Boston: pizza

Boston, my beloved home city, has so much that I must talk about, but I haven't even started yet on it because I am saving the best city for last.

In the meantime, I'll post a couple of short articles in this blog about a few Italian, Japanese, and Lebanese restaurants which I recommend in the Boston and greater Boston area.

This is obviously a post just about pizza. I will elaborate more on the most beautiful city in the world (Boston) later on!

As many people may already know, Boston has a famous "Little Italy", also known as the North End. If you want to satisfy your Italian tooth, by all means go there and explore, and you don't need my help because this part of the city is filled with authentic Italian places (just avoid the typical chain and franchise restaurants, such as Regina Pizzeria).

What I want to talk about here are a few of my personal favourite Italian places which are not located in the North End. Most are actually not even located in the city; they are in the suburbs. They're called Needham House of Pizza, Islington Pizza, Papa Gino's (even if that's a chain restaurant, it's still on my favourites list) and Inbound Pizza. This list is very personal because each place represents an important memory and part of my life which I associate with an amazing pizza experience.

Needham House of Pizza

Of course I have to talk about my favourite pizza place from my hometown. It's located on 914 Great Plain Ave in Needham.

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The truth is that there is not much to do in the suburb of Needham because it is basically all just restaurants and banks, but since it is my hometown, I feel that I must write about it. You can read all about what to do here and how to get here from Boston in my next article. In any case, if you happen to find yourself in the area, go check out Needham House of Pizza!

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This restaurant has actually been open for a long time. Many years ago, before I was born, my parents once came on a date here. That's not why it's special to me, though. Needham House is special because I grew up in this town, and out of all the pizza places in my town, this one has the cheesiest and richest taste.

I recently had this pizza from Needham House of Pizza, and it is still a mouthful of juicyness with the perfect ratio of tomato sauce and cheese, as good as always. The only thing I might change is the thickness of the crust, because it is a little bit thick and I am not a crust fan. There must be a reason why it has stayed in business for so long, and it's not because of coincidence.

Sure, we have Comella's Pizza too, and I love their $5 large cheese pizza deal, but those pizzas never have enough cheese and they're really skimpy compared to those from Needham House of Pizza. We also have the joints called Town Pizza and Nicolas' Pizza, which I do agree are very good, but again, Needham House has something special that makes it unique, and their pizza will always be the most delicious to me. Sometimes the pizza is a bit greasy with oil on the cheese, so I have friends who like to pat it down with napkins to absorb some of the grease. I don't do that, because I like the taste of everything.

Besides pizza, Needham House also offers a variety of other foods such as subs, salads and pasta.

I remember coming to Needham House of Pizza with my friends on school days when we got released early from our classes in middle school and high school, and sometimes we would come on weekends too. A few years ago I came here to have a pizza and catch up with an old friend of mine. I wonder if good experiences that are associated with a place make us think that it tastes better than it really does. Does our brain trick us to believing that something is the best because we spent good childhood memories there? Possibly. The next one on the list is another example of association with good memories!

Islington Pizza

Located on 315 Washington St in Westwood, this pizza place is also located in the suburbs.

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It has been the longest time since I have tried this restaurant again. The last time may have been when I was 8 or 9 at the latest. In any case, this restaurant is extremely precious to me as it is where I used to go with my grandmother to have pizza. When I was little, I would spend a lot of time with both of my grandmothers, especially with my mom's mother.

She would take me quite often to the playground not far from her apartment and watch me as I would explore the jungle gym, run and play, try everything out and get dirty. Many times I had to pee really bad, and since there was not a public restroom nearby, she would open the car doors with me standing between them, and because she was a wide lady, she would stand in front of me to cover me while I squatted.

After exhausting myself from playing at the playground, she would herd me in the car, or sometimes we would walk, and escort me straight to the Islington Pizza place right down the street, where, after cleaning my hands and face from all the dirt, we would share a cheese pizza. You can see in the map (above) how close the School Street Playground is to Islington Pizza.

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This is my best and favourite pizza memory of my entire life, and it is possible that this could be a reason for which I love pizza so much. They also serve soups, salads, subs and pasta here.

Papa Gino's

There are many Papa Gino's in the area, but I'm talking about a particular location: at 188 Needham St in Newton. It is actually really close to Needham.

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This place gives me mixed memories, because my mom would take me here right after getting my haircut from the hairdressers across the street. I hate the hairdressers with a strong and burning passion, and it is because my mom would make me get my haircut when I didn't want to. In the end, she always convinced me to go with her to the hairdressers because she promised to take me to the Papa Gino's next door afterwards, and she kept her promise.

So every time I would go to get my haircut, my little face would be a dark and evil shadow, and I would be silently sulking (sometimes I would voice my opinion and oppose the hairdresser). Then in the same moment that it was all over, my face would immediately light up as we walked straight over to Papa Gino's, bouncing there happily with my stupid haircut. We always ordered cheese pizza, and I would ask for the parmesan shaker so I could add extra cheese all over it. I still like to do that, which is why people ask me if I "want some pizza with that cheese", or "want some pasta with that cheese".

I recently returned to that same Papa Gino's with my dad, and I was not disappointed at all. The store changed its location to across the street and it looks renovated from the inside, but pizza is still as good as always. The best surprise that I discovered was this new deal that they have: Monday-Wednesday from 4-8pm all you can eat cheese pizza for $4. 99! I didn't think this was possible. I will come back immediately this week for this deal.

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Also, the $10. 99 up to 5 toppings deal sounds really good. Usually you can't get a whole pizza for under $12 (unless you go to Comella's). For the third deal I can think of, I'm not sure if a cinnamon swirl pizza sounds like it tastes good, but it might be worth trying. It's free anyway with the purchase of a rustic pizza!

Inbound Pizza

Located at 1232 Commonwealth Avenue, Allston, this place is definitely in a heaviliy populated college student area of the city of greater Boston. I tried it for the first time it quite recently, just a few months ago in December of 2016. It is actually right across from Habibi's Hookah Lounge (obviously my go-to shisha place in Boston), and I discovered Inbound Pizza one night when I was with a friend at Habibi's and we decided to look for a pizza place nearby because we were hungry.

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We found this place on the map as the closest pizza shop, and we crossed the street and walked in.

I was very surprised at how cheap the pizza cost. We bought one slice each of the pizza, which was under $3 per slice, and the slices here are huge. If you are with a friend or two and are very hungry, then I'd recommend getting a medium or large pizza, which is still at a very good price. For example, a medium cheese pizza at 12 inches is $12, and a large pizza at 16 inches is $14.

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It's important to note that although on this takeout website it says that takeout delivery is until 11:45pm, the place is actually open until 2am to order inside at the counter.

Now to talk about the pizza itself, it was amazing. So cheesy and it was melting in my mouth. The crust was thin. I couldn't believe that we had found such a good place selling pizza for so cheap.

I hope this post was helpful and got your appetite going. Stay tuned for more coming up soon!

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