Tarrantinos Round 2

So Grant and I have known for a while that one of Richmond’s newest pizza joints, Tarrantinos is hit or miss. I was treated to free pie last night and it was dead on.

My roommate is a server there and I’ve been dealing with her dogs fucking around for a few days now. One is a senile rat, the other is retarded and may require corrective doggy lenses and the third is too smart and in-turn a terrible example and enabler for the other two dogs. She definitely bought me guilt pizza to thank me for my dog sitting services.

Being free, I wasn’t worried about the quality. But Tarrantinos has a tendency to get this pizza swamp right in the middle of the pies. Thin, undercooked dough at the center with a little too much sauce and grease leaves you with these 3/4 flops of a slice and a total mess of cheese. This pie was night and day different.

A thin slice for sure, but cooked nicely through the underside, a nice crispy layer was broken on each bite getting to a chewier body of dough. The sauce hit me in the face, I was told crushed red pepper was added to the sauce. It was better than any “spicy” sauce I have ever had on a pizza. The cheese was slightly browned in some areas, complimenting the crispness in the crust. The sauce backed all the way up to the crust separating the cheese and the outer edge of the pie. I ate 3 huge slices and packed 2 away for lunch today.

I was so amped on the quality I had to ask… HOW?! Where can I get this quality again. Is there a special oven as Grant suspects? Are they varying the ingredients or cooking times? The answer is two dudes, Andrew and Tommy. If you want the pie, ask if they are working. You won’t regret it. Only complaint was a little extra flour on the crust.

If Tarrantinos can lock down their cooking methods, they will definitely have some of my favorite pizza in the city, and at a stones throw, I would be hard pressed to go somewhere else for impulse pie.

9/10 – Pics after the break.