy! 

Philadelphia Pizza Craze Part Two: Square and Thick Crust Pies

The thing about pizza is that it can warm you up on a chilly winter night, fill your tummy after a long summer day at the beach, and everything in between. It's the perfect food for any time of year and you can't go wrong at many of Philly's pizza spots, new and old.

This post, the second in our quick series on Philadelphia's latest pizza craze, shares four square and thicker crust pies that we think are among the best in Philly. As we mentioned last post, we take with a grain of salt any discussion about the single "best" pie - especially when so many of today's hot new pizza joints are cooking with a similar style (like the ultra-thin Neapolitan pies that are all the rage).

To help you sample several of the "best" pizza in Philly - new and old - here are a few more pizzas we think you should try next. 

Salciccia from Square Pie with sausage, peppers, onions, mozzarella and red sauce. Brought to us by Gene Giuffi, the owner of Cochon BYOB, find these new square pies in the old Blue Belly BBQ corner in Queen Village. Giuffi taps his Brooklyn roots to make these thick crust, Sicilian-style pies, adding his own flair with meat toppings reminiscent of pork-focused Cochon just across the street. It's nice to see someone focusing on any other style than Neapolitan and they do a great job with a really thick crust.

The Salcicca from Square Pie Phily

Philadelphia Pizza Craze Part One: Are Neapolitan Pies the Best Pizza in Philly?

Philadelphia's pizza craze has reached bubble territory with the likes of Capofitto, Square Pie and Brigantessa all opening in the last few weeks, and Pizzeria Vetri, Bufad and several others not too long before them. It's as if the pizza gods are trying to make up for years of limited options by ensuring a quality place is on every city block.

We're big fans of the bubble like anyone else, but as pizza simpletons we take with a grain of salt the constant in-your-face debate about the best pie. It's easy to tell when pizza is bad. But as one of the greatest foods on Earth, pizza inadvertently imposes a real challenge in separating the "best" from 2nd, 3rd and even 4th best - especially when so many of today's popular pies are similar in style (ultra-thin Neapolitan being all the rage right now). 

To help you sample some of the "best" pizza in Philly - new and old - our next two blog posts will share eight great thin and thick crust pizzas.

Let's start with some of our favorite thin crust pies, in no particular order:

Nomad's Margarita pizza. Now with two locations and a food truck, Nomad's Neapolitan-style pizza is never more than a few steps away. And it's super light so you can polish off this whole sucker by yourself. Many say it's the "best" and most authentic Neapolitan in Philly but you should decide that for yourself.

Nomad's Margarita Pizza

Pizza and Beer Make the Right Summer Combo at Dock Street Brewery

If you haven't ventured up Baltimore Ave into West Philadelphia, it's worth a trip. A mix of African restaurants, the lively Clark Park, another installment of Little Baby's Ice Cream and more have made it yet another great food destination for Philadelphia, but one that's still largely under-hyped (kinda nice that way). 

One spot we've heard great things about for years is Dock Street Brewery. Finally on a perfectly warm night this spring our neighbors took us there for a pizza and beer feast under the stars. It's definitely a fun place for a group, not only because of the laid back atmosphere and big tables, but because more people = more pizzas to try. The four pies below (two large, two small) plus an appetizer was plenty of food for six people. All the pies come in large or small sizes.  

There are all sorts of unique ingredient combos to keep things interesting at Dock Street and distinguish it enough from so many other gourmet pizza + wine/beer joints around Philadelphia. This was certainly the first time we had mustard on a pizza! I loved the crust, too, always a critical factor. And of course Dock Street is a brewery so it offers a host of original and tasty beers to try. There are a number of seats out front on the sidewalk so try to score one this summer. Here's what we ate:

Appetizer: trio of regular fries, sweet potato fries and grilled leeks (the leeks were the real kicker here, such a great idea that we need to try at home):

Mellow Yellow Pizza: Brown mustard, creme fraiche, portobello, white mushroom, mozzarella, gruyere, topped with scallions:

For Your Next Weekend Trip to Brooklyn

Confession: we'd never been to Brooklyn before December 2013 (except when Bradd ran through the borough during the NYC marathon). Some say Brooklyn is now the "hottest" place to be with endless great food and shops. Others say it's "so last year" and all the cool kids have already moved on to other [cheaper] boroughs. Well, all we know is that we had a great little weekend getaway - and ate tons of great food - so if you are looking for a foodie excursion, consider Brooklyn.

