I know, I know. I said I would be back February 1st and we are into March. What can I say, I was busy. So, lets get on with it… I blog therefore I am!
I discovered Spinato’s Pizza hidden deep within the bowels of a Tempe industrial park and I have to admit that I was skeptical to say the least. If one were looking for this place, it would be hard to find… perhaps that’s part of the mystique of Spinato’s Pizza. I mean seriously, how do people find this place? “Well, I was out at the office supply warehouse, and suddenly had a hankering for pizza… oh how convenient!” Yep….
Spinato’s is family owned and operated… straight out of Chicago. I know a thing or two about a thing or two but when it comes to pizza perhaps I need re-educated. I’ve always had this stereotype about Chicago Pizza. I always think of it as disgustingly thick, loaded with toppings and sauce, all buried so far under the cheese that you don’t even realize their presence, and then it sits like a brick in your stomach for three days so you finally have to go to the hospital and demand a stomach pumping so you can go on with your life. Spinato’s blew my stereotype out of the water.
Before I go on, let me preface this with the statement that I intended to go into Spinato’s to have a modest dining experience; yes, it would be a “dietary indiscretion” but in moderation. My experience turned so gluttonous that I will probably banned into the seventh circle of hell. Gluttony can only be described as one of the seven deadly sins whereby one takes pride in having so much food to show off, but will result in a moral backlash when confronted with the reality of those less fortunate. Let’s throw that concept out the door right now.
The interior of Spinato’s looked like it either used to be the corner of a warehouse or was being renovated. They only had around 10 tables and the place was packed. The menu is limited; it’s your typical pizza menu: Pizza, sandwiches, salads, a few pastas, etc. Besides the pizza, the item that caught my eye was the Spaghetti and meatball Calzone. This could be interesting, I thought to myself. We started off with an order of the Garlic Cheesy bread as an appetizer, a Spaghetti and meatball Calzone, and a Medium Pizza.
The garlic cheesy bread arrived first, it came out on a long plate, and when the aroma of garlic hit my nostrils, I wanted to dive into this thing like Kevin Smith going after every passengers’ peanuts on a Southwest flight. Grandma would have been proud, it went down like butter! The combination of fresh garlic, lots of butter, and Spinato’s signature sweet sauce makes this work.
Almost as if the stars were aligned, as soon as we finished the last piece of Garlic Cheesy Bread the Spaghetti and Meatball Calzone landed on our table. Since I had already concluded that Spinato’s sauce was ridiculously delightful, I was ecstatic to see that they cover the Calzone with this wonderful sauce. As the first bite of this thing hit my palate, my mouth exploded with all the wonderful textures and flavors of this unique Italian delight. The spaghetti, meatballs, and ricotta cheese stuffed inside a unique baked pastry is simply fantastic! I wondered to myself, was this creation the result of some mad scientist tucked away in a kitchen laboratory, or possibly some kids smoking pot who had the munchies one night and couldn’t decide if they wanted a Calzone, or if they wanted spaghetti… and said hell with it, we will have both!
Sadly, I started filling up. I can’t eat like I used to. What a drag. The Calzone was begging to be finished. Then, the star of the Spinato’s show arrived. I suddenly got a second wind.
The pizza is a traditional round pie cut into evenly sliced squares. I like that Spinato’s places it on a cooling rack on top of the pizza pan, allowing the air to circulate around it. We ordered a medium with sausage and pepperoni. Hallelujah, the crust is almost pastry like and embodied a perfect crispy texture. This crust and sauce complement each other nicely, as they should. I could probably just lock myself into a room with this pizza and not need much else. The good folks at Spinato’s have this art down to a science. The only downer I could comment on is that the mushrooms were clearly the canned variety. Other than that, this pie was damn near perfect. Thus far, clearly the best pizza I have tried in Phoenix.
I give Spinato’s the coveted, “Goes Down Like Butter” Award. They have 4 locations around the valley, and it’s worth a bit of a drive for good pizza. Cheers!
When I heard about a pizza happy hour, I knew I had to check it out for myself. I admit that I was skeptical, I mean how good can a $5 pizza really be? I expected mystery meat, moldy cheese, and runny spaghetti sauce on day old bread, ie. Alpo on a plate. But La Grande Orange Pizzeria blew me away! In fact it was one of the best pies that I’ve ever had.
