Maria's Homemade Italian Pizza | Fountain Square | Visited: Friday, September 13, 2013

mariasoriginalpizza.com

Intro 

Apparently, I'd make a pretty lousy reporter. While I have deadlines every day in my business, it's been more than a month between our visit and this post. My apologies to Mr. Ernie Pyle and the I.U. School of Journalism (where I took several of my advertising classes, even though I was a Telecomm major).

So, not so hot-off-the-presses... 

Their sign says they've been around since 1955. And, according to their website, "...our homemade pizza has been a legend on the south side of Indianapolis. We're pleased to announce our new location in the heart of Fountain Square."

After fifteen seconds of journalistic research, I learned that this south side legend used to be called Antonia & Maria's Old World Pizzeria (after originally being called Maria's), located on Shelby Street near Garfield Park.

Not exactly sure when they made their move to Fountain Square, but it's one of the most understated storefronts you'll find (or not find). I've literally walked by this place a dozen times and it never really caught my eye.

Either I need to pay closer attention or they need to something to undo their incognito.
 
Atmosphere & Service

The service was mediocre and slow. And the atmosphere? There are so many amazing buildings and spaces in Fountain Square. For some reason, this isn't one of them. The interior isn't very welcoming. It's a hodgepodge of ugly vinyl tablecloths and forced decorations. There is a central area set up for guests to play games such as chess, with a nice fireplace as its centerpiece. But the space is just not laid out or designed with any sense of anything—in my humble yet opinionated opinion. It wouldn't take much to make this space so much more cozy, inviting and worthy of a repeat (and regular) visit. 

Pizza (breadsticks) 

Hmmm. The sticks. The sad, sad little sticks. Not the worst I've ever had, but not really even worth ordering. 

The pizza was a disappointing dichotomy, which is often the case with pizza places. They did have some interesting menu items. And, after the fact, I learned that they have a sauerkraut pizza, which has received some culinary kudos in various online reviews. We went with half buffalo chicken ("A buffalo sauce base, red onion, chicken, ground sausage and ranch or blue cheese dressing") and half cheese. The BC pizza was quite good, but the cheese pizza was a sad excuse even for something found in your grocer's freezer.

We were in a hurry (heading to the LC game at the dome) and there really wasn't a lot of good things to say, so this review is sans kids' verabatims.

Here's how we ranked the joint. I really hate to give independent places like this bad reviews. Maybe I'll go back and try the sauerkraut pie the next time I'm out in FS. Or maybe not.

Rating (out of 8 possible slices)

Dad: 4.0

Benjamin: 5.0

Sophia: 5.0

Wesley: 5.0

Union Jack Pub | Broad Ripple Village | Visited: Tuesday, July 11, 2013

unionjackpub.co

Intro 

Seems like these Holland pizza blogs also serve as a newsletter of sorts for our family's goings-on. As I type this, Sophia is in a musical (Godspell at Allisonville Christian Church), which is the reason this visit was just the three Holland hombres (Sophia was at rehearsal).

Locally owned since 1979, Union Jack was a natural choice for our fourteenth blog entry.  I actually didn't know until recently that this is a family-friendly establishment (or at least half of it is), so I didn't realize it was eligible for our family-friendly blog.

I'm ashamed to admit it, but I had never eaten at Union Jack before our visit. I've downed a pint or two there a number of times (it is, after all, a pub), but most of my visits were of the typical "bar-hopping-in-B-ripp" variety. But I'd heard good things about their pizza and had even recently seen @nealjbrown (of Pizzology and Libertine fame) tweet that he was there enjoying some deep dish. Pretty good endorsement/advertising, for sure. 

Atmosphere & Service  

The atmosphere is, well, very pub-like. It's paneled in wood, with big, roomy booths, and every inch of every wall is decked out in photos and various bric-a-brac. And not fake Applebee's bric-a-brac, but genuine, honest-to-goodness bric-a-brac that's been collected over the last 30 plus years of business. 

