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| - Vinnie Pie...The one and only! From time to time, I've been dismayed to read reviews from pizza lovers who did not like the Vinnie Pie. Then one day I had an epiphany. To compare a Vinnie Pie to an ordinary pizza is just not a reasonable comparison. A Vinnie Pie is not really a pizza; it is something very different, its own unique thing. It's a Vinnie Pie. It might even be its own food group.
Those with OCD or those who are expecting a neat little pizza with neatly organized toppings and a uniform crust should not even go near this restaurant. A Vinnie Pie is pure entropic chaos on a platter. A Vinnie Pie is so chaotic that nobody makes a box that will contain it. Instead, they make their own takeout package consisting of a giant slab of cardboard wrapped with white butcher paper over the top.
The ingredients are the finest and freshest and that's one of the key elements that make a Vinnie Pie such an awesome sensory experience. I suspect there are other secrets known only to a select few.
Beyond that, words fail me on describing the Vinnie Pie itself. If you want to know more of what it's like, read the review by Darren W. His review comes closer than any words I can write.
The rest of this review is a self-endulgent trip down memory lane. I grew up in Forest Hills, but I left in 1980 along with everyone else. Now imagine it's 1979 and you're a 17-year old with the munchies. And you end up at Vincent's Pizza Park on a Saturday night. I can still see Vince behind the glass, flour in his hair, his glasses fogged with even more flour, a glass of beer on the counter, and the ubiquitous cigarette in the corner of his mouth. We used to speculate that cigarette ash was the secret ingredient. Those images are laser-etched in my brain.
I don't get to Pittsburgh very often any more, but I did get to stop in for a Vinnie Pie a couple of months ago. I was pleased to see that the place looked pretty much the same. Of course, Vince is gone now. I've heard people say that the pizza isn't as good at it used to be, but to me, it seemed just as good as ever.
Rest in peace Vincent Chianese. The man may be gone, but his legend and legacy remain.
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