Buttitta’s Pizzeria
12664 East 116th Street
Fishers, Indiana 46037
http://www.buttittaspizzeria.com

This review is a revisit for the blog but a first visit for me after IndianapolisEater reviewed Buttitta’s back in April of 2012. IndianpolisEater made the comment that after trying one of Buttitta’s specialty pizzas, he would have like a more traditional pizza better. In this revisit, I went to Buttitta’s seeking good traditional pizza a step above what you might get at a chain pizza place.

Buttitta’s is the closest place to my home to get pizza, so my plan was to stop and pick up on my way home from work on a Friday. I called at 4:30 to place an order and got now answer or recording. After arriving home and going to their web page, I found that they do not open on until 5PM and close for an Italian rest break in the afternoon from 2:30-5:00. Do they really get more orders at 2PM on a Friday that 4:30? It took extra effort to go back out on a Friday night to make this pizza experience happen.

What I Got: Large (16″) Pizza; $14.95, with sausage, pepperoni & mushrooms at $1.25 a topping. The Total cost with tax $20.24

When I arrived to pick up my order, I saw a sign on their window that said something to the order of come in and taste the difference of our pizza vs. chain pizza. The high expectations had been set. Considering that the cost for this three topping pizza was twice that of a supreme at a chain store, the pizza needed to live up to the hype including high quality ingredients. Fresh mushrooms are a must to me when ordering a pizza I had no doubt this pizza had fresh mushrooms. The crust was good and firm which is always appreciated on a thin crust pizza. That sauce was not sweet and loaded with sugar and had a more rich tomato taste to it. Although this gave the pizza a solid base, I did not like how much crust there was and want to see my sauce and cheese come out nearly to the edge of the pizza. With such a big crust, the pizza felt more like a medium. It was a large pizza box but the pizza certainly did not fill the box.

The real problem with this pizza was the toppings. Where were they? If you look at the picture, it is hard to differentiate between the chunks of sausage and the mushrooms but there was not a piece of pizza with more than three pieces of sausage with some have only two or one. It is bad when you are counting toppings to decide what piece you are going to eat. The mushrooms were spread so thin that you on occasionally got a taste of mushroom on the pizza. Nearly half the pizza did not have cheese. Between the large crust and nearly two in of pizza next to the crust where you only see sauce, this pizza had half the cheese it should have. Cheese preserves the sauce and as a result, this pizza was dry unless you were eating the portion from the middle of the pie.

What I Got: Breadsticks (8) Pizza; $5.00 + and additional $.50 for cheese.

Buttitta’s has coupons on www.coupons4indy.com and I got these breadsticks for free with the coupon and I paid for the cheese cup. Maybe I should not complain, but the when I called and ordered, I was asked what kind of dip I wanted and cheese was one of the choices I was given. The employee taking my order did not tell me there was an additional charge for anything besides pizza sauce. I don’t mind paying if I am told there is an additional cost. The cheese I got was cold and tasted like it was straight out of a can.
The breadsticks I got are not what I would qualify as breadsticks. They should have been called garlic sticks. Don’t get me wrong, I like garlic, but these sticks, which seemed to be some kind of whole wheat or multi-grain sticks, were absolutely coated in what seemed like a pasty butter to hold on chunks of garlic. It was overpowering and I did not like the texture or taste.

Would I Buy It Again? Absolutely Not! Many places, I am willing to give a second chance to but this place was so far off target and the cost being twice as much as chain pizza and not being as good was a complete disappointment. The difference I tasted was not a good one. You can get much better breadsticks for $3.99 a block away at HotBox Pizza. As for the pizza, if you want a great thin crust pizza that is of high quality and loaded with toppings and plentiful cheese in the same price range, check out these two reviews I did at Greek’s and Nancy’s Pizza in Fishers.

-EatHSE

Domino’s
http://www.dominos.com

According to our friends at dictionary.com, the definition of “artisan” is as follows:

“noun
1. a person skilled in an applied art; a craftsperson.
2. a person or company that makes a high-quality, distinctive product in small quantities, usually by hand and using traditional methods: food artisans.

adjective
3. pertaining to or noting high-quality, distinctive products made in small quantities: artisan beer.”