The service was top notch. The place wasn't all that busy (it was a Tuesday night, after all), but our waitress was attentive and offered helpful recommendations and the appropriate amount of friendly banter.








Pizza (breadsticks) 

We had our choice of pretzel breadsticks or regular pubsticks, and we went with the latter. I was hopeful and optimistic, but was disappointed after my first bite. They had a slightly crunchy outer crust, without much personality or flavor
on the inside. To be fair and balanced, both Ben and Wesley said they liked them. So what do I know? Maybe this blogging thing is just going to my head.

One last thing about their breadsticks... they were crazy expensive: $8.75 for five sticks and two sauces. By comparison, the stuffed breadsticks at Kilroy's (just down the street) are only $7.99 for four, but those are so much better and well worth every penny. 

For our pizza, we went with the "U.J. Chicago Style Award Winning Deep Dish Pan Pizza (please be patient, 40 minute oven time)." Half cheese. Half Italian sausage and sliced tomatoes. The pizza was, as you can imagine, thick. It was like eating a slice of doughy lasagna.

As I've said before, I don't think I'm a big fan of pan/deep-dish pizza. It's too much of a gastroworkout—too much food and too much of a shock to the system. But since I'm ranking things here, I would give this pizza (on its own merits) a decent rating. The crust wasn't overly greasy and tasted nice and fresh, the cheese and toppings seemed to be of the highest quality. It wasn't overly saucy, but that seems to be a personal preference (problem?) of mine. All around, it's was a good choice.

And soooo incredibly filling.

As you can see by the photo, there were only six slices (and not a very large pan) for the three of us and our usually voracious appetites. But it was more than enough food. In fact, we ended up taking one-and-a-half slices home with us.  

And now a word from our resident beer snob

The beer list at UJ is fan-tastic. "With over 100 beers of the world to choose from you are sure to find one to suit your taste." They even have an Around The World Beer Club, which I may need to check out in the future. Their draft list was very good and included Sun King's limited-edition brew, Grapefruit Jungle. I enjoyed two pints, which made our bill a little higher than normal, but was money well spent in my beer snobby mind.

In conclusion...

Skip the sticks to save room for more beer. Order the deep dish (maybe with extra sauce) and enjoy the leftovers. I would be curious to try their other pizza options as well. I just might have to do that next time I stop in for a pint.

Verbatims from Benjamin: 

RE the breadsticks: They were good. I liked the spices they had on them. But they could have been a little bit fluffier.
 

RE the pizza: Really good. So thick. I couldn't even eat two slices.

Verbatims from Wesley: 

RE the breadsticks: Loved the breadsticks. Really liked the sauce. 
 

RE the pizza: It was good. Liked the sausage and the sliced tomatoes. Edge was a bit crispy. 

Rating (out of 8 possible slices, with 4 being average)

Dad: 5.5

Benjamin: 6.0

Wesley: 6.0

MacKenzie River Pizza Company | 4939 E. 82nd Street (near 82nd & Allisonville)
Visited: Friday, June 1, 2013

mackenzieriverpizza.com

Intro

LDOS! LDOS!!

So I picked up the kids (sans Wesley, who had already started his summer break "hanging" with his friends) and was just going to head to the nearby and never-miss Puccini's to celebrate the fact that... "School's. Out. For. Summer!"

But Tortilla and Bean really wanted to try something new and continue to add to our pizza blog. Of course, I gladly acquiesced and started driving towards Castleton with no particular destination in mind.

As we headed into the eye of the Friday night traffic storm, I remember Mackenzie River, which is located in the same spot that many restaurants before it have gone to go out of business (Painted Plates is the only restaurant that I can remember, but it seems there have been at least five other eateries to open and close their doors there).

Since the place seemed to be still open for business, we decided to give it a try.

I assumed this place was a chain, and it is, but it only has 18 locations (which is just a few more than Muncie-based Greek's, for example). According to their website, MRPC can be found in Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, Washington and, go figure, Indiana. One of these things is not like the other, but I guess if one of these things has enough cash to plunk down for franchise fees and upstart costs, you can associate yourself with the Great Northwest. Or at least their pizza.

