La Roma Pizza - Sheridan between 61st and 60th streets, in the shopping center on the East side of Sheridan.
I am really partial to this establishment, as the food helped build my TBV3. She got it in utero, and growing up, baby's first pizza was here. The patriarch of the family is no longer with us, and it is a pity because he was one of the finest gentlemen I ever met. Old World charm, Wall Street smart. The matriarch is, as one would expect for such a gentleman to marry, is the gentle guiding soul who runs the place. Always with the welcome, the how are you, and she, get this, really means it! She is truly sorry if one of the items gets eaten up before you get there. No "un-thaw the next batch, and keep it coming" here. Her daughter works there too, a total delight, and the pizza spinner/decorator backs them up with a wonderful selection of pizza. RJ's Pizza is the works. Cheese only is gooey. Everything in between is smacksy and wonderful. I always get a mini sausage. The crust is the best. NEVER wet/soggy/drowning in mushroom sweat or whatever that clear juice that infects some pizzas is. Edge is crispy, but like good fwench bread, not like a cracker. the tomato sauce is ... uncomprehensible. I cannot for the life of me figure out what all is in it. Maybe you can. But the real secret of La Roma is that they also have some down home cooking. No, not chicken fried chicken fried whatnot, but home cooking if you lived on the shores of the southern Med. Think falafel, shawarma and the like. Lovely hummus (if the proprietor likes you, she adds the tahini. she likes everybody, so know worries, just ask if you like that touch) and pita, and they did a baba ganoush that I dearly loved, but discontinued it for lack of demand. Damn. If you like good cooking, go. By all means go. It would have to be a sign of the end times if I took it off the list.
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