Here are a few reasons why:

Skirt steak and basil spaghetti from Chimu, a Peruvian restaurant in Williamsburg. We wandered in at 5:15pm on a Saturday to an already-half-full restaurant and were wow'd with every bite. Chimu's ceviche mixto appetizer is an absolute must-order. It's an enormous blend of mussels, shrimp, crab and white fish cooked ever so delicately in lime and cilantro.

After the ceviche, the skirt steak must be the most popular dish at Chimu, as all three people at the table next to us ordered it. The meaty cut of tender, simply yet perfectly seasoned steak is served over a heap of green spaghetti - so much that I made an entire dinner the next night out of my leftover pasta and some fresh shrimp. Basil sauce coats the spaghetti without drowning it and tasted just as good the next day. This dish is fantastic on its own, but you can kick it up another notch by asking for a side of chimichurri.

Peruvian basil spaghetti and skirt steak at Chimu

The Best Thing at Pizzeria Vetri is Not Pizza.

Sometimes you have to dig a little into a menu to find the real gems.

Recent example: Pizzeria Vetri displays a simple chalkboard menu of 8 pizza options, plus 3 house special items, 3 salads and 3 desserts. It also offers a healthy list of draft, canned or bottled beer, wine and cocktails.

Marc Vetri + pizza. What could be better than that?? I'll tell you what's better than that. The house specials. Don't get me wrong, the pizza my friends and I inhaled at Pizzeria Vetri was great. Was it noticeably better than Zavino, Stella, Osteria, Nomad or the plethora of other fancy pizza/wine spots in Philadelphia? Not really. But that's ok, they're all great.

Pizza Brain in Fishtown for Food & Fun

We are very excited about all the new pizza places opening in Philly. Our last pizza post was on Bufad at 13th and Spring Garden. Today, the infamous Pizza Brain!

Pizza Brain is two things: a great local shop for slices and full pies of straight up good pizza AND and home to the world’s largest collection of pizza memorabilia (as certified by the Guinness Book of World Records).

Forbes Waggensense

The red and white pies have a slew of funny names and creative toppings. We went with one classic, the Forbes Waggensense with mozzarella, fontina, grana padano, fresh basil and smoked pepperoni, and one inventive pie, the Queenie Delouche with fontina, goat cheese, mozzarella, shiitake mushroom, portabella mushroom, garlic, and fresh rosemary. These pies are BIG (16 in.) so two was plenty of food for four people.

The Forbes was unpretentiously awesome. Thin crust, fresh red sauce, tasty pepperoni and delicious basil. I'm originally from a NJ town close to New York and prefer the thin crust NY-style pizza. This was one of the first pizzas I've had in Philly that reminded me of that.

Bufad Helps Kick Off a New Pizza Wave in Philadelphia

There's another wave of awesome pizza hitting Philadelphia. Thank goodness because we would not be the first comment that this city isn't exactly flourishing with good take out pizza. Sure, there are plenty of restaurants to get fancy pizza - Stella, Zavino, Osteria - and they are all great. In the next few weeks, we'll cover a few of the less-nonsense spots we've tried lately and will definitely be going back. 

Interior - handful of tables for 2-6 people, plus bar stools. 

Bufad was opened February 1 by the folks behind Prohibition Taproom. It's a straight up yet kinda funky 30-seat pizza shop at the corner of 13th and Spring Garden that was packed on a Thursday for lunch when I went (the photo is from after most of the crowd left).

The menu includes fancy-sounding starters that I didn't try, 3 salads, 6 personal size pizzas and a chalkboard of specials, including a soup and panini of the day and several inventive square slices, such as beet with ricotta and salsa verde.

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.

Night Market: Nomad Pizza

we are live blogging from the Night Market in Chinatown tonight. First attempt, testing it out on an iPhone and an Android. Check out this vendor - Nomad Pizza. They have a portable wood fired oven.

