American pizza came to be 100 years ago . That’s when Gennaro Lombardi received the first license in New York City to run a pizzeria. The immigrant bread baker opened Lombardi’s pizzeria in 1905 at 531/2 Spring Street in New York City in 1905. Happy Birthday to our favorite food!

Read about this and other interesting pizza firsts Here

Read about Lombardi’s

 

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

 

The third and final stop in our Pittsburgh Square Pizza tour was another well known pizzeria called “Police Station Pizza” in Ambridge, PA. I learned that the real name is Pizza House, but no one calls it that. We almost didn’t make it in time to order as we arrived 10 minutes from closing time.

We were greeted by a friendly employee who asked us how many slices we wanted. You don’t have to tell them what kind you want because they don’t add toppings until the slices are ready. In fact, they only bake the pizza with sauce and cheese. Since we ordered pepperoni and mushrooms, they were piled onto our slices right before they closed the lid on the carry out box! A man next to me ordered extra cheese and was asked if he wanted that “melted”. This is because many people ask for uncooked shredded mozzarella to be added to the top of their pie after it comes out of the oven.

While I waited for the slices to cook, I asked if I could take a few photos. The gang at Police Station were great sports and actually came together for a group photo by the counter. They all said “pizza” and I snapped my favorite shot of the night.

Once our order was up, we headed for the van to eat our pizza before midnight. I must say that this was an outstanding pizza. The flavor of the sauce went perfect with the firm but tender crust and quality toppings. The fact that the toppings were uncooked didn’t bother me at all. The only negative thing about Police Station pizza is that it is about 5 hours from my home town! What a great ending to a perfect pizza night.

Stay tuned here at pizzamaniac.com for some square pizza as I try to imitate some of the inspiring shops I visited tonight!

Visit the Pizza House (aka Police Station Pizza)
1007 Merchant St
Ambridge, PA 15003-2329
Phone: (724) 266-3904

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©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

 

Our second stop in our Pittsburgh Square Pizza tour took us to Beto’s Pizza on Banksville Road. As soon as I got to the counter, I noticed a very tall man taking a large tray of pizza out of the oven. It struck me because there was only sauce on top of the dough. He proceeded to cut the sauced dough into square slices and place them in to go boxes. Then, he reached into a large bowl of wonderful looking fresh, shredded mozzarella cheese and placed a huge handful of it onto the slices that he just boxed. After piling cheese on, he loaded the box with pepperoni (there must have been a half pound of it), closed the lid and yelled “order up”!

As it turns out, Beto’s is famous for serving pizza this way – hot square crust topped with delicious sauce and cold but fresh toppings! We ordered four slices of pepperoni and mushroom pizza and the cashier told us that it tastes best if you eat it right away. So, we sat on a bench outside and opened our box. Once we figured out how to hold a Beto’s slice, we were digging in. I’ll admit I’m not the biggest fan of cold pizza and the cold toppings made me feel like that’s what I was eating. I should say, however, that the flavor and freshness of the cheese and toppings more than made up for the temperature. I can see why it is a favorite for many people.

It would be hard to eat more than two slices of this pie – mainly because of how much was piled on to the top of it. I held myself to one slice and we jumped into the van for our trip to yet another famous pizza place.

Visit Beto’s Pizza
1473 Banksville Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15216
Phone: (412) 561-0121

Tell them Pizzamaniac sent ya!

 

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

 

My dad works in Pittsburgh, PA and has been telling me that he wants to take me to his favorite pizza joint for a while now. This weekend, we finally got the chance to go for it! Our first stop was DiSalla’s in Munhall.

As we went into the shop I immediately felt right at home. Maybe it was the friendly people waiting for their pies or the Steelers paraphernalia I saw hanging around or the old world ambiance that was all around. The counter ran the entire length of the shop with a great looking deck oven in plain sight. It was hot and the place smelled delicious.

With a big smile on his face, my dad ordered 8 slices. It didn’t matter that there were only three of us, or that it was 8:00 PM, or even that we had at least two more pizza stops to make on our tour. The truth is, now that I’ve tasted the pie, I can understand. We got 4 sausage and mushroom and 4 pepperoni and mushroom.

I looked around while we waited and they had some great signs and posters on the walls. I snapped a few shots (with permission) and before I knew it our slices were up.

The pizza shops on our tour all served pizza in trays. I saw a stack of what appeared to be partially baked trays of dough which get topped and baked to completion when an order is placed. The slices are square and the toppings are placed on top of the cheese. I was delighted to see sliced sausage rather than balls of it. I knew from looking at it I was in for a treat.

The pizza was amazing. I think I can safely say that I’ve never tasted pizza like this. The sauce was sweet and the toppings were fresh. The dough had a light, crispy consistency but it wasn’t totally crunchy. It was far from the bread-like crust that you find in most New York style shops. It was love at first bite.

Needless to say, we devoured the slices as soon as we got to the car. Disalla’s square pie was worth the 3 hour trip to Pittsburgh in my humble opinion. It has inspired me to figure out how to bake this style of pizza and I promise you’ll see me trying that real soon.

Visit DiSalla’s Pizza Parlor
948 E 8th Ave
Homestead, PA 15120-2150
Phone: (412) 462-5070

Tell them Pizzamaniac sent ya!

We’ll be traveling this weekend which means I won’t be baking any pizza. But, I’m excited because my dad has promised to take me on a square pizza tour in Pittsburgh, Pa. We’ll be hitting at least 3 different joints and I’ll be writing about them here. I don’t plan to turn pizzamaniac.com into a restaurant review site, but let’s consider this field research for my next experimental recipe!

Stay tuned…