Headed South ... Sort Of

Mathias: OK, I've been a little slack lately about writing in the pizza blog. Constance is far more the ambitious Amish of the two of us. So, I've asked her to repeatedly swat me with a rolled up copy of USA Today-Amish Edition until I finish this.

OK, so the snow is back and if I were allowed to swear, I would. The best I can come up is "Churn My Butter!" So, in an effort to do our best to stay warm, we head south for our pizza and wings tonight (Feb 27); right to Southgate Pizza, the western version.

Hold on - a trailer for Watchmen is on the tv.

OK, so we bundled up in our best Amish outerwear (Goretex is a sin in our culture) and warmed up the buggy and horses for the quick run to the plaza at 2615 Evanston (Across from Bonnell's Collision on West 26th street). The place has a website(southgatewest.com), so stop watching videos of those crazy Mennonites and take a look at what the place has to offer. Constance had the luxury of pizza choice (cheese and ham) and I got to pick the wings (Buffalo ranch). We had a coupon for large one item and 20 wings for about $19.25 or so.

Now, I've had my share of good and bad pizza and Southgate was clearly the former, not the latter. Same for the wings. The pizza dough was fresh made and the cheese was muy fantastico (I'm taking spanish as Amish U.). And as for the wings, they were the best I've had so far; they had a bigger kick than a ornery Amish ass. I mean donkey, so settle down. Constance must have a greater tolerance for the kick in the crotch that these wings were, as she had five scraped clean before I had two finished. I went through half a liter of fresh buttermilk to mellow out the burn. Oh, but what a burn!!

We've been to over a half dozen pizza joints so far and Southgate so far tops the list, both for pizza and wings. I'm looking forward to getting up early tomorrow (for leftovers, not for milking the damn cows). I give Southgate Pizza 8 out of 8 slices!!! Top of the list!!

Constance: Matthias was kidding about the movie trailer on TV ... of course we don't have electricity! Wait for it ... alrighty then, he's the funny one!!

So Southgate Pizza rocks! We had been there bunches of times before. And actually this Friday they were our Plan "B" since we've wanted to try new places and discover some new favorites. We wanted to visit Newman's at 29th and Raspberry Streets. But I think they're out of business already. We first went there when they opened earlier in 2008. I remember the food being on the pricey side, but very delicious and worth the extra money. Their hours were very limited too. I think they closed at 8 or some very early hour. So, we didn't go back. It wasn't convenient.

So my point? I think it's important to patronize local businesses. Without our support they don't succeed and go away. It's an expensive learning for the business owner, but more than that, a failed dream. And for the business, price and positioning is important to the customer. Be different! Be smart about it and convenient for customers so they have a reason to come back. Fair prices. Customer service with a smile and convenient hours are the basics. 29th and Raspberry has been a graveyard for pizza and wing places. Having lived in the neighborhood for 20 years or so, it's been a revolving door. The only success story in my memory is Steel City!!

Who knew a pizza and wing blog would turn into a marketing lesson?!

Back to Southgate ... wow, they have the best pizza with hand tossed crust. And the cheese is real and perfect texture and taste. I got to pick the topping and picked ham. Thought it would be a nice complement to Matthias' Buffalo Ranch wings. For the record, they were hot but not THAT hot!!

I'd have to say that the leftovers this a.m. were the best leftovers we've had too. I just had leftover pizza, and Matthias got the wings.

The 411:

Southgate Pizza West
2615 Evanston
838-2377
southgatewest.com

They have daily specials and also extensive information and coupons in the phone book. And my friend's son works there too - small world!

My slice rating - 8 outta 8 - mmm!! If you have any suggestions for next week, let us know. My Edinboro friend suggested Carini's in Waterford. He says their pizza is better than John Wildwood's in Edinboro. We'll just have to see about that ...

My Dad's Pizza & Deli - Check out their Tuesday Special and The Bachelor!

Constance: What a mixed up week! Pizza and wing blogging night got advanced to Tuesday because of My Dad's Pizza & Deli has a killer Tuesday Special. A Regular Large Cheese & 1 Item Pizza for $5.99 - can't beat that! They do offer fresh dough pizza but we were happy with the special. And Matthias surprised me with jalepeno's - my favorite - he's the best!! And for the wings I picked Bayou BBQ. Not to spoil Matthias' review, but he said the wings were his favorite yet this year of all the places we've tried!!

We didn't have a menu in advance so we stopped and grabbed one and then did our weekly Wal-Mart errand while our pizza and wings were cooking. My Dad's Pizza & Deli does advertise in Val-Pak with regular coupons so for readers lucky enough to live in surrounding zip codes, check for it! Worth mentioning that you DO NOT need a coupon for the Tuesday people, perfect for those like us from a different zip code.

The pizza was really tasty and can't beat the special. Crispy crust. Lots of cheese and the sauce was a perfect blend of sweet-n-spicy. And the wings were just saucy enough to be finger-licking good. We watched The Bachelor DVRed while we "dined" ... a perfect ending to a challenging work day. I was sorry to see Jill go - she was one of my favorites! Matthias doesn't really "watch" just for the record so you know?!


(Note: Photo Credit popculturemadness.blogspot.com)

We also got to see Seinfeld on Thursday night. A late night for a school night :-) And my friend Dan and his wife ended up right in front of us. We were telling them about the 2009 EriePizzaandWings blog we're doing this year. They thought it was a good idea and liked the concept because of the new places we're tried and blogged about.

What does this week hold? Not sure yet. But My Dad's Pizza & Deli was a good week and I'd give a 6 out of 8 slice review.