Since the company is privately held, it's technically still independent. And my original intention of this blog was to keep things as locally focused as possible, but we were hungry. So let's eat.

Atmosphere & Service  

The interior of the restaurant was fun, if not overly contrived. With lodge-like decorations, fake trees and Christmas lights. It was pleasant enough, with ample outdoor seating (which was closed due to stormy weather).

The service was decent and they seemed to have about 75 servers donning MRPC tees and cheery grins. Tall booths provided a cozy shelter from the busy and noisy surroundings. Overall, it had a good vibe for a Friday night family outing.

Pizza (breadsticks) 

After 13 blogs about pizza, I feel like I'm running out of new ways to say the same thing—this sauce is so...saucy. 

But this visit was anything but enjoyable, which helped open up the descriptive possibilities.

The epitome of mediocrity.

Hand-tossed disappointment.

Crust. Rhymes with bust.  

Even though I'm the official "author" of this blog, the kids' verbatims (below) are spot-on and better/funnier than anything I could have written.

Onto the specifics:

The sticks were probably the least flavorful I have ever tasted. No garlic. No corn meal. No nothing. And the sauce was, well, uninspired. (Again, see the verbatims for the kids' awesome insights.)

The pizza was just meh (my apologies to the AP Style Book). We ordered half BBQ chicken and half cheese, and neither provided that initial (or delayed) oh-my-God-this-pizza-is-so-good moment. If I had to describe the crust, and I really had to think about it, I would say it tasted like Pillsbury breadsticks (the kind you get in a tube in the refrigerator section of the grocery store). Just boring and plain and overly doughy.

In their defense, I was talking with Kurt, one of my co-workers, a few days after our dining experience, and he said that he and his family really like the pizza and go there quite often. To each his/her own, I suppose. But based on my head-to-head comparisons, MRPC just doesn't measure up.

Verbatims from Benjamin: 

RE the breadsticks: 

They smell like Chinese food. 

They'd be a lot better if I didn't have a sense of smell. 

RE the pizza: 

I fell in love with the BBQ pizza. But it's not as good as Arni's.

Verbatims from Sophia: 

It's better than school pizza. But prison pizza is better than school pizza. Do they even have pizza in prison?

Rating (out of 8 possible slices, with 4 being average)

Dad: 3.0

Benjamin: 5.5

Sophia:  4.0

Kinsey's Italian Cafe | 6383 W Broadway, McCordsville, IN | Visited: Friday, May 17, 2013

Kinsey's Facebook Page (since they don't have a website) and
Urban Spoon (92% positive rating, if you're interested)

Intro

We live in Geist (within the City of Lawrence), so Kinsey's is just a short five-minute drive from our house. It's on Broadway in McCordsville, which is basically Pendleton Pike...way east.

I think we once received a direct mailer (with some sort of coupon) promoting Kinsey's pizza, but the food photography was soooo horrendous, it really turned me off (even though we write a family blog on local/independent pizza places). So I'm either a pizza snob. A marketing snob. Or both.

Turns out, I was in McCordsville scouting for a client and my coworkers and I ended up at Kinsey's for lunch. Each of us had calzones, which were really quite good. Not Puccini's good, but pretty close. So, I told myself (and then my kids) that we should give Kinsey's pizza a try.

Of course, Friday night means the teenage Hollands have many other things going on. Wesley had  band practice. Sophia was getting ready for a party. So, it was just me and Ben. Once again.

Atmosphere & Service  

The atmosphere is pretty small town, in an older-and-slightly-dilapidated-strip-mall kind of way. But it was Friday night, so it was bustling with families and friends supporting this family-owned business.

Our waitress was very friendly and attentive, and even apologized for the longer-than-usual wait. It's amazing to me how many servers don't recognize the not-so-fine line between average wait time and "what the heck is taking them so long?"

The service and positive vibe (and decent food) more than made up for the time-warped interior.

