Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Please update the website reference...its www.tedsrestaurant.com. Thanks.

i was REALLY REALLY disappointed:

http://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=KYBEVBAP7QUlt1LjmatTJg

I just returned from trying Old Forge pizza in Old Forge itself, at a place called Gighiarelli's. There are two other places across the street from each other about half a block away. Friday night about 9pm, lots of cars parked near here, but when I went in, the place was deserted except for one couple. Bare walls, no menu, so the waitress comes up to us and asks, "do you want a tray?" I figured this meant pizza, but I asked if they had a menu, and the woman -with only a grunt- fetched a small placecard from another table. Spaghetti, meatballs, suasage and peppers, maybe some gnocchi too, as well as a few subs, but I got the impression nobody looks at these items. The other couple was eating only pizza. We went the simple route, no toppings.

The pizza is served on a rectangular tray and looks like it came out of an Easy Bake Oven. I am positive some folks would be shocked to see this being served, much less touted as a serious food.

I have to say that I fell in love with it. Despite the thick crust, it is airy and light and crispy on the bottom. The tomato sauce is oniony in an unusual and tangy way. The cheese is grainy. It is a large pizza, but is eaten quickly and easily because of the its lightness.

If you go, and I think you should, try to think of it as another food. One that is more enjoyable than 95% of other pizza out there if you are open to the experience.

Interesting thread going here. I've lived near Old Forge all my life and within Old Forge the past 4 years. I'm 3 blocks from the "Revello's" mentioned in several of the posts above. Yes, Old Forge is the self-proclaimed "Pizza Capitol of the World", and with good reason - there simply is good pizza to be had here. But as with anything, good is relative. If your favorite pizza is New York style, where you fold a thin slice in half and enjoy it as the grease rolls down your arm - then you probably won't find Old Forge style pizza to your liking. Old Forge Pizza is baked in a cookie sheet type pan, so it is "square" like sicilian pizza. But it's not as thick as sicilian pizza. But it is thicker than New York style round pizza. It also uses pure tomato sauce - so the tomato flavor is full. The sauce isn't spiced up with tons of seasonings. Another difference is the cheese. Most pizza places in Old Forge use a form of American cheese called Brick cheese. It adds a distinct flavor to the cheese. Between Revello's Rinaldi's, Arcaro & Genell, Brutico's, Salerno's Mary Ann's, Augustine's, etc. - the consistently best pizza here can be found at Ghiagerelli's - across the street from Revello's.

I just read comment above...(tomdobb)I didn't eat pizza when i came to Columbus but in Canton, Ohio u will get authentic Italian pizza made by the best owned italian family restaurants.

Indeed everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I for one think they are delicious and suggest if you are in the area to consider eating there.

Someone just recommended that I review this place, but I am nowhere near the area, if someone happens to go here soon can they send me some photos?

There's a mouthwatering style of white pizza which seems to be peculiar to McKees Rocks, PA, just outside Pittsburgh -- I know I've never seen it prepared this way anywhere else and I eat a lot of pie, dude. I believe it originated at Mama Lena's (now Mama Mia's) and has been cloned by former employees at another shop down the street called Doughboys (which is cheaper & maybe even better, IMHO). I've never seen one prepared from start to finish, but here's my best guess as to the general idea: a medium-thickness pizza crust is brushed with olive oil & perhaps garlic or other spices and partially baked, then removed to add a light layer of some kind of white shredded cheese (don't think it's mozz), then baked again until done. The hot pie is then topped with a room-temperature prepared mixture of diced tomatoes, minced garlic, finely chopped onion & basil and olive oil and sprinkled with more shredded cheese. The pie partially melts the additional cheese and warms the topping mixture up to the perfect temperature while preserving the flavor & freshness of the ingredients. On every other white pizza I've had the tomatoes & other ingredients are baked along with the crust which dries them out. This stuff is almost like a big round bruschetta. I'm no longer in the 'burgh, but I might have just talked myself into driving 3 hours each way to get one right now -- it's that good.

I have no idea what cloyd42 is talking about. Vince the Pizza Prince is neither long gone nor do they make Old Forge style pizza. Vince's signature pizza is round and covered with almost-burned cheese. They are still open in Scranton in the same location they've always been.

I wanted to chime in on the ongoing New England pizza discussion.

Papa Ginos is somewhat similar to the mom-and-pop stuff, but it's different in a few key ways: 'Ginos has a thinner crust than most local places, and it's less (!) greasy.

Thinking back to the local non-chain pizza of my northeast Connecticut youth, the distinguishing characteristics are a firm-but-not-crisp, doughy bottom, sometimes tending towards rubbery, and the use of cheap manufactured mozz, typically very oily. It tended to be the sort of pizza that, if you were eating a slice and folded it, you could pretty much squeeze several tablespoons of orange grease out of it. The crust tends to be crisp on the outside and soft inside, sometimes a little bready.

And the pizza places, almost always "[town name] Pizza" or [town name] House of Pizza", were uniformly owned by Greek families. (I never quite worked out why...but it was always faux-Italian food, pizza, and good Greek stuff on the menu.) I'm not sure if that's still as much the case now as it was 20 years ago, though.

Some places in New England seem to do the square-cut thing, which I think is truly blasphemous, while others pie cut. I've never been able to figure out a regional variation to this. It's just a weird individual preference of the restaurant owner, I think.

Why nobody in New England, at least north of New Haven, seems to be able to produce a decent NY-style thin-crust, I've no idea. Maybe it's the water.

My personal recommendation, if you wanted to "experience" a representative sample of New England-style pizza, would be to try Willington House of Pizza in Willington, CT. Although they have a menu that's more diverse than average, it covers pretty much everything I remember from all the local places I went as a kid.

One more vote for Buffalo style. I've yet to find anything like it in DC, Virginia, California or Washington state. I have some shipped to me every year from Imperial. Carbones on South Park was also a favorite.

I am from Old Forge. Our Pizza is square, like a sicilian pizza. Its very delicious and nothing like Elios. People in California even have pizzas par-baked (partially baked) and shipped out so they can enjoy the finest pizza! I go back periodically and I always bring back trays (not pies, pies are round) for my family and friends down south. Everyone loves it! I have never heard a complaint! Also, Revello's has the best red pizza!

God Bless!

For those in New England, what about Papa Gino's? Yeh it's a chain, but it's essentially the blueprint for east coast pizza - thin crust, thin layer of cheese that melds perfectly with the somewhat sweet sauce. And on a "side note", two friends and I created http://www.slicefinder.com for just these debates. Pardon the plug, but seems relevant here.