Sunday, August 23, 2009

Racanelli's Cucina, so good I did it again.

I know, I was just at Racanelli's Cucina in June(click to see), but the opportunity presented it's self. How could I say no to pizza? On this visit I had a Peppercorn Ranch Salad, which includes mixed greens, tomatoes, bacon, red onion, parmesan and grilled Foccacia. I believe they forgot the Foccacia, but I had more than I could eat anyway. The salad is a meal in it's self. If you want something smaller you will have to share it or get a House salad, the only one to come in a small size. When served there is the offer of fresh ground pepper, but it has plenty of pepper already. The Peppercorn Ranch salad was a great way to start the meal, and I wouldn't hesitate to order it on future visits.

On my previous visit I had the Margherita pizza. It had been so good that I was tempted to get it again, but then I wouldn't have had any thing new to write about except the salad and this isn't the Saladfiles.com. So this time I ordered the Action Jackson (say that 3 times really fast...). It has pepperoni, sausage, red onions and mozzarella cheese. As with all the pizza's here it only comes in a 12 inch thin hand tossed crust. I have to say up front, I'm not a big fan of Sausage on my pizza's and only order it on rare occasions (Why, you ask? Well my experience with sausage has run the gamut from quasi meat pellets to so many herbs & spices that you can taste nothing else). The sausage on the Action Jackson was pleasantly flavorful with out overpowering the rest of the pizza. It was a very good combination and I would gladly order it again, as long as it was the second or third pie.

I didn't get around to trying the "Johnny's Famous Pound cake Sandwich" on this visit, so It looks like I will be returning in the future.

Racanelli's Cucina Original Pizzeria & Bar is located at 6655 Delmar Boulevard (the Loop) in University City, MO. You can reach them at (314) 727-8880, for more information check out their web-site(click on the title link).

Highly Recommended.

GAW

The Pizza Files 2009 Summer Binge, a look back.

The Pizza Files 2009 Summer Binge has been over for a couple of weeks now, and I've had some time to think about all 25 of those pies and the 17 pizza joints they came from. My plan was to hit 8 different pizza places in a 10 week period, but The Binge took on a life of it's own and I nearly doubled that goal.

I won't name all 17 pizza joints here, but will name a couple of the standouts.

Erio's Ristorante, some of the Best pizza I have ever had!

Frank and Helen's Pizzeria, making pizza since 1956. It was under my nose for years, but I just discovered it.

Napoli Pizza, one of my all time favorites was the first stop on the binge, but sadly closed it's doors for good a week later.

To see all of the pizza joints I visited follow this Link.

Will there be a 2010 Binge? If my wife and daughter go on a extended summer vacation and leave me at home you can count on it.

I need to thank all of the Pizza Eaters who helped me to eat and PAY for all of those pizza's.

GAW

Friday, August 7, 2009

The Binge Part 17, the LAST stop!

It is time to end the binge. I'm not sure how it came to be, but Fortel's Pizza Den is the last stop on The Pizza Files 2009 Summer Binge.

We celebrated the ending of the Binge with a large house salad (House dressing), a large pizza with pepperoni, Canadian bacon, hamburger and onion. Then to top it all off we had the Dessert pizza with apple Streusel.

The Pizza was better than I remembered from previous visits. It was a most excellent way to end the binge. More on Fortel's Pizza Den later.

GAW

Thursday, August 6, 2009

The Binge Part 16, unplanned bonus.

The Dude calls the Man and it goes something like this;

Dude: "hey Man, Pizza?"
Man: "Dude, Blackthorn?"
Dude: "Man, Tonight!"

That's more or less how Blackthorn Pub became part 16 of the Pizza Files 2009 Summer Binge.

Today's pizza was a Chicago style deep dish with pepperoni, hamburger and onions. Where's the salad you ask? The Blackthorn has pizza, pizza or pizza, if you want something other than pizza you are in the wrong place.

To call the Blackthorn a dive bar is an under statement, but it does have pretty good pizza. You just got to know how to get served, luckily The Man lives close by and knows the rules. I go into more detail about the Blackthorn in the furture, so check back soon.

GAW

Saturday, August 1, 2009

The Binge Part 15, unplanned bonus.

This post probably should have been Part 11, but I couldn't decide if it warranted inclusion in the Pizza Files 2009 Summer Binge.

Still recovering from my 8 day road trip, family call to ask if I would like to go out for dinner? Of course I do. Red Lobster was the destination, and to my surprise they had recently added Lobster Pizza to the appetizer menu. That's how Red Lobster became Part 15 of the Pizza Files 2009 Summer Binge.

I will not be posting a full review so I will give you some more detail here. The pizza uses a St. Louis style thin crust and langostino lobster meat, melted mozzarella cheese, fresh tomatoes and sweet basil. Considering where it came from it was ok, but I won't be rushing back to Red Lobster anytime soon for Pizza. It falls in to the "If somebody else pays" category. Luckily I was mooching off of family and didn't pay...

GAW