So, judging by this, Domino’s is clearly setting the bar high for its new-ish Artisan pizzas that they are advertising.  As you can see by the box above, they feel that their creations are so ideal that there are no substutions allowed on the pizza.  You have to like what they give you or else you are hosed, because they are not going to add or subtract any ingredients.  Kind of a funny premise, especially for a takeout/delivery chain, but I’m not one to complain and spurred on by the fact that I qualified for a free Artisan pizza through a giveaway on their Facebook page, I was willing to give one a shot.

What I Got:  Italian Sausage and Three Pepper Artisan Pizza; mine was free, but they are regularly $7.99 if you carry them out.

To quote Domino’s definition verbatim, this pizza is “Parmesan-Asiago cheese and sliced Italian sausage complemented by a trio of roasted red, green, and banana peppers, on an artisan-style crust, topped with a dash of oregano. (13” x 9” rectangular pizza. Serves 2).”  I’ll leave the serving size estimate alone because I already know I’m a large eater, but I can confirm (as can the picture) that all those other ingredients were on there.  One thing I will note is that prior to me tasting this, all I could smell was the banana peppers as it sat in the box, so the banana pepper taste was looking like it was going to be quite strong.

As I took my first bite, my estimate that the banana pepper taste was going to be strong was inaccurate.  It was present, but it wasn’t particularly strong.  It did add a nice bit to the pizza though because the Italian sausage, which can ordinarily be quite spicy, was not really spicy at all (it was kind of fun to see the sausage in chopped up link form as opposed to crumbled sausage form like you see on a typical pizza).  Neither were the red or green peppers, although I will note that those two peppers along with the banana peppers were fresh and brought some crunch to the pizza and that was something I did not expect.  In my past experiences with Domino’s pizzas, the vegetables on the pizza are usually canned or cooked so much that they have no crunch whatsoever.  Having that additional crunch on there was a nice and welcome change of pace because this pizza definitely needed it because the crust was so doughy and had no crunch at all.  In fact, it was as if I was eating a soft sponge and when you mixed all these ingredients together, the only impression that I was left with was “blah.”  The pizza lacked heat, it lacked crunch from the crust and everything else was pretty much just standard Domino’s stuff.  The sauce was sweet, which was nice and the cheese had a slight saltiness to it from the parmesan, but other than that, there was nothing particularly memorable about this pizza.

Would I Buy It Again?  Calling this pizza an artisan pizza is an insult to artisans and since I’m a food review blog artisan (note the sarcasm), I’ll say that I would not buy this again.  This pizza, while not overwhelmingly horrible, was just too boring and not worth another purchase because it did not deliver any sort of real heat or spice like you’d think it would based on its ingredients.  Frankly, I’d rather have a Tombstone frozen pizza than this.  They have a crunchier crust, have different varieties (I can switch toppings, unlike Domino’s) and are generally cheaper than this one.  Perhaps the other varieties of Artisan Pizzas that Domino’s has are better, but this one is not worth your time and I don’t know if trying any of the other options would be worth my time either.

-IndianapolisEater

Buttitta’s Pizzeria
12664 East 116th Street
Fishers, Indiana 46037
http://www.buttittaspizzeria.com

I was sitting at home like a loser on a recent Saturday night wondering what I was going to have for dinner and one of my dork friends kept texting me about how he was going to have an awesome night of eating Ale Emporium pizza and wings at his house since his wife was out of town and he was at home watching their infant daughter.  After thinking about it for a while, his pizza and wings dinner started to make me hungry for the same thing, so I decided I had to get my hands on some as well.  Since I wanted something that was not a chain and also something that was from a place I had never been, I was led to Buttitta’s Pizzeria.  Buttitta’s is a small family-owned shop that replaced a previous pizza place in the same location and their specialty is thin crust, New York-style pizza.  Their tagline is “Real Italian, by Real Italians!”  With that kind of tagline, you’ve got to be intrigued, right?  So, I ended up going to their store (they do have in store dining for about 40-50 people, by the way) and ended up ordering up some pizza and wings from their moderately diverse (for a pizzeria) menu.  When I was leaving with my carryout, one of the servers asked me if this was my first time visiting and I said it was and she said that I was going to love it.  With that ringing endorsement (there was also a decent crowd dining in the store), I was anxious to get home and try it out.

