I'm from New York, so I'm a pizza snob. On Long Island, you can drive ten minutes in any direction from my parents house and get some great pizza at small, local places. Emotional detour: There used to be this place called Tony D's about 5 minutes from my house. My buddy and I used to go there all the time during high school and eat as much as we could. Eventually the workers started to notice, and we were treated like kings (i.e. free food at closing time). A few years ago, the deli next door had a huge fire and Tony D's was lost forever.[FN1] They never rebuilt, and my eyes always mist up whenever I drive by.[FN2]
Ok, I'm done crying. Now back to the issue at hand - Boston's major pizza problem. For a city that has a pretty good culinary reputation, pizza is the one thing they haven't figured out.[FN3] Maybe it's because the city is home to a ton of college students, and for the most part, college students want cheap and fast pizza. I admit that when I was in college, faced with late night pizza cravings, I ordered from some really bad places. Each time, I felt like I should have gone to confession afterwards.
There are a few spots in Boston that are consistently touted as the best pizza places in the city, but for me, there is really only one place, and only one specific pie at said place. It's Pizzeria Regina's in the North End, and it's their spinaci, brocoli, e pomodoro pie (#24 on the menu, number 1 in my heart). I have never had a bad experience with this pie. Not even a so-so experience. Just absolute perfection, in 8 slices. I order a large pie for myself, and usually eat 6 slices the first night and two the next day. That says a lot to me, because even though I love pizza, I wont go crazy - just 2 slices for dinner. But not with this one. No, my friends, this one has cast a spell on me.
It all starts with the crust. Fired up in the brick oven, with the perfect balance of doughiness and charred bottom. In a city where crusts are often flaky (cringe!), Regina's gets it so right! Next is their "red sauce" which has noticeable, yet not overwhelming hits of garlic. Sometimes the sauce runs a little near the center of the pie, or the front end of each slice. It oozes with the cheese onto your plate, leaving behind a flavorful bite to be enjoyed after you finish the slice. The pie is then topped with pecorino romano cheese and fresh basil. The cheese provides a nice contrasting flavor to the mozzarella, and the basil, oh the basil. I love fresh basil - I'd brush my teeth with it if I could find 4 of 5 dentists to approve.
A final word on Regina's. I often trade food stories with a coworker of mine who also happens to favor Regina's. She has a go-to pie there as well. I tried to explain the merits of the spinach and brocoli pie but she was having none of it. That may be the thing that makes Regina's so good. They make pies unlike anywhere else in the city. So when you find the right one, it becomes love at first bite.
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FN1: That deli happened to make one of the best egg sandwiches I've had. But some things are just too important, and my loyalty to Tony D's was one of them. Thus, I have never returned to that deli.
FN2: Later, we discovered that Tony D had a second location, so we drove almost an hour to eat there. It wasn't the same, and quite frankly, it never stood a chance. Food just becomes that much better when you have an emotional connection with it. For us, Tony D's was a major part of growing up. It defined who we were, in part because we used to leave school 6th period, grab a full pie, and then return in time to eat it during 8th period calculus. The other location might as well have been owned by complete strangers. So we ate our pizza, said goodbye, and drove home in silence.
FN3: Actually two things: pizza and bagels.
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