Brozinni Pizzeria

In my family, we like to celebrate birthdays as many times as possible.  Once with immediate family (Tim, his kids, me), again with extended family (often on both sides), and then usually yet again with friends.  To kick off Tim's birthday festivities this year, we took his kids for a family dinner at Brozinni Pizzeria (on Emerson Ave., just north of County Line Rd. on the south side). He and I used to go there often when I lived on the south side a few years ago, and we were excited to take the kids.

Brozinni's specializes in "New York Style" pizza.  Massive slices, thin and flexible in the middle (in a good way), puffy and delicious around the edge.  You can actually buy their pizza by the slice during lunch hours (think Sbarro or Luca Pizza), but this pizza is far superior to either of the ones I mentioned above.  It's not mass produced, and it's made with quality ingredients and tastes fresh, unlike those chains.

We started off with some delicious (if completely unnecessary in terms of carb requirements for one day) breadsticks ($3.09).  They are made with the same dough as the pizza, with the addition of some parmesan and herbs sprinkled on top before baking, and they're enormous.  They come with a slightly spicy cheese sauce and marinara.  We got an order of four, and between the four of us we could only finish two.  We all wanted more, but I knew that none of us would eat much pizza if we did.  The boys really liked them--our 5-yr-old, especially, and he kept trying to steal another one while we waited for our pizza.  I also recommend the garlic knuckles (4 for $2.50), which are made with the same dough and drenched in garlic butter.  I mean drenched.  They make you feel awful afterwards (which is why we didn't get them this time), but man, are they tasty!  If you can handle a lot of butter, do give them a try.

We got a 20" pepperoni pizza ($15.99 plus $2.50/topping), and it was massive.  Massive!  The picture above doesn't do it justice.  That spatula is giant-sized, too, so it's hard to get perspective.  They slice it into eight pieces, so you get the same giant slices you'd get if you bought them by-the-slice.  Each of the kids polished off one slice, and I was pretty impressed that they did.  The crust on these is just so flavorful and the perfect texture--it's probably my favorite part of this type of pizza, and they do it well.

If I had one complaint, it was that it was pretty greasy from all that pepperoni.  However, that's to be expected with pepperoni.  If you don't want grease, pick another topping.  (They do have some great preexisting combos--my favorite might be the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, which consists of ham, bacon, chicken, and a 'zesty ranch sauce' instead of tomato sauce.  It is crazy good, although, no, probably not any better for you than pepperoni.)  I'd also recommend the calzones, which utilize the same flavorful crust--that might be a review for another day.

Website:  Brozinni Pizzeria