Storyboarding and Pizza Tasting: Pino's Pizza, Brighton, and Presto Pizza, also Brighton

Thursday, July 22, 2010:

Eric:  How about using your affection for True Crime as a jumping off point for one of your blogs?

Me:  The only vegetarian criminals who come to mind are the Manson Family and Hitler, and those two subjects are really played out.  A blog about Victorian poisonings would also be unappetizing.  I don't like True Crime because I like glorifying criminals through food blogging.  I like it because I'm fascinated by detectives and lawyers.  Is Vincent Bugliosi a vegetarian?

                        Thanks to http://www.metnews.com/articles/2008/bugliosi_stovitz_12-69.jpg

Eric:  What about reviewing those pizza places in Cleveland Circle?

Me:  That's probably a better idea.

Pino's Pizza, Cleveland Circle, Brighton  

Eric and I walked out of the rainy Boston day, and into the relative calm and quiet of Pino's Pizza in Brighton. Although the outside of the restaurant boasted a gloriously tacky and obviously unrestored 1950's beach-boardwalk style sign, the inside of the restaurant was bright, clean and surprisingly contemporary.  We decided to order the 2-slice, 1 drink cheese pizza special.  We grabbed our slices and drink and headed to a booth.

The crust was possibly the crispiest crust I have ever tasted.  (Possibly because, as is standard procedure in most restaurants selling single pizza slices, the slices were taken from a pre-made pie and reheated to order.)  The cheese and sauce were both fresh tasting, but a little on the bland side.  It tasted better than the average Papa Gino's slice, but no flavors particularly stood out.  I took a quick bite, and added Parmesan cheese and pepper to my slice, as is my habit.  The slices were generous, and the pizza folded well, which made for easy eating.  I was also pleased to note the comparative bounty (for an unyuppified Boston-area sub shop) of vegetarian sub and pasta options on the menu. We left feeling relatively full and satisfied.

Presto Pizza, Cleveland Circle, Brighton 

The exterior of Presto Pizza is unremarkable, but the inside of the restaurant, with its gigantic tree, Tiffany lamps, and 1982 World Cup soccer posters, is a little reminiscent of the Regal Beagle.  Once again, we ordered the six dollar double-slice-and-one-drink special, and once again we retired to a booth table with various condiments.  I was impressed by the Parmesan cheese on offer, it was hard to get out of the container, but that was because it was fresh grated.  It had a wonderfully creamy, nutty taste that added to the general garlicy-olive oily*, just-a-hint-of-basilish flavor of the pizza. The slices were so big, they wouldn't fit on their paper plates and ended up touching the table in a way that bothered me a little bit.

Eric and I agreed: if Presto was busy, going to Pino's wouldn't spoil the night.  However, Presto had the better slice by far.



*Presto Pizza is noticably more greasy than its competitor.

Mike's Food and Spirits, Davis Square, Somerville

I hurried into the restaurant at five o'clock, trying to catch my breath from my hustle across two intersections.  I was greeted by the counterlady screaming "I've had enough of your crap!" at the barman.

Okay.  No one was in the restaurant, so this was awkward only for me.  And them.

They saw me come in, snapped to attention, smiled apologetically at me, and asked me for my order.  I asked for a pint of Sam (for me) and a Coke (for the boyfriend who would be arriving shortly).  I heaved a sigh of relief as college students started to stream into the place -- I had been worried about not being on time to get a good table, a perennial issue at a place like Mike's -- but I was able to grab the beer and Coke and snag a booth.

I scanned the menu and the specials, and also spared the occasional glance at the news and the periodic flurries of violent argument coming from the bar.  (The argument would continue for the rest of my time there.  I won't mention it any more, but if during the description of the ravioli you imagine eating that while hearing someone half way across the room yell "that's absolutely RIDICULOUS!" you'll get an idea of what the meal was like.)

Eric came in and we pondered what menu selection would give us the best range of food to try, and settled on splitting garlic bread, bruschetta, and the Broccoli and Cheddar Ravioli with Pesto Sauce.  The garlic bread was intended as a stomach filler / take home treat, was satisfyingly toasted and pleasantly buttery and garlicy, and is currently sitting in our fridge awaiting the vegetable soup I'm serving for Sunday dinner tomorrow.  The bruschetta was also very good, the pesto was fresh, the tomatoes were the best you can get this time of year, and the mozzarella on top was delightfully gooey.

The Broccoli and Cheddar Ravioli were very good.  They tasted like they had had a little Gorgonzola thrown in for good measure, but that might have been my imagination, or the pesto sauce -- which was not true pesto sauce, but a pesto/Alfredo mix that paired up nicely with the cheddar broccoli mixture in the ravioli.  The pasta was al dente and definitely fresh.  $11.95 is a little steep for six ravioli, but they tasted homemade and thus labor intensive and so I won't argue on prices.   If you're on a budget and would like to eat an entire meal, I'd go with their sub sandwich section, or their grill, which is moderately priced and offers the usual range of vegetarian choices (Eggplant Parmigiana, Grilled Veggie, etc.)