DAY 8, Pizza Month 2009; Rizzo's (Astoria)

DAY 8: OCTOBER 8th, 2009

LOCATION: Rizzo's Fine Pizza (Steinway St and 30th Ave, Astoria, QUEENS)

ORDER: 1 slice of Sicilian, half a slice of Neopolitan, personal Mafiosa

GUEST(S): Alan Fessenden

REVIEW:
Miracle on Steinway Street. Maybe miracle isn't the right word for it but how do they make the crust so thin and the taste so flavorful? In 1959, Joe Rizzo and his brothers opened up a small pizzeria on Steinway Street in Astoria, Queens. The surrounding area has changed a lot but Rizzo's address is still the same. Once you taste it you'll thank the Rizzos for keeping the business family owned and operated all the while. They will likely thank you right back from behind the counter as they do on their menu for choosing them.

It's easy to support a liitle pizza shop when the slices are a unique brand of deliciousness. All of the specialty pizzas are distinctly Mediterranean in origin. I will vouch for the personal Mafiosa topped with sausage, roasted pepper, olives, and capers by saying it was honestly the first time I enjoyed eating olives in my life. There were just the right number of them to really bring out the flavor in the roasted pepper on the extremely (almost Roman) thin crust. Something for every tastebud!

I appreciated the Mafiosa with all my mouth, but the Rizzo signature slice, the thin crusted Sicilian, is what keeps me coming back. The recipe includes copious amounts of rich, tangy tomato sauce with a single slab of creamy mozzarella flanked by bits of sharp and mild grated cheeses. All of these rest atop a thin, crispy gas powered oven crust.


"If you want doughy or cheesy, it's probably not for you," David Rizzo, acting manager tells me.

David Rizzo, like his father before him, makes pizza the way he likes to eat it. Fortunately for everyone I have ever met here, we like it that way too. Definitely take a chance on Rizzo's. The first one's free....for real - tell them its your first time. I bet it won't be your last.

MISC.:

1. When I leave Astoria, this may be what I miss the most

2. Alan spends one month a year clowning around...literally.

VIDEO CLIP:



RATING:
4.45/5

• VALUE:
  4.5/5


• AMBIENCE:
  3/3


• TASTE:
  8.5/10


• SERVICE: N/A
  0/0

16/18 = .889 x 5 = 4.45