Pizza, pizza everywhere!

What with all the partying, decorating and international travel that comes with International Pizza Day, it’s a wonder I was able to bang out a column for this week’s Cape Gazette! Ahhh, yes: There’s nothing like the angelic look on the kids’ faces while gathered in the flickering light of a roaring fireplace, waxing nostalgic over Pizza Days past. Frankly, I’m exhausted.

Pizza comes in all shapes, sizes and tastes. After much research (I do it all for you), I have also discovered that this refreshingly flat indulgence tends to appear near boardwalks and beaches. Here in Delaware’s Cape Region, it all started with Grotto. In 1960, Dominick Pulieri introduced a thin-crusted pie that shares a trait with many Chicago deep-dish versions: The sauce is applied on top of the secret blend of cheeses. I quickly discovered that debating that fact is akin to sticking a pole into a hornet’s nest. But they’ve been doing it for over 62 years, so conventional wisdom suggests that that delicate crunch is testimony to “that legendary taste.”

Dominick’s idea caught on, and it wasn’t long until Nick and Joan Caggiano founded Nicola Pizza in 1971. Nicola’s crust is smooth and soft, and their slightly sweeter sauce is topped with the cheese. Nicola Pizza is now on Coastal Highway where you can enjoy their signature Nic-O-Boli, basically a pizza turnover. Forget the details. It’s tasty.

Three years later, Louie Gouvas opened Louie’s Pizza. His sons, Tim and Tony, have been running the Rehoboth Avenue storefront with extended family since then. Louie’s thin and yeasty crust has an appetizing “pull” that takes center stage without hogging the spotlight. The boys are well known for pilin’ on the pepperoni. A few fistfuls of quality cheese, spiced sauce and that oven-seared pepp are widely considered to be greater than the sum of the parts.

Mr. P’s Pizza in Lewes is built around an Italian wood-burning oven. Glowing oak bakes the pies quickly, creating slightly charred crust bubbles and a puffy perimeter. Owner Rick Thomas takes pride in their exclusive dough recipe. After all, yeast is a living thing, and like many living things, it can be persnickety. But these guys know how to coax Mr. P’s pies out of the oven for a smoky bite that rarely disappoints.

Though Mr. P’s is arguably the first in the area to cook pizzas with oak, wood-fired ovens are popping up all over the place. Three of the busiest glow brightly at the Touch of Italy restaurants in Lewes, Rehoboth and Ocean City. TOI is so serious about its Neapolitan-style pies that the management sent their lead pizzaioli to the worldwide pizza competition in Las Vegas, making a very respectable showing as third best out of over 200 competitors!

People tell me that the tucked-away Pizza Villa in Midway is one of Rehoboth’s best-kept pizza secrets. Makes sense ... they too have been crankin’ out pies for over 50 years! By the way, the cheesesteaks are also quite good. One spot where you might not immediately expect good pizza is Revelation Craft Brewery in West Rehoboth and Georgetown. Both locations toast their pies with wood, building on the brand recognition of the DaNizza truck-mounted wood oven.

A relatively new kid in downtown Rehoboth is Ava’s Pizzeria & Wine bar at the corner of Baltimore Avenue and N. First Street. Ava’s custom-made, open-flame oven is so big that they had to knock out a wall to crane it into the building. All that dust was worth it: If you haven’t tried Ava’s Detroit-style pizza, you’re missing out on something special. Get it with pepperoni. Then get the freshly made beignets for dessert.

At the very west end of Rehoboth Avenue is Johnny DiLeo’s New York-style pizza at his longtime Italian joint Casa DiLeo. Just around the corner and up The Highway is Petru Cornescu’s Pete’s Steak Shop in Rehoboth Marketplace (near Michy’s). In spite of the name (though they do make a fine cheesesteak…), Pete’s whomps up a fine pizza. Get the thin & crispy. Wash it down with their house-made cherry cheesecake.

One of the newest kids in town is Starboard Sauced, whippin’ up New York-style pies just a hop, skip and waddle south. Starboard Sauced occupies the Dewey Beach building that hosted Mama Celeste for so many years. Since it’s part of the Starboard family of restaurants, owner Steve “Monty” Montgomery also dishes up sandwiches and subs.

Peering northward, you can’t talk pizza in Lewes without including Pats’ Pizzeria in Mariner Plaza. They dish up two entirely different kinds of pizza: a traditional round pie, and the very cheesy Greek-style pizza. It’s served in squares, and though it is quite large, it reheats perfectly at home on a 500-degree preheated pizza stone. While in Lewes, check out the tiny Half Full. They kick up their pizza game with unusual toppings and sauces. Wine is the liquid of choice there at Second and Bank streets.

So many pizzas, so little time! Go fire up your trusty pizza wheel, get out there and mangia!