Tubby Tuesday: Nicolitalia Pizzeria

Who doesn't love a great slice of pizza?  Seriously.  My daughter Birdie, I suppose, but other than that.... Michael Scott once taught me that pizza is the great equalizer.  Just about everyone likes it.

I'm not like most people.  I LOVE pizza.  I crave pizza often.  Even when I don't crave pizza I'm still willing to eat it.  My friend and I once tried to eat a pizza THIS BIG:

Big Pizza (not from Nicolitalia's)

I didn't want to eat pizza again for about 17 hours or so.  As a pizza lover, I have some places that are very special to me which I plan on featuring on Tubby Tuesday in the future.  Today, I wanted to feature Nicolitalia Pizzeria--mainly because I have heard so much about it and finally got to try it.

Nicolitalia Pizzeria is authentic Boston pizza (sorry Boston, but I didn't know you had your own pizza style...is that just because NY and Chicago had theirs so you had to have your own?) and they make of point of highlighting anything on their menu they can add an "ah" to  ie: appetizahs, gahden salad etc.  I guess that's to help those of us who can't speak with a Boston accent (which of course we all can because we saw Goodwill Hunting on tv at least once and....I digress).  It is located at 2295 N University Parkway in Provo, which is in the shopping center south of Movies 8.  When we pulled up I knew their food had to be decent at least to still be in business because most of my life it's seemed that this is a location that restaurants go to die.

Nellie and I walked in and immediately felt like this was a hole in the wall feel.  That was the first thing I liked about it.  We decided to order the baked ravioli and the Nicolitalia's Special pizza, deep dish style because one of us doesn't like thin crust pizza (and it's not me).  The pizza came with sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, onions and peppahs (incredibly kind of Nellie because she isn't a fan of mushrooms and I love them--isn't she great?).

The eating area has a slight cafeteria feel to it, almost as though the ambience doesn't matter much at all--you're there for great pizza.  There were some fun hand drawn signs on the wall that made me smile.  My favorite is the one on the bottom right of this photo that says "Sure, you can find a cheaper pizza. But then you have to eat it."

Since Nicolitalia's is a Pepsi place, I may or may-not have traipsed across University Parkway to the Jimmy John's and purchased a Diet Coke.  Our food was ready pretty quickly.  First the ravioli came out.

Nicolitalia Pizzeria Baked Ravioli

They looked a little well done, but they tasted just fine.  They weren't my favorite of all time, but they were pretty delicious still.  Not long after our pizza was ready.  

The pizza was a thing of beauty.  The first thing I noticed was they used authentic, fresh mozzarella cheese, so there were globs in some areas and less or none in other areas.  I love fresh mozzarella because it adds so much extra flavor and dimension to the pizza.  The toppings were plentiful and fresh.  My first bite was perfect!  The crust was bready, but had a nice crunch to it that is rare in pizza.   Each subsequent bite was delicious.  

Fresh Mozzarella in all its glory

Part way through our meal the couple at the table next to us had their pizza slide off the table and end up on the floor.  We thought about offering them half of our pizza, but before we could the owners of the restaurant came out, cleaned it up, and offered to make them a new one!  I was impressed by the quick attention and their desire to make it a good dining experience for this couple.  I already enjoyed their pizza, but watching that made me want to support their restaurant even more.  

Overall, I really enjoyed Nicolitalia Pizzeria, and would give it solid endorsement.  It's certainly my favorite pizza place in Utah county that I have tried.  There are some pizza places that I will review in future Tubby Tuesday's that I like better, but they are all further north.  We will definitely be back and will be anxious to try more pizza, because I like pizza, and I love a good pizza.  

Tubby Tuesday: Rocky Mountain Wingshak

After last weeks visit up north to Moochies, we're staying home in Happy Valley for this weeks installment of Tubby Tuesday.  Today I plan on letting you in on one of my little secrets.  When the calendar turns to fall, men think about football.  Here in Utah we love our college football.  What goes better with football than wings?  Nothing.  Unfortunately many people are misguided in what they should look for in wings.  There are people who get so desperate that they visit Buffalo Wild Wings and lose their hearing while eating sub-par wings.  Don't do this!  BWW is terrible compared to Rocky Mountain Wingshak!  

Rocky Mountain Wingshak (hereafter RMWS) was first introduced to me about five or six years ago.  A buddy visited my house for the BYU game and brought about 30 wings with him.  I can't remember the outcome of the game, but I do remember how great those wings were.  Located on 5th East and State Street in American Fork it isn't much to look at from the outside.  Flanked in a strip mall by Coldstone/RockyMtnChocolateFactory (it just dawned on me as I was writing this how odd it is there are two Rocky Mountain named places side by side--why can't Rocky Mountain Power open up an office on the other side? A Rocky Mountain trifecta!) and 7-11 it would be easy to miss if you didn't know it was there.

I'm a lunch regular and will warn that it's typically packed at lunch.  I have actually never been there outside of normal lunch hours, so I can't tell you what it's like at dinner, sorry (this isn't really a food blog after all).  The best value on the menu is the lunch special.  It's 8 wings (half stick, half flats), tater tots or fries, with either blue cheese or ranch, and they also have a great fry sauce.  All this food is just over $10 after tax.  

They have a great variety of wing flavors, but I prefer the traditional hot buffalo (available in hot, medium, or mild) wings with the tots and fry sauce.  They also have great garlic parmesan, pineapple barbecue and lemon pepper. RMWS is also a Pepsi outlet, good news for those who love Mtn Dew, bad news if you love Diet Coke.  

According to their menu they also offer things like salads, wraps, and sandwiches, though I've never seen one ordered.  I don't have any desire to deviate from the 

The walls on both sides are filled with pictures of people who were demented enough to do the RMWS challenge: eat 12 wings with their XXX hot sauce on it in 30 minutes or less with no sauce or water.  I've never attempted, nor will I ever attempt this challenge, but it's a great look.  There are many people  pictured who seem to have realized they made a huge mistake but carried on, probably because they had brought others to witness the debacle.  

What makes RMWS great?  The wings!  They are the most consistently meaty wings I have found.  The sauces are excellent and consistent, and the tater tots and fries are spot-on.  The restaurant itself lacks some charm, but you can have a good conversation and leave with the hearing in both of your ears.  I'm hesitant to write about RMWS because it's fairly small, and I don't want to create extra lines to deal with.  If you like wings, I highly recommend RMWS.  Try it, you'll thank me later!