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| - This is a review solely of the stuffed pizza, ordered and picked up over the phone. Maybe the thin-crust is better.
Where to start...
As an ex-pat Chicagoan, I've been eating stuffed pizza from the likes of Eduardo's, Giordano's, Lou Malnati's and other fine non-chain establishments for most of my adult life. So my expectations for a stuffed pizza are thus: At least two inches high, lots of delicious flaky crust, and a dense, almost torte-like filling of cheese, sauce and meats. High standards, but I figured Aurelio's, a venerable South-side chain, would do it up well.
Mmmmnope. Limp, doughy crust. Mushy, puddle-like filling. Tiny smear of sauce on the top crust, with a half-assed toss of mozzarella on one half of the top. It's like I phoned in the order, and they phoned in the pizza. You want to know what a stuffed pizza is supposed to look like? Go to Giordano's home page. Aurelio's stuffed pizza looks more a like a flat calzone with a bit of sauce on top.
Ah, the sauce. I realize that everyone has different tastes - some people like a sweet sauce, and some like a tangy, robust sauce. I'm in the second camp, so the Chef Boy-yar-dee sweetness of their sauce didn't do much for me. If there were other flavors in there besides sweet and tomato, I couldn't tell.
As my girlfriend shrugged: "Well, there really isn't such a thing as bad pizza." True. It wasn't bad. Neither is Pizza Hut, really. But a two-star rating according to Yelp is "meh, I've experienced better" and truly I have. For the price, I don't think I got what I paid for. The free pizza at Bellagio's employee dining room tastes better.
I was waffling between a 1- and 2-star rating when I remembered the giardiniera, which is authentic Chicago-style and tasty as all get-out. Maybe I'll try an Italian beef from there sometime, since good giardiniera is almost impossible to find in Vegas.
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