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| - Where does one head when they're in the mood for some wood-fired oven-baked pizza goodness? Actually, in the Cleveland area that's a damn good question. It seems that this traditional method of cooking is all but being phased out in the pizza world. Unless you're talking about Bucci's. Yup, they have actual brick ovens burning actual wood baking actual pizzas. OK, so that last one wasn't really necessary. Anyway, the wife and I were experiencing one of our all-too-regular pizza cravings and we wanted more than delivery.
Others have already belabored the whole strip mall location thing, so I won't bother. Our visit was sometime around 5pm (yeah, we eat with the gray hairs, so what) on a Friday. We walked in to a nearly empty restaurant. Pretty standard layout - hostess station up front, booths, tables, yadda yadda. It's pretty dimly lit, too. Ambiance maybe? The kitchen is at the back and you can entertain yourself (and annoy the employees) by staring at them through the glass while they make the food. It's sort of like a pizza maker aquarium.
Overall, our service was really good. We were greeted as soon as we walked in and the pace of the meal was on the fast side. Our server kept our iced teas filled and our table was cleared promptly of empty dishes. No complaints on this front at all.
The menu features pretty much what you'd expect from an Italian join like Bucci's. Meatballs calamari, salads, and the gamut of Picattas, Milaneses, Bolognaises, and Marsalas. Oh yeah, and plenty of real estate devoted to pizza. So let's start on the food, shall we?
We were there for the pizza so we ordered a small (plenty for two people, about 8 small slices) traditional red sauce variety with pepperoni, mushroom, banana peppers and green bell peppers. We ordered a house salad and calamari to keep our mouths busy while we waited for our pizza.
I honestly don't remember the house salad. Not that I'm saying it was bad or anything, just that it was a salad and I'm not all that turned on by leafy greens. I'm sure it was fresh, crispy, cold, and all that a salad should be. The tasty, well-seasoned calamari was fried a crispy, golden brown and the generous portion came with a few lemon wedges and a small bowl of warm marinara sauce for dipping.
When one goes out for wood-fired pizza, one has certain expectations, especially when it comes to the crust. It should be crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside and it simply must have that characteristic char that makes it taste so damn good. The crust at Bucci's doesn't disappoint. It ticks all of the right boxes. I thought it was on the thin side, though, flopping flaccidly as it was being served. So why only three stars. It was the toppings. For starters, canned mushroom. Seriously? Why would any pizza joint choose to use canned mushrooms. Fresh mushrooms just add so much to a pizza. Next, the green bell peppers appeared to have been placed on the pizza after it was cooked. They were barely warm and pretty much raw. I like the toppings on my pizzas, vegetables included, to be cooked. It's not all bad, though. It was tasty and the addition of the fresh chiffonade of basil is a nice touch.
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