The first thing that I noticed about La Grande Orange was its trendy interior. This place is no roadside diner. It was classy casual. The decor is similar to a hip New York City Italian eatery, and the staff were comfortably dressed in jeans and t-shirts. Our waiter was very pleasant and extremely helpful. We ordered drinks, a happy hour pizza, and dessert, and I was thoroughly impressed from start to finish.
Our waiter brought us an extensive wine list. Normally, when I order pizza, I’m sitting on my sofa at home, watching HBO with a six pack, so I was a bit thrown by a multi-page wine list at a pizza joint. But La Grande Orange has a great concept, because they have their own market attached to the restaurant, where you can pick out a bottle of wine (or ask your server to go grab it for you) and enjoy it with your dinner. Normally, I feel stupid when I order a $7 glass of house wine, knowing darn well that I could get the whole bottle at Safeway for $5.99. La Grande Orange doesn’t rip you off on wine– you only pay retail price for the bottle– what a deal! Although, I loved the wine concept, I was curious about the “Famous Sangria”. It was a delicious white wine, infused with citrus flavor, and garnished with a mountain of orange slices. What else would you expect from a place where the name translates to “The Big Orange”?
Here’s how the pizza happy hour works (9 p.m – close, Monday – Thursday). You get a plain cheese pie for $5, and then you can dress it up for a few extra bucks with goodies like prosciutto di san daniele, black forest ham, pepperoni, fresh arugula, sauteed mushrooms, corn, egg, and garlic. We opted for a pepperoni, garlic, and fresh basil pizza. When the pie came out, it looked amazing, and tasted even better. The crust was light and crispy, the pepperoni was thinly sliced and covered with fresh cheese, and the basil and garlic added a bit of extra flavor. There were no overpowering flavors because everything on this pizza meshed perfectly together.
The pizza was great, and not too filling. When our waiter asked us about dessert, I wasn’t overstuffed and thought that I could push my appetite, but probably shouldn’t. If you ever find yourself in this conundrum at La Grande Orange, push it and get dessert! Not only does this place have a market attached, it also has its own bakery. We asked our waiter about the red velvet cake, and he described it as an “upscale twinkie”. It sounded interesting, so we gave it a whirl. This dessert was no twinkee. It was a little slice of heavenly goodness! The cake was not overly sweet, incredibly moist, and tastefully layered with a light cream cheese frosting. We devoured it like a fat kid downs a Snickers before gym class!
Overall, I was diggin’ La Grande Orange. I know that the Phoenix New Times raves about The Parlor, but in this writer’s opinion, don’t waste your time there– give La Grande Orange a try for a less expensive and tastier pizza.
Recorded message that played when I opened my refrigerator:
“Agent Good Greasy Eats, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to drive over to Frasher’s Steakhouse & Lounge in Scottsdale, find parking, and gather intelligence about St. Louis Style Pizza. Should you or any of your contributors encounter a bad meal, the Secretary will disavow all knowledge of your actions. This message will self destruct in 5 seconds.”
Mission accepted. Wearing our best disguises, Agent Phantom Dining Companion and I headed over to Frasher’s Steakhouse & Lounge in Scottsdale to obtain intelligence about St. Louis style pizza.
Frasher’s Steakhouse & Lounge is a St. Louis themed restaurant located in the heart of Scottsdale. I had never heard of this place (nor St. Louis style pizza) until receiving my mission orders to have dinner there.
Right off the bat, I liked the ambiance of Frasher’s; it’s very laid back and comfortable. They keep the lights turned down and provide a lounging area with leather couches and a flat screen television. It’s a good place for a secret agent, and would also be a cool place to come on a Sunday to hang out, have a few beers and watch football. The menu had a wide variety of sandwiches, steaks, and BBQ selections. So far so good.
We deviated from our mission orders a bit by ordering the Toasted Ravioli appetizer. The Raviolis came out quickly; they were filled with a mild pepper jack cheese, flash fried, then served with a little bit of Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top and served with marinara sauce on the side. Absolutely delicious.