Pizza (breadsticks) 

Kinsey's has breadsticks on its menu, but we opted for the garlic knots instead, which were really quite good. And actually a lot less garlicky than, say, Hot Box breadsticks, which I love. Ben's comment about the knots was they were "thick", which is a decent description. Delish.

The pizza at Kinsey's is NY style. And huuuuuge. As demonstrated below by Benjamin. We ordered half Hawaiian and half cheese. With extra sauce. We should have left off the extra sauce because it made it super sloppy and we had a hard time eating it, even when "folding the pizza like Homer" (inside family joke). I had to use a fork. Ben just made a mess. The sauce was sweet and the crust (on the crust that wasn't doused in sauce) was pretty non-descript. Not overly flavorful.

The beer list, always an important consideration, was small. I ordered a Stella, which they were out of. And ended up with Sam Adams in a bottle. An agreeable alternative, in my book.

So, will we go back? Probably not. Puccini's is still our default favorite. And only four minutes away.  Should you give it a try? If you're in the area... most definitely. It's good to know there's an above average, locally owned restaurant serving McCordsville and strongly supported by the locals.

Verbatims from Benjamin: 

RE the pizza: Whoa! Crust is so thin, it's like spaghetti noodles. Messy!

Rating (out of 8 possible slices, with 4 being average)

Dad: 5.5

Benjamin: 5.0 (the crust was thin and "flopping around")

Pearl Street Pizzeria & Pub | 65 E. Pearl Street, Downtown Indy | Visited: Friday, April 5, 2013

pearlstreetpizzeria.com

Intro

If you'll recall from an earlier post, we tried to go to Pearl Street Pizzeria & Pub before the Pacers home opener, but it was too crowded and we didn't want to miss tip-off. So, when Bruce White offered me tickets to the Pacers/OKC game (thanks, Bruce!), I thought we'd try our luck again and make our way down to Pearl Street (which is really more of an alley).

Located off of Penn, across from Scotty's, and just a long (Jordan/Bird/McDonald's Commercial/Game of HORSE) jump shot from the Fieldhouse, Pearl Street is someplace I may have never discovered had Bruce not brought it to my attention. But it seems to have enough awareness (from those that live/work downtown plus in-the-know sports fans) to do a brisk business.

As always, and not as often as I should, I try to eat, shop and buy local, and I will go back again based on this fact alone (oh, and the fact that their on-draft list was rock solid).


Atmosphere & Service  

We timed things perfectly, and found an open table, despite the fact that the place was bustling with gold-and-blue-clad patrons. They were even nice enough to seat/serve a few punks with DURANT emblazoned across their backs.

The atmosphere was pleasant, nice bar, with exposed brick and great downtown vibe. It's definitely a "locally-owned...cozy...back-alley restaurant" (their own words from their own website).

Pizza (breadsticks)

As I've said before in this blog, it's not always easy to compare pizza to pizza, especially with so many different styles and toppings (not to mention other factors that come into play). I've considered giving different ratings for different areas (pizza, sticks, beer selection, etc.), but that's complicating things and this is just supposed to be fun. So, I'm going to keep the rating system the same. For now.


Speaking of different factors coming into play, neither Ben nor I were especially hungry when we got there, which certainly has an effect on how "good" the food tastes. We did order breadsticks and pizza (plus two beers/root beers each), even though it was just the two of us. There were plenty of leftovers.

Although Pearl Street's "breadsticks" are called "breadsticks", I would say they're more like cheesy bread in stick form. A good, tasty appetizer for sure, but I wouldn't place them in the traditional bread stick category.

As for the pizza, we ordered half BBQ Chicken (because we liked it so much at Arni's) and half Hawaiian. Ben wanted the deep dish, and I think I've come to realize (as I've said before) I'm not a big fan of deep dish or pan pizza, which is another factor that obviously affects the taste (and therefore the rating).