What I Got:  Individual (10″) Fungi Pizza; $11.95, as well as 15 chicken wings; $10.50 ($0.70 each).

Let’s start with the pizza first.  I was feeling frisky, so I went with one of their gourmet pizzas called the “Fungi.”  The Fungi is made up of mushrooms, sausage, onion, garlic olive oil and mozzarella cheese and when I saw those first two ingredients, I knew I had to have it because those are my two favorite pizza ingredients.  Unfortunately, what I didn’t realize when I ordered because my reading comprehension skills are obviously lacking is that the garlic olive oil is actually the “sauce” for this pizza.  That’s right, this pizza does not have tomato sauce.  Oops.  When I opened up the box, I’ve got to say that I was very disappointed that there was no tomato sauce, but since this was caused by my own stupidity, I’ve got no one to blame for this but myself.  That said, the pizza did smell DELICIOUS and once I got past the lack of tomato sauce, it wasn’t that bad.  The ingredients that were on the pizza were delicious and the sausage and garlic provided a nice spice and kick to the flavor.  The crust itself was thin, flavorful and flexible like  you would expect a New York-style pizza to be.  Unfortunately, the lack of tomato sauce ruined this one for me and I didn’t like it.   That one’s on me though and not Buttita’s, because everything was executed exactly like they said it would be.  It was just a matter of personal taste.  By the way, a 10″ individual pizza (I question that measurement) is not a good sized pizza for someone that is a fairly decent eater like myself.  It almost felt like I was eating a small appetizer.  Just another disappointment that I had to chalk up.

Next up was the chicken wings and as you can tell from the picture, these are some healthy sized wings so that was a major positive.  They’re also baked as opposed to fried wings.  There’s also no breading on these as it’s just the crispy skin, so I suppose that makes them “healthier” when you compare them to a lot of wings that you get at other places.  They are also seasoned with what I believe to have been garlic and Italian herb seasoning, but I could be mistaken as the flavoring was not powerful enough for me to discern their flavor.  What got me on these though was that they offer several dipping sauces on the side (I chose honey and sweet barbecue sauce; FYI, the sweet barbecue sauce tasted exactly like Sweet Baby Ray’s), but the wings themselves are served “naked”.  I was definitely not expecting that, but again, my lack of reading comprehension skills probably screwed me over on that one.   Regardless, these large wings were tender, meaty and flavorful, so that was very welcome and an excellent taste for my meal.  Also, since these were baked, they weren’t greasy like you might expect from chicken wings (that’s not grease in the picture, it’s one of honey dipping sauces that I spilled), so that was a nice change of pace.  All in all, I wouldn’t rate these wings as being as good as the Ale Emporium’s wings, but they are pretty darn good and definitely better than most places, especially anything you are going to get from a chain delivery place.

Would I Buy It Again?  Have you ever gone to a place that you just know is good but you ordered the wrong thing and didn’t like what you had?  That’s what happened to me at Buttitta’s.  I didn’t like the pizza that I had and the wings were fine, but I just know that if I ordered a more traditional pizza, I’d definitely have a better experience and for that, I’ll say that I’m going to give it another shot before I issue a final yes/no answer.  I have a feeling that this may turn out to be a yes, but I don’t want to say anything official until I actually find out.  That said, judging by the cult like following that it had from its guests and servers, I would definitely say that you should give it a shot and see what you think of it yourself.

-IndianapolisEater

Pizza Hut/Wing Street
http://www.pizzahut.com

The Super Bowl is approaching (in Indianapolis!) and every year I see a story about how the night of the Super Bowl is the busiest nights of the year for pizza delivery businesses.  Along those lines, there is no better pairing with pizza than chicken wings, so while watching football this past Sunday, I decided to try out one of Pizza Hut’s non-traditional wings offerings from their co-branded Wing Street business.  For those of you lucky enough to have a Pizza Hut that has a Wing Street location in it (not all Pizza Huts do), they have several flavors outside of your normal hot, mild, barbecue, etc., so I went with…

What I Got:  14 piece Garlic Parmesan Crunchy Bone-In Wings; $9.99.

