8 1/2 Pizza, 10 out of 10

So a while ago I was writing about the staple pizza joints in Richmond when I was posting my thoughts on Bottom’s Up’s thin crust pizza pie.  Well, now I want to write about another place that should be a huge deal;  8 1/2 Pizza on Strawberry St.

You won’t see any big signs outside of this place and maybe thats why most of my friends have never heard of this place, but 8 1/2 kicks the sauce out of every non-NY style pizza place in the city.

Even before the first bite, you can almost taste the spices in the traditional Italian sauce as they fume into your mouth, and they are even more prominent after the bite.  The garlic crust is crispy without being dry, and nothing flakes off the edges.  It is a cohesive base which doesn’t allow the fresh mozzarella to slide off as you pick the slices apart and tastes downright delicious.  Spicy Italian sauce and garlic crust dominate the palette with this pizza.

I didn’t stop eating my entire 12″ pizza until it was done, and my roommate finished his twice as fast as mine.  So if you are looking to eat  alot of food on the cheap, then you might be disapointed, but I paid $9.99 for one of the most delicious and unique thin crust pizzas that you will find around here and I am very satisfied.

Chesapeake Pizza, Chesapeake

An unassuming restaurant in Chesapeake, Virginia, Chesapeake Pizza specializes in a pan crust pie with medium thickness and your choice of typical toppings.

Sometimes a pan crust is an enjoyable departure from the reigning kings that are New York style slices which dot the map all over the country, and this is no exception.  A crispy crust on the outside and still very fluffy soft in the middle define the ground floor of this pie, while some of the best mozzarella around sits atop a mild, inobtrusive tomato sauce.  Simplicity is bliss.

Chesapeake Pizza has instilled something in me which was previously very foreign, a good pan crust.  I once scoffed at the option of eating pan pizza after years of my childhood being fed Pizza Hut’s abominable excuse for such, but this is some of the best pan pizza I’ve ever had.  Well done.

Vito's, Grace St.

Vito’s Italian Restaurant tucked away on the VCU campus on Grace St. doesn’t look like much from the outside, but serves some of the best pie for the best

price anywhere in the city.

In the day of a rushed meal, pizza by the slice is often undercooked and mistreated.  Alas, Vito’s has been serving up some great pie for years in the middle of campus but never seems to do much business.  I went in there today, much like the previous times I’ve sat down in their booths, and I may be the only customer in there.  The olive skinned employees sit watching some foreign T.V. channel with little business to bother them, I wonder how they can afford to pay the bills in such a humongous building.  You could probably book a party for 100 in this place yet I never see more than six or seven customers.

But the pizza is the only thing I’m concerned with.  They do a great job with their crust and a more New Yorky, sweeter sauce rather than the savory stuff I frequently get at Piccola’s or Mary Angela’s.  And whats this?  Crust bubbles?!  A seemingly mythic occurence from my childhood, they actually finish cooking their pizza’s to the point where I have little brown spots dotting the cheese and crust bubbles popping up here and there.

Delightfully crispy crust that may have been sitting out for too long and mozarella that has already congealed are two side effects of ordering pizza by the slice.  But at $1.75 for a slice of cheese, you can’t find a better deal in the city.  Lets hope this place stays afloat amidst this congealed economy.

Bottom's Up! Thumbs Down.

Bottom’s Up pizza is a fixture of a pizza palace in Shockoe Bottom area in Richmond, VA and no doubt one of the biggest names when mentioning pizza in this area.

This is the kind of place that would appeal to most people, with its trendy lighting, mirrors behind the bars and friendly waitresses clad in black.  No doubt a very comfortable place to have a slice of pizza.  But I don’t want a comfortable place.  I want good pizza.

Not feeling up to eating a seven dollar slice of lasagna sized pizza, I opted for a small sized thin crust with the basics; red sauce, cheese and pepperoni.

The pizza reminded me of a Pizza Hut pie with the spongy crust that is much too easily to rip in to and a fairly boring, hearty tomato sauce.  The cheese was the only redeeming factor on this pizza, feeling very gooey and never wanted to slide off the crust.

At around eight dollars for a sizable thin crust pizza, Bottom’s Up serves a pretty affordable, freshly made pizza pie.  If this pizza cost any more, I’d avoid this place all together, and I’m not eating an eight dollar slice of the casserole sized pizza on their entree menu.

-gRant.

current faves:  random Manhattan slices. still coming off an NY pizza high…