The 411:
My Dad's Pizza & Deli
4555 Buffalo Road
899-7811

Oh, in case you wonder what we did Friday night? We made homemade calzones - two versions with Buffalo sausage and feta cheese and basil sausage. They were really good - maybe 2010 will be the year of the calzone blog?

Yes, they're back!! Pio's ...

Constance: I was so excited when we heard that Pio's was open again to have their pizza and wings for our blog. I guess they had a fire in the fall and many people don't realize they're open again. So hope this blog can help spread the word. I imagine all of the struggles they went through without the business income and rebuilding ... but that's one of the things I love about Erie, the sense of community. And the dining room was packed last night, supporting one of Erie's own.

We couldn't find a Pio's coupon, so when I called I asked if there were any specials going one. That's one thing about doing this blog - I've learned that if you just ask about specials they usually have something going on.

$18.99 - large pepperoni pizza and 10 wings. The decision was made for me and my topping week, and Mathias picked Cajun wings. I called shotgun and got the hot pizza on my lap for the ride home.

We had received a comment last week about Pio's offering rye crust. I'd never even heard of that, so we definitely tried that too. We picked up a menu too, and they also offer wheat crust too.

The rye is dark rye and at first glance looked burnt. But wow, it was to die for. Not too overbearing. Sometimes I'll sneak the pups a piece of crust (they love pizza and wing nights too!) ... but not last night, it was too good to share!

The wings were dry and crispy, the way I love them! I wanted more than my 5 allotted, but it's probably good portion control with the 10 wing piece order. They came with ranch dip too - BONUS, and no extra fee. That was a nice surprise!

And we each saved a piece for leftovers. What a great way to start Valentine's Day - with the one you love and leftover pizza with rye crust. This should be our Valentine's Day tradition.

Speaking of traditions, every SuperBowl, we're going to smash an old HP Printer to commemorate this year's SuperBowl when I spent 12 hours on the phone with tech support in India trying to install my new HP wireless printer - which still doesn't work wirelessly (is that a word?). Not too bitter ...

My slice rating? I'd give a 7 out of 8 ... my favorite touches were the rye crust and the cheese ... and the bonus ranch dip with the wings.

Welcome back Pio's and I'm proud to live in a community where we support our local businesses!!

The 411:

Pio's Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria
Since 1970
815 East Avenue
Erie, PA

Ph: 456-8866

What did you think Matthias?

Matthias: I'm playing fact checker today and will add my comments later. As for the question about the Reuben Pizza - Pio's has a Gourmet Specialty Pizza called 'Lila's Reuben Pizza'; it's a Black rye shell topped with their own sauce, juicy sauerkraut, lean corned beef, mozzarella cheese and crispy dill pickles. I am not making that up-seems it's a favorite of people. I cannot fathom why (I abhor sauerkraut).

Time for East Side Respect! Stevo's Pizza!

Mathias: OK, I'm going to blog first because Constance is spinning some wool from a thing we found in the street this morning. I think it's a collection of dog hair but Constance believes it's the Devil Incarnate. In either case, it's ugly.

So Friday night rolled around and we decided to pay some respect to Erie's east side, but just barely. We chose Stevo's Pizza, located at 1019 State Street. The place was featured in Erie Life Magazine this month. Here's the link: www.erielifemagazine.com/issues/2009-february/food-we-love.php . However, the online version doesn't have the write up.

I pinned Constance two out of three times in Greco-Roman wrestling so I got to pick the topping and this time, it was ham because they don't have mutton as a choice. She won our traditional Friday Night knife fight so she got to pick the wing flavor and chose Cajun Ranch because she used to work for Bubba Gump Shrimp down in the Gulf of Mexico off of Louisiana during spring break and got addicted to that flavor.

In any event, we had a coupon that got us a large cheese and ham and 20 Cajun ranch wings for just $18 bones. Pretty standard price for the area. After doing some doughnuts and fishtails with our supped-up horse and buggy in the Liberty Plaza, we evaded the ensuing chase from Erie's finest and headed down State.

Ok, the place inside is pretty big and had to take a shuttle bus to get from the door to the counter. Seems it used to be a restaurant called the Stafford back in the 20's. After elbowing our way to the front and chatting it up with the man in charge, we caught the shuttle back to the door and our double parked horse and buggy.

I'm of the opinion the pizza was one of the better ones we've had so far. It was a standard crust and reminded me of the pizza from Pizza Boy at the Mall back in the 80's. The cheese was tasty and sharp and the ham wasn't salty or nasty. The crust was chewy as opposed to crunchy. I might add the pizza was well sliced; it was easy to pull apart as opposed to others whereby you need to bring out the Black and Decker to cut apart. I'm giving it a hearty Amish 6.5 out of 8 slices.

Constance: The wings were good. I am not as funny as Mathias this a.m. so continue reading knowing this. I eat one thing at a time (always have and not too many people know this about me), so I started with the wings first last night. The bones on the side of my plate kept track of my fair share and 10 came too quickly. Crispy and flavorful ... mmmm!! They were not as Cajun-y as some of our other places, but had the right crisp to meat ratio going on.

I loved the pizza too. The ham was really nice, especially since Mathias almost picked mutton or pineapple. The cheese was really tasty. I loved that we had extra for breakfast this a.m.

Stevo's was the most interesting place we had been to in terms of building and history. Imagine getting a cup of coffee for only a penny and pancakes for 3 cents. They have the menu in the back, all you have to do is ask.

My rating ... 6 out of 7.