Santarpio’s: The Best in New England?

First, we must apologize for the lack of recent pizza related postings. We are experiencing busy times in our non-pizza lives, if you can believe aspects of our lives do exist that are not intertwined with our favorite food. We recognize that as budding bloggers this is not the ideal way to gain readership. So, we offer our apologies and our promise to give you our best efforts going forward.

Last Friday, our first pizza night of autumn, we visited an old school pizza parlor in East Boston that goes by the name of Santarpio’s Pizza. A friend called it “excellent” and urged us to try it. To boot, Santarpio’s edged out the Upper Crust in New England Cable News’ poll of the best pizza in New England. So, on a chilly and rainy Friday night, Kelly picked Shaan up from work. We battled the Friday evening Boston traffic, heavy rain and multiple GPS (and navigator) failures, finally to arrive across the Harbor at Santarpio’s.

Santarpio’s is a no frills pizza shop. The patrons are mostly local, credit cards are not accepted, the tables are small and tight and the menu is limited to a handful of pizzas and lamb or sausage from the grill. We went with our old faithful, pepperoni and cheese. At first bite, we were delightfully surprised. The pepperoni was under the cheese, a pizza building method loved by Shaan. The sauce was perfectly spiced and included chunks of tomato, pizza artistry admired by Kelly.

However as we reached the crust of our first slices, some of our love for Santarpio’s faded. The crust was disproportionately thick and a bit burnt. For these reasons, we must disagree with the viewers of New England Cable News. While satisfying on a damp and cool night, we cannot say that Santarpio’s is the best ‘zza in New England. With excellent pies served up at Café Rialto, Pizzeria Regina (the one in the North End, only), and the Upper Crust right here in Boston, it may be a while before we venture across the Harbor to Santarpio’s again.