Ten Things You Need to Know about Tacconelli's Pizzeria

For more than a year, our neighbors raved about some pizza place in Port Richmond and shared tales of renting cars just to drive there on Friday nights. Finally I said enough is enough. A group outing of 10 neighbors was organized, two coolers of beer packed, and our caravan hit the road for Tacconelli's Pizzeria.

Fresh pizza by John Tacconelli in his 20' x 20' brick oven

About an hour later, out of a massive, 20 ft. x 20 ft. brick oven came, hands-down, the best pizza we've ever had in Philadelphia.

Tacconelli's dates back to 1918, when Giovanni Tacconelli arrived in the U.S. and started baking brick oven bread just as he'd done in Italy. Today, the same spot is a stronghold of Port Richmond and a well-kept secret among pizza lovers in Philadelphia. Save for a mention of the giant oven in Philly Mag, we'd never heard a peep about Tacconelli's beyond our neighbors. And yet, it's packed every Wed-Sun night.

It would be a tough trek for tourists, but is a must-visit for locals. Before you go, consider these points, as Tacconelli's is far from your average pizza joint.

Ten Things You Need to Know about Tacconelli's:

1) Go with a group. More people = more pizza to try. The slices are on the smaller side so you can handle a lot.

2) You must call ahead to reserve a table and order your dough by number of pies. Tacconelli's doesn't make more dough than is ordered in advance. More on how to order on the Tacconelli's website.

3) How much should you order? We had 10 people and 7 pizzas. That was a smidge more than enough but you can always take the extra home. Or just keep stuffing yourselves until every last slice is gone like we did. 

4) Expect to wait. Even if you made a "reservation" at 7:30pm, you may not sit right then. And if you do, it might be a while before your pizza arrives. That's just how it is. You can bring your own salad or other appetizers to hold you over, but the pizza is so damn good you don't want to fill up early.

5) There is a three topping max on each pizza but the owner sometimes prefers to limit it to two. We suggest at least one regular pie with cheese, red sauce and your favorite toppings, and one white pie with toppings. The white is loaded with garlic. It's freaking amazing.

6) Order the "signature," even if it's not listed on the menu. It's white pizza with spinach, chunks of tomato and garlic. A guaranteed favorite on its own, but even better with sausage added. Some nights the owner isn't cool with adding sausage (we suspect it could be tough on the thin crust, or he just prefers it as-is) but it is worth asking.

In addition to the signature, we devoured a pepperoni, a red pizza w/ onions, a white pizza w/ onions (another favorite of Tacconelli's regulars), a sausage, and a margherita. I don't think you can go wrong with any options.


7) Ask the waitress (likely a Tacconelli family member) for other suggestions. Otherwise, we never would have had our final pizza, and a new group favorite - white pizza with onions and peppers. Ahhhh I want some right now.

8) Bring cash and beer/wine - not just because it's a cash-only BYOB but also to feed the awesome old school juke box.

9) Look up the directions and location on a map ahead of time. Tacconelli's is just minutes off the Girard Ave exit on Rt. 95 but if you aren't familiar with Port Richmond, I could see it being a little confusing to navigate. Drop off whoever is carrying the cooler and park on the street wherever you see a spot.

10) Don't expect a jolly old Italian singing "That's Amore" behind a counter. John Tacconelli is a super nice guy, but he is also the extremely focused and devoted one-man show making the dough every morning and the pizza every night, so he rarely spends time out chatting with customers. He and the waitress were nice enough to let me take one really quick shot of John at the oven, but then I raced out of the kitchen before he got annoyed. Our neighbors are regulars and have started a friendly relationship with him, but you may only see his serious side.  

If these photos of Tacconelli's pizza don't make your mouth water, you need to take a serious look at your love for pizza.

Signature pizza - spinach, tomatoes, garlic

Signature close up.

Red pizza with onions

Must toast to friends!

Margherita

Pepperoni

Sausage

White with onions and peppers

There is a second location in Maple Shade, NJ, that some will say is better and has more stuff on the menu, but our trusted neighbor regulars swear by the original. Perhaps we'll get out that way to compare, but for now the legendary Port Richmond pizzeria is tops on our list of local favorites. 

The Original Tacconelli's Pizzeria

2604 East Somerset Street
Philadelphia, PA 19134
215.425.4983
http://www.tacconellispizzeria.com/