Little Italy Restaurant & Pizzeria is a family legacy restaurant that has had a San Antonio presence on the North Side near the intersection of Blanco Road and West Avenue since 1983.
It’s owned by the Visocaro family, whose roots trace back to Palermo, Italy. Generations of the family staff the restaurant, and the many photos and framed newspaper articles that adorn the walls tell their history.
It looks, feels and smells like an old restaurant, with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra singing in the background and the fragrance of garlic and tomato sauce embracing you upon entry.
Think of any classic Italian dish, and it’s probably on the substantial Little Italy menu, even good cannoli. Patrons are given a complimentary slice of cheese pizza as an appetizer, and it acts as a good tease to order one on your next visit should you opt instead for a veal or a pasta dish.
The pizza here is buoyed by a fantastic marina sauce that pops with the flavor of fresh tomatoes. Choose from a classic New York thin crust or a thicker Sicilian style that takes on a speckled char on the bottom and holds firm, yet is tender in the middle.
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Best pizza: With its square shape and thickened crust, Sicilian-style pizza is always a menu highlight, and Little Italy delivered with the Angelo’s Special ($21.99 for a 12-by-12-inch pie), piled with toppings. The highlight was the slivers of meatballs and sausage that blended harmoniously with the garlic, onions and bell pepper. The green olives provided a nice briny contrast, and despite its thickness, the crust was cooked to perfection but soft in the middle.
Other pizzas: The Four Seasons ($13.99 for a 10-inch) is like a miniature buffet sampler. It has a base of marinara and cheese with four two-slice quadrants, each with one topping: green olives, red peppers, artichoke hearts or prosciutto. The prosciutto, thinly sliced and with just enough of a salty bite, was good enough to warrant ordering it again as its own pizza.
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As expected for a restaurant of its tenure and history, the Little Italy take on the classic Pizza Margherita ($16.99 for a 14-inch) was another visually stunning pie, with large, fresh slices of tomato, basil leaves and a drizzle of olive oil.
Just as we were cruising for “Worth a Drive” status, though, shrimp happened. There was all sorts of potential with the shrimp pizza ($19.99 for a 14-inch), and it’s something you don’t see very often outside of an oceanside pizzeria. But it came with half the meager amount of shrimp on the pie dedicated to a single slice. And the shrimp that was there was rubbery and shrunken to the size of a penny.
Leave the shrimp. Take the cannoli.
Little Italy Restaurant & Pizzeria
Rating: Solid neighborhood option
Location: 824 Afterglow St., 210-349-2060
Online:littleitalysatx.com
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, noon to 10 p.m. Saturday
Takeout/delivery: Yes/Yes through multiple third-party services
Chuck Blount is a food writer and columnist covering all things grilled and smoked in the San Antonio area. Find his Chuck's Food Shack columns on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.comTo read more from Chuck, become a subscriber. cblount@express-news.net | Twitter: @chuck_blount | Instagram: @bbqdiver
The Link LonkOctober 02, 2020 at 09:00PM
https://www.expressnews.com/food/pizza/article/52-Weeks-of-Pizza-San-Antonio-classic-Little-15609724.php
52 Weeks of Pizza: San Antonio classic Little Italy Restaurant & Pizzeria serves a righteous Sicilian style pizza with a mountain of toppings - San Antonio Express-News
https://news.google.com/search?q=little&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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