As you can see when opening the box, these wings have breading and are not your normal fried wings in that they are just covered in sauce and that’s it.  If you look a little closer, you can see that these things are sitting in a absurdly deep and disgusting pool of butter, so obviously butter is the chosen method of delivering the garlic and Parmesan flavors into the wings.  They are then dusted with additional garlic and Parmesan seasonings to amp up the flavor even more.

Butter is the primary taste in these wings as well, because that’s the majority of what you taste as you bite into these.  Unfortunately, because there is so much butter, the “crunchy” aspect of the wings ends up being lost and the breading on these wings ends up being just a soggy mess.  The soggy mess carries strong flavors of both garlic and Parmesan, but they are so greasy that you are really taking a bath with each wing that you eat.  Honestly, my mouth felt like I had eaten a stick of butter after I’d eaten these things and that is not a good thing.  I don’t necessarily mind the use of butter, but when it is used in this ridiculous amount, it becomes completely unappetizing.  Outside of the negatives of the mushy breading and the dripping butter, the wings did have one thing go positive for them:  they had decent size.  At a lot of these delivery places, you get shorted on the size of the wings and that really, really gets me angry.  In Pizza Hut/Wing Street’s case, that does not happen, so they do get one positive check mark.

Would I Buy It Again?  No, definitely not.  Next time I want this much butter, which will be never, I’ll just go with the alternative and eat a stick of butter.  It’s sad too, because the Garlic Parmesan flavor itself was decent, but the abundance of butter everywhere just ruined the entire package.  If they could find a way to tone down the butter and allow the wings to maintain their crunchy texture, they may have a winner.  Unfortunately here though, they do not.

-IndianapolisEater

Giordano’s
http://www.giordanos.com/

Food in Chicago is a battle between the million hot dog/gyro/beef joints versus a very progressive food scene with superstar chefs.  To be honest, I am glad that both exist and continue to thrive.   However, if you ask anyone that has a clue what kind of food Chicago is known for, they will say pizza or Chicago dogs.   Both are some of the most awesome things you can cram in your gullet.

In my opinion, Giordano’s is the epitome of Chicago Style pizza.  Uno is a chain whore.  Gino’s East has a crust that tastes like cornbread to me.  Sure there are others in the city and some of them are quite good, but Giordano’s is the king.

What I Ate:   Medium stuffed pizza with Sausage and pepperoni; $23.00.

The most awesome part about this review is….this was my lunch order.  Yes, I was alone.

For those of you that are not familiar, Chicago style is kind of upside down.   From top to bottom:  meat, cheese and then sauce.  You have to plan accordingly because it takes about 35 minutes for the pizza to bake after you order it.  Don’t try to pick it up, this is a fork and knife pizza.  In my opinion, it’s the only acceptable fork and knife pizza.  If you eat regular pizza with a fork and knife, you are either a grandma or a snooty prep.

When they deliver it to your table, they scoop a piece out and the cheese is dangling from the slice to the plate and they have to cut it on the side of your plate with a spatula.  Words cannot explain how much cheese is on this.   In all reality, it is really an unacceptable amount.   The toppings were of good quality, and I really like their sauce.  A sprinkle of oregano and red pepper flakes really bring it to life.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes.  It is one of the most awesome foods in the country.  So basic, yet so good.  I have been going to Giordano’s for a long time while on the way to concerts and Bulls games growing up.  At this point, I feel like I would be letting my family down if I was in Chicago and didn’t go to Giordano’s.

I have to admit though, ordering that much food at lunch was asinine.  I had a ton of leftovers, therefore ate it in my hotel anytime I thought I was hungry.  I think that I gained four pounds from this pizza.  However, it was worth the time at the gym.

-wibia

Ale Emporium
8617 Allisonville Road
Indianapolis, Indiana 46250
http://www.ale-emporium.com/ 

Ale Emporium has become a staple to Castleton dining and rightfully so, because it is really good bar food.  They have been serving up quality food and craft beer since I have been in Indy (2001).  I used to go there to get and Anchor Steam and a slice of pie.  Not much has changed in the last decade.

We have talked about their Hermanaki wings.  I love them, but I can’t figure out why they can’t make them cheaper than $18.50 for a large order.  Their pizza rocks, lets chat…

What I Got:  10″ Pan Pizza ($10.50) and 14″ Pan Pizza ($19.00).   This is a 10” with bacon and ham.