Both topping combos came with cilantro, which added an interesting and distinctive flavor. Cilantro seems to make more sense on the BBQ half, but I'll have to give them credit for mixing things up a bit with their recipe. The crust was decent but, again, thick crust isn't my favorite. Overall, it was a good, filling, tasty pie. If I were more hungry, it certainly would have hit the spot even more. I will definitely be back (if only for a beer or three) sometime in the future.

(I asked the waitress why the beers were $5.04 on our bill, and she didn't have an answer. To her credit, she said she would ask her manager, but we needed to get to the game. Just found it kind of curious.)

Verbatims from Benjamin: 

RE the breadsticks: They taste like mini pieces of pizza.

RE the pizza: Spicy. Very filling. 

Rating (out of 8 possible slices, with 4 being average)

Dad: 6.0 (the BBQ Chicken Pizza was good, but not "better" than Arni's. But I'm giving Pearl Street the same rating for the combination of all factors.)

Benjamin: 7 

So, after ten reviews, here's how they rank...

Arni's Restaurant | 4705 E. 96th Street | Visited: Friday, April 29, 2013

meetyouatarnis.com

Intro

As you probably don't know, Arni's opened its first restaurant in 1965 in Lafayette, Indiana. According to their website, "Arni's prides itself in providing a fun place to eat, with efficient service, and quality food at reasonable prices." And even though they are lacking in their marketing spin and flowery writing skills, they do seem to deliver on these promises.

Arni's currently lists 18 locations on its website, including five in Lafayette, one in Indy, and another in one of my favorite-named Indiana towns, Floyds Knobs. There used to be a location on West 86th Street in Indy, and my mom liked to go there because they had life-sized bikes on the wall ridden by life-sized historical figures. I don't remember the food being all that memorable, but I do remember the crazy bikes. That location closed (moved) back in 2008, according to Gerry Dick.

I had only been to the "new" Arni's a few times before, the last time being my surprise 40th birthday party a couple of years back. And we, of course, had pizza. So, it seemed like a natural and appropriate place to blog about. 

Atmosphere & Service  

Arni's is located on 96th Street, between Allisonville and Keystone, just east of the monolithic and uber-ugly hh gregg location. It's in one of the many nondescript strip malls along this stretch of roadway, and I often drive by this place without taking notice. But it still seems to do a brisk business.  

The atmosphere is comfortable, exposed ceilings, slightly contemporary, and the service was "efficient". It also seemed like they had a LOT of staffers, which is better than the alternative. We got our sticks and food in what seemed like a faster-than-usual amount of time. Especially for a Friday night.

Pizza (breadsticks)

The sticks were just okay. I probably wouldn't order them again, and certainly wouldn't order them if I was doing carryout. I thought they came with both cheese and marinara sauce, so I didn't order an "extra sauce".

Hey, lookie there, it WAS supposed to come with both sauces. But I didn't complain (or request) because 1) I didn't feel like asking, and 2) since our pizza came so quickly, it really didn't matter.

As for the 'za, we ordered half cheese (always) and half BBQ chicken. While the cheese was rather dull and unassuming, the other half was simply spectacular. Lots of flavor, saucy sauce and tender chicken. Featuring "a blend of mozzarella, smoked Gouda and cheddar cheeses."

Arni's crust is on the thin side, and it's more of a good vehicle to deliver the rest of the flavor versus a good, delicious, flavorful crust that can stand on its own merits.That's why, in my opinion, the cheese pizza was/is sub-par. It tasted like decent bar pizza, but a sub-par pizza parlor pizza... if that makes sense.

Verbatims from Benjamin: 

RE the breadsticks: Tastes like a Twinkie. (random and not really that accurate) :-) 

RE the pizza: It's different. Cheese is awesome, too...If this is not a dream, I'm gonna rank this the best so far.

Verbatims from Sophia: 

RE the breadsticks: They're pretty good. More stick versus bread. Spicy and garlicky.

RE the pizza: This is sooooo good. 

Rating (out of 8 possible slices, with 4 being average)

Dad: 6.0 (based on the BBQ pizza, mostly) 

Benjamin: 8 (A perfect score! Ben really liked the BBQ pizza!!)

Sophia: 7.5