Santarpio’s Pizza

Posted by Edmund in Boston, Featured Articles, Pizza, Restaurants | 0 comments

Cuisine: Pizza.
Location: 111 Chelsea St, Boston, MA 02128.
Price: $11 for an 11” Pizzas, $9 for BBQ Combo Plate.

When I think of pizza, rarely does Boston come to mind. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anybody actually brag about the quality of Bostonian pizza, with most of the attention on the East going to the famous pizza-making Meccas of America, Chicago and New York.

It’s a little bit ironic, then, that after I finally got around to a tour of the whole East Coast, the pizza that stuck with me wasn’t what I found in New York or Chicago, but rather the simple pie in the sole Boston pizzeria that I visited, Santarpio’s Pizza.

Now, before all you pizza fanatics out there yell blasphemy, you have to hear about Santarpio’s, which is anything but a typical pizzeria. Most places these days go for the innovative or modern, trying to win over fans with gourmet ingredients, flashy presentation, or new techniques. Santarpio’s, though, has been serving the exact same pizza since its founding in 1933, using dingy old ovens and only the most traditional toppings.

That classic feel really infuses every aspect of the restaurant, too, starting with the ambience.  Santarpio’s has an awesome, old-school, classic diner vibe with some nice Italian-American touches added in: Frankie singing in the background, old boxing paraphernalia, photos of prize fighters and celebrities, etc. There’s also an incredibly large, open-view BBQ pit, keeping patrons entertained with its raging smoke and sizzle.

To be fair, the restaurant is still a bit grungy and dirty-looking, with simple wooden tables and chairs and almost no paint on the walls. It feels like this place was left completely untouched by the passage of years, and it can be a bit dreary. Still, you get the feeling that this place is a hidden local hang-out, the place where people “in the know” go for good food. You can tell that the guys who work here have decades of experience at what they do.

That brings me to the service, which is pretty normal as far as restaurants go. The waiters are a bunch of grizzled veterans, with the full-on Boston accent, but nobody’s really all that rude like in the NY pizza-making crowd. Instead, these guys are about as amiable as can be, and that’s pretty much been my impression of Bostonians in general. They’re not all that professional or prompt by any means, but they’ll take care of you and chat you up if you let them.

The food, though, is an absolute knockout. I can tell, too, that its excellence comes from the technique, rather than any gimmicky toppings. I ordered a simple pizza with some Italian sausage, mushrooms, and peppers. The toppings didn’t stand out all that much, partially because they were unevenly distributed and partially because they weren’t the most flavorful I’ve had. The pie, though, was anything but flavorless, as the cheese smothered the whole pizza with a delicious layer of grease, the tomato sauce added a counterbalancing freshness with its intense seasoning, and the intensely crunchy, crispy crust was cooked flawlessly. The crust was also dusted with cornmeal on the bottom, giving it a surprisingly gritty kick that distinguished it from most crusts I’ve tried. Best of all, though, the pie was constructed in reverse order, with sauce on top as you’d find in Chicago, which means that the crust is never soggy, since it doesn’t absorb the tomato sauce. Overall, this is easily one of the best pizzas I’ve had in America.

Most pizzerias would stop there, but not Santarpio’s. Not content with only producing the best pie in Boston, Santarpio’s even dishes up some good old-fashioned, home-style barbecue by slow-roasting meats on an open fire right in front of its patrons. I wasn’t too impressed with the sausage, but the lamb was easily superior to most of the selections you can get in most BBQ joints. I’ve never even liked lamb, and I found myself practically licking my fingers after the intensely juicy, crispy crackle of each bite.

Thus, for both the pizza and the barbecue, Santarpio’s is a no-brainer. It fully deserves all the acclaim it’s received, as it produces a mind-blowing pizza and finger-licking-good BBQ, all at a price that won’t even make a dent in the wallet. In fact, my whole meal of pizza and BBQ came out to about $20, and it could have easily fed 3.

The only problem? Now that I’m living in Boston, I don’t know if I’ll be able to resist coming here every couple weeks for a pigout.

What I Tasted

Pizza with Italian Sausage, Mushrooms, and Peppers:

This is a fantastic pie, any way you look at it. The crust/dough is somewhere between a thin crust and a New York-style pizza, so you get a nicely doughy quality, but also a great crispiness, since it’s cooked so fully and so thoroughly (it’s thinner than NY-style pizza, so the heat hits the crust more evenly and cooks it faster). You can hear the crack of the crust with every single bite—it’s that crunchy! And that doesn’t detract from the dough on the bottom, which is extremely chewy (in fact, try cutting it with a knife and see if it can be done!) and very flavorful. Cornmeal is even dusted on the bottom, giving a starchy, gritty kick. The total effect is great, to the point that I can literally take pieces of crust separate from the pizza and just chomp them down with no problem.

