The best in town – Bada Bing pizza

Having worked in The City, I know a thing or two about pizza. The first is: the crust matters. The second is: if you want it to taste like a real pizzeria style slice, you have to heat it twice.

Yes, twice. Let me explain.

When I was working in The City south of Wall Street, used to go downstairs for lunch to the pizzeria two doors down. When I got there, I would point at a slice behind the counter, and the pizza guy would take the slice and stick it in his big Baker’s Pride™ oven for two or three minutes. Then he would plate it and charge me $2.50.

Result: the perfect slice. The cheese is bubbly, the crust is crispy – the perfect consistency to fold with a snap.

I would eat it right on the sidewalk in from of the place. Coupled with a cold soda and lunch was served, downtown style.

When I moved to Westchester, I tried to find a pizzeria that could duplicate that perfect combination of bubbly cheese and crispy crust that I so loved in The City. I could never find it. I would open the box, pull out a slice and frown. The crust was soggy.

I complained loudly and vigorously to anybody that would listen and always got the same response: it’s the water. The water in The City makes that perfect crust.

I accepted that reasoning – for a while. Then, I thought the whole process through and had the “Aha!” moment. The pizza was already made and was sitting out more or less cold, waiting to be reheated when I walked in off Broadway. In order to duplicate that oh so perfect slice, I would have to duplicate the procedure, right down to the oven. But how?

Answer: a pizza stone. I would buy the pie, then let it get cold just the pizza guy did, then re-heat it on a blisteringly hot pizza stone that had been sitting in my over at 500 degrees for a half an hour. The results were good; I could make my slice was almost as good as what I got downtown.

But there were caveats. Mass produced pizza is too much like bread and rises too much to work on the stone. Ditto anything frozen. The only pizzas that really worked right were from pizzerias that used high gluten flour that wouldn’t rise too much.

Which of course, lead to The Search – where to find the best pie.

The results are in: Bada Bing on Glenwood South right here in Raleigh. It has the perfect combination of sauce to cheese and crust that heats up perfectly on the reheat. And the use a high gluten flour for the crust so it isn’t bread like.

And it’s good, really good. Their pies are utterly unpretentious and probably as good as any I’ve had in The City. So if your diet allows for a pizza, take the drive downtown. The drive is worth every bite.

Bada Bing Pizza

222 Glenwood Ave. Raleigh, NC
(next to Tobacco Road) |

Phone: 919-754-1050

Location: Glenwood South

Cuisine: New York style pizza
Rating: *****
Prices: $
Atmosphere: Take it to go
Noise level: Does it matter?
Open: Mon-Thur:  11am - 8pm

Fri-: 11am - 3am

Sun: 12 pm - 8 pm

Reservations: Are you crazy?
Other: Cash and credit cards.

We rank restaurants in five categories: Extraordinary***** Excellent**** Above average*** Average** Fair*

The London Bridge Pub and Chuck’s

Darren Bridger is a great guy. He was always one of our favorite barkeeps at The Hibernian on Glenwood South, as evidenced here in my write up of Strongbow Cider. Indeed, when Das Kinder had to interview a local business person for her Girl Scout business merit badge, I took her to see Darren, who had just opened The London Bridge and has known her since she was a “wee nipper”.

The London Bridge Pub is not a restaurant; it’s a private club, meaning you have to join. It has a magnificent beer (and cider) selection, probably the best in The Triangle. It also means that he doesn’t have a kitchen. So he doesn’t have food. But in an odd twist, he actually does have the best food in town: in fact he actively encourages folks to bring lunch or dinner in and that opens up a world of possibilities.

This brings me to Chuck’s, one of the other new Ashley Christiansen’s restaurants. Chuck’s is located literally around the corner from Darren’s place. My last visit to one of her locations – Beasley’s Chicken + Honey – was extraordinarily disappointing, prompting my first and only bad review. However, Her Imperial Majesty wanted to give Chuck's a run. I’m glad she insisted.

Chuck’s is a burger joint adjacent to Beasley’s. They specialize in high end, fresh ground burgers with hand cut fries. This is definitely not a “have it your way” kind of place. Here, the burgers are prepared with specific pairings. For example, I had a “Dirty South”, which is a spin on a Carolina burger done with chili, mustard, onions and slaw. I ordered it medium and was pleasantly surprised when it showed up pink in the middle. Her Imperial Majesty ordered the Bradley-Time, with roasted beets, buttermilk blue cheese, red onion, endive, and banyuls aioli.

Yeah, I know. Beets on a burger? Get over your misconceptions; it’s actually very good as was my Dirty South. We also ordered fries with a side of aioli and "comeback sauce" and I must say, they are as good as I’ve had. Absolutely marvelous. The prices are a bit on the high side but the portions are generous.

We paired our burgers with a pint of Ace Pear Cider on draft for the wife and an ice cold Bud in a bottle for me. They were sublime pairings (although her's was probably better than mine). All in all, it was a fabulous meal. Darren, with his spectacular beer / cider selection and by letting us bring in dinner, is truly a genius.

Cheers!

The London Bridge Pub

110 E Hargett St
Raleigh, NC 27601

(919) 247-8901

Thelondonbridgepub.com

Cuisine: Bring your own
Rating: *****
Prices: $
Atmosphere: A dark private club
Noise level: Average pub noise, unless we’re listening to a game
Open: After 3 pm most days. Unless Liverpool is playing, then he opens early.
Reservations: Are you crazy?
Other: Cash and credit cards.

Chuck’s

237 S Wilmington St
Raleigh, NC 27601

(919) 322-0126

www.ac-restaurants.com

Cuisine: Burgers
Rating: ****
Prices: $$
Atmosphere: Urban hipster, but we took ours to go
Noise level: We left, so who knows….
Open: Mon-Wed, Sun 11:30 am - 10 pm; Thu-Sat 11:30 am - 12 am

Reservations: Are you crazy?
Other: Cash and credit cards.