Finally, our mission objective arrived: a 10 inch “Original” pizza presented on a metal pan. After careful reconnaissance, it was determined that St. Louis style pizza is constructed on a cracker thin crust, made without yeast to keep it completely unleavened, and cut into small square pieces. The sauce was thin and slightly sweet. However, you won’t find any Mozzarella cheese this pie, it is made with a very unique cheese, called Provel. This delicious cheese is produced with cheddar, swiss, and provolone. It is soft at room temperature, with a gooey and almost buttery texture. Provel is the standard cheese used for St. Louis style pizza. For me, this was a completely different approach to pizza.
The prices were reasonable, $5 for the raviolis and $12 for the pizza. Service was pretty good too. Our server was very attentive and kept our drinks full. We deviated from the mission once more at the end by ordering the Chocolate Amaretto brownie, but it was well worth it.
We left Frasher’s Steakhouse & Lounge with good St. Louis style pizza intelligence and full bellies.
Mission Accomplished.
Frasher’s Steakhouse & Lounge
2122 N Scottsdale Rd
Scottsdale, AZ 85257
(480) 429-9544 http://www.frashers.com
The Yelpers have been going crazy over this new pizza place called The Parlor up on Camelback Road so I thought I would drop by and check it out for myself. My dining companions and I stopped in around 10:30 PM and the hostess seated us in the bar area. The ambiance is nice; hip yet comfortable, with a focus on wood decor. The menu is interesting. They have a number of appetizers, salads, sandwiches, and pasta selections. They also had some interesting specials on the blackboard above the bar. The soup this evening was Spiced Cantaloupe with prosciutto. My focus on this trip was to try the pizza though. We ordered a pitcher of Coors light and 2 pies. The Parlor doesn’t seem to do made to order pizzas, they have a selection of a number of pizza themes, like a Pesto Pizza, Yukon Gold Potato Pizza, Pepperoni Pizza, etc. We ordered a Pepperoni Pie and a Yukon Gold Potato Pie.
The pies came out about 15 minutes later and we were all over them like Roseanne Barr on a Las Vegas Buffet. The Pepperoni pie featured very large pepperoni slices, fresh basil and mozzarella. The crust was fantastic, cooked in a wood or coal fired oven. It was very light and crispy. Unfortunately the Parlor loses points on the sauce; it was too light and too bland. I could barely detect any sauce on this pizza at all. The Yukon Gold pizza was also pretty good; it featured roasted potatoes, Gorgonzola cheese, and fresh leeks. It was a nice mix of flavors. Both Pizzas were pretty reasonable at $10 for each 8 inch pie.
Although the food was pretty good, Parlor is going to lose a couple points on service. The bartender who was taking care of us this evening was somewhat inattentive towards us and it took her a while to clear our plates and another 20 minutes to bring us our check because she was busy talking with people at the bar. Overall, it was a pretty good dining experience and I think The Parlor is going to be a contender for a new popular pizza joint in Phoenix because of it’s trendy atmosphere, good location, and nice selection of food and drinks. As far as the pizza is concerned, it’s decent although I didn’t find it too exciting. Final opinion? It’s good but there is better.
I know, I know. I said I would be back February 1st and we are into March. What can I say, I was busy. So, lets get on with it… I blog therefore I am!
The garlic cheesy bread arrived first, it came out on a long plate, and when the aroma of garlic hit my nostrils, I wanted to dive into this thing like Kevin Smith going after every passengers’ peanuts on a Southwest flight. Grandma would have been proud, it went down like butter! The combination of fresh garlic, lots of butter, and Spinato’s signature sweet sauce makes this work.
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Although the food was pretty good, Parlor is going to lose a couple points on service. The bartender who was taking care of us this evening was somewhat inattentive towards us and it took her a while to clear our plates and another 20 minutes to bring us our check because she was busy talking with people at the bar. Overall, it was a pretty good dining experience and I think The Parlor is going to be a contender for a new popular pizza joint in Phoenix because of it’s trendy atmosphere, good location, and nice selection of food and drinks. As far as the pizza is concerned, it’s decent although I didn’t find it too exciting. Final opinion? It’s good but there is better.
