Franco's Pizza

2573 Tulip Street
Philadelphia, PA 19125-2241
(215) 425-9133

I already know I should not be doing this, because I hold Franco's like a toy I don't want anyone else to play with, but I guess I have to share at some point. Franco's is my go-to pizza joint in the city of Philadelphia. There, I said it. Now I am not talking about brick oven this, that and the other thing. I am talking about reasonably priced take-out pizza that is better than most any other pizza in town. Regardless of style, or how many organic bees harvested the honey that some other place drizzles on my $35 pie, Franco's is gourmet pizza, from a local pizza joint, and in short, it's heavenly.

Franco used to own a Spatola's pizza restaurant in Southampton (on the outskirts of the great northeast), until he got out of the sit-down biz and decided to open an amazing pizza joint with his buddy Tony, right here in Kensington. Strange, but deliciously true.

Although they offer the traditional and unexplainable wide variety of items on their menu (why does EVERY pizza place serve club sandwiches?), the goods here are the pizzas, and if the mood strikes you, the strombolis. They also throw in an order of garlic knots with every order. Usually I would be ho-hum about this, except for two things. First of all, they are FREE. Secondly, they are delicious. Light, airy and jammed with garlic, I usually eat those to keep True Blood off of my TV. In all seriousness, they are little bursts of irresistible, buttery-garlic joy.

But really my true love is their upside down pie. Thin crust, cheese on bottom, sauce on top. Done. The sauce gets to shine in this one, and, my God, does Franco's make a nice sauce. Fresh, sweet, slightly salty with a garlic bite, I always get a side for dipping my garlic knots into.

This pizza works even better the next day. Give it a quick bake in the oven or toaster oven and it crisps up beautifully. Pizza is always better after its second trip to the oven, in my infallible opinion at least.

The regular pies are another winner, and the addition of roasted garlic (whole cloves!) and pepperoni is one of my favorite combos.

Also try the buffalo chicken (not shown), as a reasonably priced, gourmet-style backup pie. The stromboli is great when you have a crowd, and really pack in the bang for your buck. Below is the chicken special, with fried onions, green peppers, marinated chicken, sauce and cheese. Nothing over the top, but a solid contender. It gets a bit wet inside fresh out of the oven (a usual problem) but once it cools down everything solidifies and it becomes quite delicious.

These 'bolis are a bit unusual, or should I say unique, in that they're left open a crack at the top. Franco says it helps to allow the inside dough to get hit with a little more heat - in order to avoid being undercooked. Genius.

The special steak stromboli is one of my other favorites, with an "abundance of cheese," sauce, steak, pepperoni, mushroom, green pepper, onion and tomatoes. Sort of the "kitchen sink" of stromboli – I am a big fan.

Look at those pepperonis for presentation!

Another specialty pie.

Where the magic happens.

The bottom line is that Franco's is everything a pizza place should be. THIN CRUST, highly affordable, simple perfection. I will take it over my old standbys south of Lombard any day. Try it, just not all at once, because I like my pies ready in 20.

Soup Kitchen Cafe

2146 E Susquehanna Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19125
(215) 427-1680
Website

I have to admit, I had never even heard of the Soup Kitchen Cafe until I unwittingly drove by it recently. I inquired further and heard good things, so it was high time I gave it a whirl. Don't mind the window cleaning in the photo below, it just shows they keep a neat appearance.

The interior is minimalist, with some art, some couches and a few tables in the back. It's a pretty soothing environment, which counts for a lot, especially when you remember that you are in Kensington.

The temperature was in the mid-eighties, so I decided to skip the soup (I am not a big fan of gazpacho either), but I heard good things about the pulled pork sandwich specifically, so my destiny was set. The beer braised, pulled pork is served with a red cabbage slaw, apple slaw and a jalapeno aioli, which sounded like a winning combination. Thankfully it was.

The pork was juicy, succulent, and had just the right amount of salty porkiness that makes pulled pig so great. The slaw was a nice textural contrast, and although I was warned that it was a bit sloppy, I had no problems devouring this one before the roll became too saturated with meaty goodness. A pleasing feature that is often overlooked, is the fact that the meat was well shredded, and well picked through. It takes a certain amount of effort (or compulsion) to thoroughly scour the meat and remove any strange pieces. They did a bang up job.

The fresh watermelon and mint salad was a nice surprise, and it took me half of the salad to realize what I liked about it so much. It was salted. The addition of some lime juice and salt really made this salad sing. A very refreshing take on the traditional side salad that hit the spot on a warm day.

It's definitely a great neighborhood spot, and I will soon return to give the verdict on the soups. However, at $8.50, this pulled pork is going to be difficult to pass up.

