Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I had some excellent food on my last trip to RVA, none of which were mentioned here.

Comfort, Kuba Kuba, Strange Matter and Sticky Rice ftw.

I LOVE via.

the bus drivers here are very strict about not letting people on with beverages so I make it at work, worlds better than the swill in the kitchen that my coworkers make each morning.

only thing I don't like about the Via line is the cost. also the iced version is a bit on the sweet side for my tastes.

i used to work at larosas.

-a lot of the meat comes from jtm, which i think is patently disgusting. i've been told by some others who have worked there for a lot longer that it never used to be this way-- the beef products used for the meatball and steak hoagies were true sirloin and quite tasty. nowadays, the meatball will fall off your sandwich and bounce from your kitchen table. this happened to me, i've never eaten it since. as far as meat goes, i think the turkey and cappocola are safe choices (a.k.a. not jtm products) but stay away from the sausage, beef, pepperoni, link sausage, and "steak" as they're essentially filler, salt and a small amount of actual meat. that's probably true for a lot of places though.

-the crust can also be hit or miss when you're dealing with pan style. it's supposed to be kept a certain way and it needs to be poked several times while in the pan (we used a barbeque fork) to keep from getting bubbles, before sauce and toppings are applied. there is an ungodly amount of oil used in the pans, which also detracts from the crust imho. the taste of vegetable oil is distracting once you notice it. it also seems to vary a lot in thickness. from the cross section it looks like you got a really disappointing pan crust... maybe even a hand tossed crust on accident.

-whoever said it smells like feet is right. after a short shift, my clothes reek of hot sauce. i personally really dislike the sauce when it's hot. much better served cold or lukewarm. it is relatively sweet which is also a turn off to many. the cheese is a rather unremarkable variety of provolone and does turn pretty rubbery if it's been sitting out for more than about 5 minutes. three cheese blend used to be my favorite thing about larosas but the ratio has been altered and it has a lot less ricotta.

all in all, the best best is to order a three cheese calzone--three pizza toppings and a side of (cold) pizza sauce to dip it in.