I didn’t in fact order this, my on-again/off-again friend Taco did.  He is married now, so I will assume that this is the last pizza he will get with these toppings.  With a diminishing man card, I have a feeling he will be adding veggies to his pizza.  Time will tell.

They call this pan pizza, but I am more comfortable calling it Chicago Style.  This is nothing like the pan style that you get at Pizza Hut.  Crust, then meat, then cheese (a ton of it) and then sauce.  Perfect.

When you have this amount of meat, the crust can get soggy from the oils and fat, but not here.   Still a knife and fork pizza, but the crust held it’s consistency.  The cheese was stringy enough that you had to cut it with the spatula when served on the plate.

The toppings were quality, the sauce was rich, but not too much because Chicago style is really about the cheese.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes.  To all of their pizzas.   No matter what crust you choose, you will be happy.  Their pizza is outstanding.  It is a cool place to chill and they have a great beer selection.  However, don’t try to order a fancy drink.

And lets do this…

HALL OF FAME.  Yeah, it has been a while.  They have possibly the best wings in the city, a great beer list and one of the best traditional and Chicago style pizzas in the city. Plus, they have bands, and I give props to any bar that supports local music.

-wibia

Maria’s Pizza
1106 Prospect Street
Indianapolis, Indiana  46203
http://www.mariasoriginalpizza.com

Maria’s Pizza is located in historic Fountain Square.   They have been open since 1955, so I figured that they must be doing something right.   Pre-show to see The Healing Sixes at Radio Radio, I decided to stop by and give it a try.

It was a Friday night and they had a piano player and a sax player knocking out jazz standards.  I was digging that, and it’s a nice touch for a pizza joint.  Tables were scattered around and there were a few couches by the fireplace as well.  It seemed like there is a better seating arrangement to fit more people in.  The place was pretty much full.

What I Ate:  Medium Sausage and Pepperoni.  I can’t remember the price specifically, but it was around $12-$13 range.

The pizza took 45 minutes to arrive.  Plus, Maria’s does not serve alcohol.  It is a rare occasion that I am out on a Friday night and there is not a drink in my hand for 45 minutes straight.  Tragic.  They were apologetic that it took so long and kind about the wait.

Toppings were strategically placed on the pizza.  The sausage was tasty and didn’t feel like the normal mass produced chain sausage.  The pepperoni was buried between the cheese and dark red sauce.  Nothing special there.  The crust was thin, but not foldy/bendy like NY Style.  It was flaky/buttery and stiff-ish with very little bend.  Not my favorite type of crust by any means.

Would I Buy It Again?  Probably not.  It surely wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t anything that I would travel for.  I liked the jazz duo and the place was homey and friendly, I just didn’t love the pizza.  Based on the audience and the recommendation from a friend, there are plenty of people that enjoy the pizza here and it is surely worth a try.

-wibia

NY Slice Food Truck
Location varies
https://www.facebook.com/TheNySlice

I am always really excited when I see a new food truck.  I spent a good amount of time in Portland, Oregon where there are a ton of food trucks.  My understanding of the mission of a food truck is to have a narrower focus and do that really well.  Sure, there are some that offer a wide variety of items, but it seems like everyone of them has a hook.  NY style pizza is a big enough hook to get me excited.  I am a big fan of NY style pizza and Brozinni’s is the only place in town that does it well.  Let’s see if we can add another one.

What I Ate:  Pepperoni; $3.00.  Sausage and pepperoni; $3.25.  Garlic Knots; $3.50.

The pepperoni slice wasn’t all that bad.  You can get a nice fold out of it, I liked the sauce and I thought that it was an honest size for the price.  Good coverage on the toppings as well.  The slice of sausage and pepperoni was considerably smaller and the amount of toppings on the pizza is embarrassing.  The garlic knots were very doughy and extremely bland.  The cheese sauce was the straight out of the can variety.  I feel like I should be writing more, but it was pretty straight forward pizza.

Would I Buy It Again?  No.  I love the idea, but execution needs a good amount of work.  The pepperoni was good, but if I have $3 in my pocket and I want a slice of pizza, Brozinni’s is still my go to.  It pains me to write this as I fully support the food truck scene, but take the food truck experience out and this pizza is forgettable.

-wibia