Sunday, May 17, 2009

Letter to Lefty's Chicago Pizzeria




Brendan and Lauren Hodson
Lefty’s Chicago Pizzeria
3448 30th Street
San Diego, California 92104
Phone: (619) 295-1720

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Hodson:

We have been hunting good Deep Dish pizza in San Diego for years. Finally, we made a trip to North Park last week and had both your great Deep Dish and Thin Crust slices. As soon as we walked in and saw the Chicago memorabilia on the walls and the Chicago specialties on the menu, we knew that Lefty’s was the real deal, not some corporate knock-off. We ordered the Spinach and Mushroom Deep Dish Slice ($3), Sausage Deep Dish Slice ($3), Pepperoni and Sausage Thin Crust Slice ($2) and felt obligated to also order the Italian Beef Sandwich with Giardiniera ($7). We enjoyed everything we ordered and only regretted not having ordered a whole Deep Dish pie, fresh out of the oven.

The Spinach and Mushroom Deep Dish Slice was everything we expected: thick, buttery crust and a wall of cheese holding chunks of tomatoes and toppings. Our favorite part of this slice was the soft, almost candy-sweet tomatoes baked on top. The spinach and mushrooms were cooked into the cheese as well, but obviously were fresh when they went into the oven. The combination of the sweet tomatoes, mild, gooey cheese and crispy butter crust is everything we’ve missed about Chicago style pizza. The Sausage Deep Dish Slice, also with sweet tomatoes, was more traditional and just as good.

Surprisingly, the Pepperoni and Sausage Thin Crust Slice was our favorite. It was the best pizza we’ve had in a very long time and probably the best slice of pizza we’ve had in San Diego. The quality and flavor of your pepperoni and sausage was unusually good and the crust was crisp but not chewy and held the wonderfully greasy cheese, sauce and meat without becoming soggy. The beef on the Italian Beef Sandwich was abundant and tender and the Giardiniera was spicy, savory and gave the sandwich a nice crunch. We didn’t order the bread dipped in “da jus” but the jus flavor in the beef was great, so we will next time.

We prefer to support locally owned restaurants like yours because we get the sense that you really care about the food you are cooking. You have a genuine Midwestern friendliness that is entirely absent from a very popular “New York” style pizzeria not too far from you, whose slices aren’t as good as yours.

Yours Very Truly,

San Diego Restaurant Review

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