The Pizza Locust

How can you not like a pizza place run by a nice, elderly couple that first opened for business 52 year ago?

Five of us descended on Vito’s on a Thursday night en masse. It’s a small place, with a counter, about 6-8 booths for four, a large table for six in the middle and a couple tables that seem to be where the proprietors have taken up residence to watch TV when they aren’t making pizzas or serving, but could probably be pressed into service for a group of eight or so.

I mention the seating only because when we arrived, the restaurant was empty, save for the proprietors Vito and Rosa at the side table and one couple who had decided to sit at the table for six. The couple were yaking away, without food or drinks, completely oblivious to us trying to find a way to shoehorn our party into a booth built for four. Who said courtesy was dead in this day and age?

This is my second visit to Vito’s and I was surprised at how long it took for our drinks, plates and silverware to arrive. Just as I was starting to become aware of the delay, Rosa came over and explained that she was waiting to serve our drinks until the couple left so we could move to that table where there’d be enough room. Within another five minutes the couple were gone (they were waiting for a pickup) and we had the big table.

The restaurant is adorned with a few “Best of Phoenix” awards from recent years. Considering they’ve been in Phoenix for over 20 years (formerly they were in Chicago for 31 years) I was surprised they were all within the last few years. Some of them specifically designated best Chicago-style deep-dish pizza.

We had two thin-crust Chicago-style pizzas, both 12″ (their smallest), one pepperoni, one sausage. This review focuses on the pepperoni pizza, but with comments about the sausage pizza as well.

The pizza heavily loaded with cheese which had a mild flavor, and was both runny and stringy. The pepperoni was also quite mild, and lost amongst the cheese.

The sauce was a different story. It had a nice, pleasant flavor with plenty of spices, but it wasn’t at all sweet like several other Chicago-style places in town. That made it a clear winner for me over the others.

The type of bread used as the crust is where Chicago-style pizza and I usually part ways. It’s a finer, puffier and softer bread than traditional or New York style and typically has a bit of a buttery flavor. When made into a deep-dish pizza, for me, it overwhelms, but when made into a thin-crust, it can be a nice, solid foundation for the rest of the pizza.

That’s the case with Vito’s. The crust on the pepperoni pizza was well-cooked, tasted good and didn’t overwhelm. Although I didn’t try any, I’m told the crust on the sausage pizza was undercooked, but that the sausage itself was very good. Since sausage is the #1 topping for Chicago-style pizza, I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising.

Overall, it was an enjoyable pizza and I’d certainly recommend it. I will go back in the near future and put the deep-dish to their test.

It was a quiet evening in the restaurant, and we had time to speak with the owners as we were the only diners in the place. They’re nice folks who seem well settled into a life of spending their evenings running a pizza shop.

Despite us being the only dine-in customers, they were making a good number of pizza for pickup, it seemed mostly for deep-dish. It takes 45 minutes for the deep-dish pizza, so I can understand the desire to call ahead.

Note that Vito’s is closed on Sundays and only open from 4-10PM on the other days.

Vito’s Pizza
4318 W. Northern
Glendale, AZ
(623) 930-1644

12″ Thin-crust Pepperoni Pizza, $10.00 or $0.09 (0.088) Per square inch.

Conclusion: Recommended

---

Disambiguation notice: (1/12/2008) There is another Vito’s Pizza in Mesa. To my knowledge, there is no affiliation with the two restaurants.

Technorati Tags: Blog, Pizza, Restaurant, Review