This Is Framingham

 
I know, pizza twice in one week but, this afternoon Ethan and I were on our way home and felt like getting pizza.  I forget which pizza place I wanted to try next but I knew Famous Pizza was on the list and I like their sign so we decided to Pinefield Plaza in Saxonville and try it out.  I didn’t know what to expect since I’ve never really heard anyone talk about this place that should be “famous”.

We got a half-plain, half-eggplant, I guess this is what you’d call “Greek Style” because it was greasy, I’m not sure if that is the definition though.  I’m sure there is someone out there who can define it better than I did, so if you know the difference, feel free to comment.

We really liked it.  I even ate the crust, which I don’t usually do, because it was nice and crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.  The sauce was good, a little sweeter than I’m used to but combined with the cheese, eggplant and dough it was really good.

Also, when we were picking out drinks at the fridge I saw this Godiva “Dark Chocolate Mocha” thing and being a dark chocolate fan, felt compelled to try it.  It was goo-ood! I know Famous pizza doesn’t make these but they are the only place that I’ve seen these so whoever decides on what drinks they’ll sell made a good decision.

Like the guy on the sign says, “M-M-M-M It’s delicious!”

Tonight my uncle and I went to La Cantina because he said they have good pizza.  I’ve always got a pasta dishes or chicken marsala there before but never pizza so I thought I’d add this to the quest.
We got a meatball and onion:

I really liked this pizza because of the crust, it was soft on the inside but crispy on the outside (I love the crispy!).
I tried to take a close up of the crust but the flash was a little too much, maybe you can still see what I mean from the photo.

My uncle said you can ask for them to make a thin crust pizza which is even crispier so I will definitely try that next time.
We also got salad, which I forgot to take a picture of, but you really have to taste the dressing to appreciate it anyway.  Although they sell it in bottles, I always think it tatses better there in the restaurant for some reason.

I have nothing else to say except that I’m stuffed right now.  That’s a good pizza pie!

 
Yet another place I’ve gone by 100 times and never stopped in is the Framingham Baking Co.
I’ve always noticed they had a nice sign right on 135 and kept meaning to check it out so I finally did.
The entrance is around the corner from the sign and inside its pretty much a counter with an open kitchen.

There are some shelves with some items like breadcrumbs, Fannie’s salad dressing and the day old bargains too.
There were cookies, breads and croissants but I decided to get some pizza since I was on my way home from work and figured we could try it for dinner.
I don’t know what style you call it but they sold it by the rectangle. I got three kinds: plain, pepperoni and a “white” pizza with broccoli.

I re-heated these in the oven and split them up with Ethan. Normally I don’t eat this style pizza because it’s usually cardboardesque but they do something right with the dough.  The bottom was a little crisp, and the rest was moist enough not to be like cardboard but cooked enough not to be doughy.
They were all good but surprisingly we thought the plain tasted the best, maybe “less is more” since the dough was so good or maybe the sauce and cheese they use makes the difference.
I’ll definitely go back to try some of their other stuff.

We finally got to Gianni’s. Great pizza, I’d say one of the best so far.  It’s an interesting operation. It was really busy and there were like 6 (maybe more?) guys behind the counter, all of them occupied doing something.  Most people seemed to have called in their order and knew the drill which was to walk up to the counter and just say their first name, no “Hi, um, I called in an order, it’s under Smith”.  It was just “Fred”, then one of the 6 guys would say “subs or pizza?” an exchange of money for food would be made and then it was on to the next first name.
I ordered our pizzas and one of the guys asked me for my name, said it would be 20 minutes and got back to work.

We took a little stroll around Nobscot plaza while we waited.  When we got back I peered through the people waiting at the counter and a the guy who took my order looked up and saw me and said “Just about 5 more minutes Michelle”.  I don’t know why but I was impressed by that, I’ve never been there before and he remembered my name instead of remembering just what I ordered.  Maybe since all the other customers were such regulars I stood out because he never saw me before, I don’t know.
We got a plain and a Greek pizza, both very good:

On the recommendation of so many people we tried to go to Gianni’s but when we got there we found a note saying they were on vacation.  We were so disappointed because everyone raves about Gianni’s so much but we regrouped and headed to Centre Pizza where we’ve only had subs before so we thought we’d check out the pizza.(That’s half onion, half plain)

I guess I can see why no one has written in and raved about Centre, although it smelled great. I think something is lacking in the sauce or cheese and the dough was a little too doughy but it could have been a fluke pie.  It wasn’t horrible but the quest continues.  I want to add though that their subs are super.

Also I wanted to point out in Gianni’s window is a flyer posted by someone looking for a lost dog

Unfortunately someone hacked the server for the blog and I won’t get into the whole ordeal of getting everything back but I lost my last few posts including ”pizza quest: Francos”. 
I’ll try to repost about Francos but for now I’ll just re-cap our trip to Pepperoncini’s.

We were lured in by the $5 pizza on Tuesdays and Sundays.
I haven’t been in here since it was the red star pub, which was kind
of a dive (but I like dives) and this place is more family friendly, which is fine too.
We started off with the boneless buffalo wings which were really good because they were crunchy.
The sauce was really good, I was surprised they had such good wings.
We also split a ridiculous looking drink for 2 that made me glad we walked there.
Then comes the pizza. I think “ok” is the most accurate description I can give. 
Itsmelled just like Papa Gino’s and tasted very similar.  I think $5 for a large is a decent deal though, we couldn’t finish it and took it home.  We found the suspicious looking pizza chef on the box an interesting choice for a box cover though.

Tonight we were in the mood for pizza, first we went to “Centre Pizza” but found a note on the door saying they were on vacation.  Then I remembered my friend Phil telling me (a few years ago) that the Pizza Wagon (on School St.) has “the best” pizza in Framingham, so we went there.  While we waited we checked out the risque mural on the wall. 
I don’t usually drink soda but every now and then I crave a Pepsi. I only want a little bit though and most places don’t sell singles of those mini-cans.  I could buy a regular bottle and only drink half but I know I’ll end up drinking the whole thing if it’s there I know it’s stupid but that’s just how I deal with soda.  Ethan can drink a whole 2 liter of Coke with no problem but that’s a whole other story.
We went next door to Makari’s Market and to my surprise they had the little midget-bottles of Pepsi and Coke.  Perfect size, nice!

I also wanted to say that they guy behind the counter was really nice and called me “sweetie”-not in a sleazy, I-want-to-go-home-and-take-a-shower way but more like I was a regular customer even though it was my first visit in there. 
Saying “sweetie” sounds like a small detail but it’s so different than most retail transactions, I just thought it was kind of nice.
The pizza was decent, I wouldn’t say it’s “the best” but I’d go back.  I’m still looking for amazing or at least really, really good pizza in Framingham.