Talking Sweet About Nothing

It entirely frustrating that most Americans put more thought into buying a car than they do in choosing a president. Can you imagine anyone settling for two choices of transportation? Would anyone be satisfied with only two designers of clothing?

How is it possible that Americans are content with two (increasingly similar) political voices? Does our country fall so neatly into two homogeneous categories?

Answer: no.

Sadly, most are unaware of third parties. Challenge yourself, friends. Investigate your options and don't settle for the "least worst" candidate.

What could I possibly say about Matthew's Pizza that hasn't been said been said already? (just look at the back of their menu) It's not an exaggeration to say that Matthew's tops most people's "Top Baltimore Pizza" list. It's that good.

However, I do know some who are less-than-impressed by Matthew's (gasp!) I guess what one thinks about their pizzas probably comes down to their stance in the thick-versus-thin crust debate. Matthew's is definitely not a typical Chicago-style deep dish, but there is certainly a resemblance. The thick, buttery crust glistens with oil but doesn't lose the crispy. Many amateur deep-dishers (Pizza Hut, I'm looking in your direction) come out greasy. Not Matthew's. It's surprisingly light and fluffy. And I love it when you can actually taste a little bit of yeast in fresh, homemade dough. Most generic take out pizza places use frozen dough balls shipped in from Sysco, and they suffer for it. The crust is half of the pizza experience! Anyway, many others can speak more intelligently about dough/crust so let's not lose our focus: Matthew's crust is awesome.

And it doesn't end there. On top (and baked in) are homemade tomato sauce and fresh cheeses in addition to your toppings. My friend Jim and I (pizza club!) ordered two small pizzas; the Margherita and the "both kinds of cheese" pie. First, let's get this straight...size DOES NOT matter at Matthew's. They offer 8" or 10" pies. At most pizza places, that's pretty dang small. But at Matthew's, two smalls is plenty for two grown men. Katie and I usually split a large and we're stuffed. Believe me, what they lack in size is made up for in texture and flavor.

Obviously, a Matthew's Margherita is not a typical Margherita, but the tomato, mozz, basil combination is difficult to top, no matter what kind of crust you have. Matthew's version = heavenly. "Both kinds of cheese" includes fresh mozz and an imported hard cheese whose name escapes me right now. Regardless, I've never tasted a cheese combination like this before and it was excellent.

In addition to their specialty pies, they offer the option of creating your own from an assortment of toppings. One bonus that Matthew's has above many other pizzerias is that they offer green olives as a topping. Most offer black, but few have green, and that's another point for Matthew's. And the coup de grace at Matthew's??? Dr Pepper on tap! Does it get any better? No.

Chef Paolino's makes a tasty New York style pie. I ordered an 18” with peppers and onions. It was giant. Seriously huge. I ate three meals off of this pie. It was a little more authentic in that I had to fold the slice. The crust was pleasantly doughy; cheese was generous, but not offensive, and added more than just texture; and the sauce was surprising, tasting like tomatoes, not paste, though I'm sure it's canned. Hot out of the box, I couldn’t get enough – the bottom of the crust crisp, the cheese ever so slightly browned. I was hungry and now I am not. Overall good pizza, good price. CP’s also serves Sicilian style, have to try that soon.

Iggies serves gourmet, Neapolitan style pizzas. I ordered the 14” large Margherita. It was a little too small to feed two adults, and definitely a little on the expensive side. The tomato sauce is bland, but it was topped with some great, fresh mozzarella. The crust is tough and chewy and without much flavor. It’s flat with few air pockets and may be rolled out with a pin (just a guess). Iggies is self-serve with no wait staff or bus staff. There’s no tipping but optional tips go to a different charity each month. It’s also BYOB. All of that's pretty cool, but the pizza is just so-so.

New York style pizza is surprisingly difficult to find in Baltimore. Little Italy Pizzeria was a last-minute, unplanned lunch that kinda started this whole idea. I was selling/shopping at Sound Garden in Fells Point and decided to walk around to find some pizza (not B.O.P., more on that later). I’ll get it out of the way first, this place is a dive. It’s extremely small with very little character, and just barely “clean.” However, this is one of the best pizzas I’ve had in Baltimore. I ordered a 10” with peppers and onions and it was the perfect size for one adult (I had one slice left for a late-afternoon snack). They definitely make their own crust in-house and it’s worth it. You can taste a slight hint of yeast and there are some very nice air pockets (hand tossed!) There’s a slight char on the bottom and the sauce has a real tomato flavor. It actually tastes like tomatoes! Next time you eat a pizza, pay attention to the sauce. What does it taste like? More often than not it's either over-seasoned or it has no taste at all. I usually try to limit my toppings just because they tend to overshadow or hide the flavor of the sauce, and doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose?

Now I’m no food critic, so I can’t really speak intelligently about eating and cooking. I’m not even a pizza expert, so don’t expect anything profound, but I really like pizza. Baltimore is not really known for pizza and there aren’t too many pizza mainstays. I’d eaten at the “famous” pizza places, but there’s like two of them. I wanted to know more about pizza in my town so I started looking on the internet. Obviously, Matthew’s gets a lot of recommendations, but after that, there was no real consensus. A lot of places got mentioned, and I had eaten at a few of them, but no one could come to some general agreement about something as simple as “Top 5 pizzas in Baltimore.” My goal is not to discover and rank the best pizza places in Baltimore. I just want to try some new places and see how they compare.