Just as importantly, the pizza is made in reverse order. By that, I mean that toppings are stacked first, then cheese, then sauce. It’s a small change, but because of it the bread doesn’t soak up the sauce and become overly soggy, plus the toppings don’t fall off at all because they’re grafted by the cheese onto the pie. The one part where the mix can fail is when you pick up the pizza by the hand, as it’s so heavy that it can cave in, and because the cheese is not directly attached to the crust everything from toppings to cheese and even sauce can completely fall off the pie. Still, it’s a small price to pay, and I love the benefits of this order.

Onto the ingredients. First, the cheese. The cheese is smothered all over, extremely gooey, and very greasy, covering the whole pie in a layer of grease that is reminiscent of some fast food pizza chains like Domino’s. That may sound disgusting, but here the grease is delicious, really moistening the whole pie.

Next, the tomato sauce is extraordinarily fresh. Santarpio’s does two things with that sauce that I especially appreciate. First, it smothers it all over the pie, unlike a lot of the other “best pizzas,” which use it a lot more sparingly. With so much sauce, you’re guaranteed to get a moist pie and to get the tomato flavor in every bite. Second, the sauce is actually seasoned (I know, it sounds moronic, but a lot of the “best” really use some bland sauces). You get not only the fresh tomato taste, but a zesty herby taste that runs throughout, so that you never feel as though you need to add some greens or some pepper to balance out the pie.

Next come the sausage and veggies. The sausage is a bit salty but it adds some nice spicy savoriness, while the veggies come in large, fresh chunks, without much extra taste, so they blend easily with the sauce and cheese. My one complaint about the toppings is that they’re unevenly distributed, so some slices have almost no toppings or at least lack a certain topping, whereas other ones are chock full. But really, the toppings are just an added bonus. The cheese and tomato sauce are so flavorful that I could eat this pie without the toppings with no problem.

4.7/5.0. This pizza is easily one of my favorites of all time.

BBQ Lamb

This is just succulent, tender lamb slow-roasted over a BBQ fire, and boy does it taste fresh. I’m not a big lamb lover, but I heard from a ton of people that this is an unforgettable dish that I just had to try, and I don’t regret it at all. The meat is so succulent that you can taste the juice as you bite into it, and it’s so fatty that the grease is just dripping off (which is essential for a good BBQ). It’s cooked until it has a nice little crisp on the outside, meaning that in every bite you get a juicy crunch and a great crackle, contrasting the absolutely mouthwateringly soft interior. On top of that, it’s really well-peppered and –spiced, so it has some flavor to it, although the meat comes through extremely well, without any hindrance. The smokiness of the BBQ adds another nice touch. Finally, the meat has that slightly gamy savoriness that is typical of lamb, as it should. Overall, anyone who loves lamb will love this dish. It’s cooked perfectly, with great flavor, a nice crisp, and a really nice smokiness. It could use just a bit more seasoning. 4.5+/5.0

BBQ Sausage

This is a whole BBQed, homemade Italian sausage, and it tastes just as fresh as any sausage I’ve eaten in my life. It isn’t quite as good as the lamb, largely because it’s way too salty for my taste. Plus, it has a slight mushiness in the center, which might just be due to the fact that the sausage is mixed with tons of spices and garlic. The texture is slightly gritty (for that same reason), and the outside is nicely crisped, even more so than with the lamb, to the point of being just a bit burnt unfortunately. As for flavor, the sausage feels heavily seasoned and spiced (in contrast to the lamb) so that you get a mouthful of pepper and garlic, largely dominating the delicious fattiness of the sausage. Still, this is about as fresh and authentic as Italian sausage gets, and I do like the smokiness, even though this sausage was definitely cooked a bit too much. 2.0/5.0

Scores

For the Pizza:

Taste: 4.7/5.0
Value: 4.6/5.0
Verdict: 4.7/5.0

For the Whole Experience:

Ambience: 3.0/5.0. Add a couple tenths if you love old Sinatra tunes.
Service: 3.0/5.0, though I was at the bar, so it’s hard to judge.
Taste: 4.3/5.0
Value: 4.4/5.0
Verdict: 4.1/5.0