PPPP - Little Deli and Pizzeria

The first place I went to for PPPP is a little place called Little Deli and Pizzeria.  Little Deli is a small shop in one of the suburban areas of north Austin off Anderson Lane.  As I was driving over I almost missed it because there are no extra signs and the direction I was coming from had it almost out of view.  However, as I rounded the corner I was met with a really large crowd even though it was a Tuesday night.  As an establishment, it's really quite a small place.  If you can imagine a small deli place that would be the right size.  As you walk in, it really does look just like a deli place.  The only difference is that there's pizza up and an assortment of random cakes in the window.  They also have outside seating which was packed.  It's also apparently a BYOB place, which if that's your thing is pretty cool.  I ended up getting a 14" pepperoni pizza which came out to $15.16 which is a bit on the more expensive side.  I also ended up taking about 30 minutes to get my pizza which considering the length of the line isn't so bad.

In terms of pizza they serve a nice and simple New York style pizza, their site says New Jersey pizza but it's a thin crust pizza regardless.  From crust to sauce to toppings, overall the pizza is quite good.  But that's a cop out so let's go more in depth.

I wish I had gotten a picture of the pizza before eating part of it, but honestly this wasn't on my mind until Wednesday when half the pizza was already gone.  I'll make an effort to grab a picture before I dig in next time.  But let's get to the crust.  As a thin crust pizza, you expect some amount of floppiness which it did.  The crust however was quite flavorful with that strong flour taste.  It was also pretty airy regardless of its thinness which is always a plus.  It managed to keep all its toppings on too.  Oh how I hate when the cheese just slides off the pizza, no none of that here.  Overall though, it wasn't necessarily the tastiest or best thin crust crust I've had but it definitely did its job and I applaud it for that.

Coming to sauce, I would say that it was a simple sauce.  Tomatoes with a couple of herbs, nothing overall to write home about.  There wasn't a large amount of sauce so it kind of got hidden by the cheese and pepperoni.  When I did get a good bit of it, it was quite pleasant and not overpowering in the least.  Nothing however struck me as special about it though.

Next up cheese and again nothing really too special here.  Definitely good quality cheese but nothing too out of the ordinary which again isn't a bad thing.  If you asked me whether I wanted a cheese pizza from Little Deli and Pizzeria I would probably say sure.  I wouldn't go out of my way to appreciate the cheese though.

Toppings are up next and well, this is where I thought it was good.  Even though the only topping I got was pepperoni, I must say, it was some of the best pepperoni I've had on a pizza. Incredibly flavorful with that bit of heat would be the best way to describe it.  Personally, if the pepperoni wasn't as flavorful and didn't stand out the way it did, I probably wouldn't rate this pizza that highly.  Although it has a rating of 4.54 on Yelp, I would probably put it at a 3.5 to 4.  Without the great crust and the tasty pepperoni, I can't really say it was all that special of a pizza.

But enough about the small things, how does the pizza hold up?  The answer is kinda poorly.  When cold, the crust gets super tough as you might expect and it tastes pretty generic honestly.  When microwaved, the pizza fares even more poorly, losing almost all of its flavor with even the pepperoni that it kinda stood on falling flat.  When reheated in the oven for a few minutes at 375, it turned out pretty decent.  The crust crisped up giving it a crunchiness that even when hot it somewhat lacked.  The pepperoni lost a bit of its flavor but not nearly as bad as when microwaved.  I would say, if you can help it, finish off this pizza, it's not a great next day pizza.

Now let's a have a picture.  This one is the reheated in the oven pizza.

It's a decently handsome pizza.  Overall, I'd say it's a pretty good pizza.  For $15.16 for a 14" pizza that lasted me two meals, I might say it's a bit on the expensive side.  Would I go there again for a pizza?  I don't see why not, though I probably wouldn't make it a common occurrence.  I'm not sure when the next pizza post will be but look forward to it anyways.  Until next time.

--CsMiREK