Tacconelli's Pizzeria

2604 East Somerset Street
Philadelphia, PA 19134-4733
(215) 425-4983
Website

I know it's sacrilegious to follow up the last post with the best pizza ever, but what can I say, I like pies in all of their many forms. So this is the famous Tacconelli's, where you have to call ahead to reserve your dough, they only offer three styles of pizza, and you can get soda to go with it. Bring your own beer or wine (or both!) and come hungry.



The menu is a lot like the restaurant, faded and well weathered. But this place is like the girl at the dance who lets her hair down (when the pizza comes out) and suddenly there is no one more beautiful. The typical slice-joint booths, tile floors and a welcoming but hurried attitude are trademarks of experience. The whole shop turns around one man, and one oven. This translates to, 'your order will come when it comes.' Which is fine. It leaves plenty of time to enjoy that ice cold beer (I went with Budweiser to show my true patriotism) or wine, and speculate on how good the upcoming meal is going to be. We ordered three pies for four people, and although I strongly believe I could have eaten everything, my often broken good sense told me not to. It was a close decision.


First up was the Margherita pie. Fresh basil, fresh mozzarella, and a healthy dose of that utterly perfect pizza sauce. My obvious first mistake, burning my mouth on the first bite. My second mistake, burning my mouth again within fifteen seconds, because I was so excited to get this pizza into my stomach. The crust on all of these pizzas is served well done, and wafer thin. There is no folding involved. It is like perfect pizza ingredients on a perfectly yeasty cracker. The immense heat it undergoes really makes the crust sing, and I was barely able to wait to shove another slice down my throat. It's that good. The simplicity of the Margherita pie really lets the superior ingredients and attention to detail shine.



The next pie up was the the White Pie, which housed salt, black pepper, cheese and a whole smattering of garlic. We added onions and sweet peppers. This pie was also incredibly good, and the peppers and onions were plentiful, and delicious. The garlic really shone through, but was not overpowering and the oil in the cheese helped wilt the onions slightly while the sweet peppers added a vinegar tinge to the pie. Delicious.


Last but certainly not least, came the Regular Pie, little cheese and sauce. On this one, we went sausage only. Not too much, but a little extra fat to balance out the light cheese. It was perfect. Once again, the sauce is just too good. It's just what I want on a pizza, and reminded me of a place I used to eat at as a kid, which is no longer with us. I got a side of the hot peppers ($.75) but they weren't really necessary. With a menu this small, I don't think you can go wrong. Just remember, cash only, bring your own beer or wine, and CALL AHEAD to reserve your dough!

New Wave Cafe

2620 E Allegheny Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19134
(215) 634-3224

There is an area of Port Richmond that is basically a little slice of Poland. In the center of this mini world, is a restaurant/bar called New Wave Cafe. Not to be mistaken with The New Wave, which is a bar in Queen Village. So although I have been to the New Wave Cafe a couple of times, I had never eaten a full meal there. I merely tasted other peoples food and vowed that I would make it up there at some point to try some of the Polish delights offered. Well I finally had the opportunity to head up and so I did.


The Cafe is a strange place. I have been there at night intending to eat, yet the kitchen was closed because it really is a disco as well. A full on laser light show and an Eastern European fashion show ensued. But I digress. The inside is about what you would expect. A bit drab, but it is endearing because half of the signage is in Polish, and they have a great selection of Polish beers (try the Zywiec).


The pickle soup (yes, pickle soup) was one of the items I had tried before, but I wanted to try a full bowl. They use a warm thin broth, I believe it is chicken based, with chopped pickles, potatoes, and shredded carrots. It is quite good.


The real star of the soups, however was the white borscht. I have never had the white version only the traditional beet based soup. I absolutely loved this soup. This soup had a base of sausage water which made the broth oily, comforting and delicious (I believe there was also sour cream in there). In the soup was thin sliced kielbasa (so good), sliced hard boiled eggs, and some onion, as well as a hint of vinegar. I could eat this soup all the time, and will be making my own version in the near future. This was the high point of the meal.


No Polish meal is complete without pierogies and kielbasa. I partook in both. The potato and cheese pierogies, unfortunately, were not great. They offered fried or steamed, so I obviously went with fried, but they were not the well done, crispy pouches I love so much. The outside was pretty oily and the stuffing really didn't have much flavor. They were edible, but forgettable.


The kielbasa, on the other hand, was really crispy. It WAS fried hard. It had a good smokey flavor, and the mustard on the side was a great accompaniment. I got a side of sauerkraut, which was cooked in apple cider vinegar, I believe. It was pretty tasty. Overall, I liked the food, and I will certainly be back. The white borscht, however, stole the show.