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| - To some, this pizza is grotesquely saccharine. To others, it is blissfully bizarre.
Almost a dessert, the neatly square pie (tart? sheet cake?) has a crust kindred to a puff pastry and a radiant red sauce sugary enough to fill a doughnut. The pale, thin, filmy cheese has a sharp flavor. The mushrooms are fresh, thickly cut, and are nearly raw. The pepperoni discs are flimsy, oily, and taste as if they are sliced to order.
You see, as a South Hills dweller of many moons, I have sped by this establishment uncounted times with nary a thought. Tonight, I decided to neglect Pizza Shack no longer.
Quite literally...a shack, it is thankfully occupied and is not emblazoned with a name that Pittsburghers will tell you conjures images of strangled suburban potential: LEVITSKE.
Only pizza can be had here. There are no hoagies, wing-dings, mozzarella sticks, calzones, or any other such fare.
No, Pizza Shack makes nothing but pizza, and although it will not be to everyone's tastes, I think they make it well.
My father HATED it.
My mom didn't know what to think of it.
I...liked it enough to at least rate it a solid 4.
Standing in front of an oven of aged, brown brick and dark, lightly corroded iron doors, the man who took my money and handed over the pizza told me that Pizza Shack has been doing brisk business for 50 years, indicating that a customer base is obviously eating this pizza with fervid regularity.
Pizza Shack's pizza will ultimately either attract or repel you with a sweetness that flutters between felicity and vulgarity. I am drawn to it without being completely smitten.
P.S. Pizza Shack is CASH AND TAKEOUT ONLY. They offer no dine-in or delivery.
P.P.S. I'm not the only Darren who is a Pizza Shack fan. When I phoned in my order, I was mistaken for another Darren who routinely buys their pizza.
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