Fast Food Slow Wine: Let’s Support Local Pizza!

My previous fast food forays have been chains available to the masses—not that that’s how I think of you. You are not “the masses”. Never forget you are a special gentle-winged butterfly and I appreciate you—but as I was faced with picking a pizza chain, I faced three facts: 1) In the time of Corona, we should try to support the smaller restaurants. 2) Pizza can be religion. When it comes to chains, people tend to be devoted to their pet pizza place, and someone was either gonna get hurt feelings/get mad if I revealed my favorite (ahem Papa John’s—that butter dip tho). And: 3) I wanted to have pizza multiple nights without getting a delivery boy stalker, so why not order from a lot of places? Corona sucks so hard we should let ourselves have pizza every night, so why not just cover styles of pizza I got from a lot of different places? The pies I paired came from a bunch of places—I’m just going to give you a rundown of some of my favorites in Los Angeles, but must warn you, I’m not sure if they’ll be open at the time this is published. BUT! In order: Pizzanista (OMG you guys, Pizzanista get that Sicilian slice), Triple Beam, Braazo (honorable because they have fries too!), Pizzeria Mozza, All’Acqua, and, especially if it is 2 am, Garage Pizza, who (when it was open) would run their pizza across the Silver Lake stripmall parking lot to Jay’s Bar once Jay’s closed their kitchen. Jay’s gets that if you are drinking you want snacks. And Garage will bring it to you. What a life. I can’t wait to live it again. Pick your parlor. Or chain. Find your pizza below and order up. Pop a bottle and get crazy. Sadly there is no Tater Tally. Because, well, most pizza places don’t seem to have fries—albeit I did get some from Braazo once, and they were great. And there is a recipe for deep dish from Cook’s Illustrated that involves potatoes I really like. But for now Braazo wins by default in the Tater Tally. Lastly! In solidarity to all the Italians quarantining, I am trying to have mostly Italian wines, or at least varieties for these pairings. In food we make friends. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ GARLIC/PARMESAN BBREADSTICKS + TUSCAN SANGIOVESE 2015 Monte Antico Toscana You know those breadsticks. Depending on the source varying levels of garlic, oil and parmesan, they stand up to a little tannic strength but enjoy juicy acid. Which Monte Antico provides. This blend has some herbality to it to boot. At 85% Sangiovese, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Merlot, it is quite budget friendly to…your other boot. Rich and refreshing. MOZZERELLA STICKS + SPARKLING ROSÉ Rotari Trentodoc Brut Rosé I have had these bubbles before, happy to have them again. The acid braces against the gooey cheese, the bright bordering-on-floral fun lifts the palate and waters the mouth. As in this is mouth watering. Ridiculously friendly and yah, also pairs with more or less anything, but I feel the borderline floral nature and acid make it a good salad and garlic break thing. SICILIAN CHEESE PIZZA + CARBONIC SANGIOVESE 2019 Stolpman Vineyards Love You Bunches Carbonic Sangiovese Crud I love this wine so hard. Again with the high acid. And chillable reds all day to go with pizza babyyyyy. The cheese is simple enough to appreciate the gentle carbonic notes on this. There is a hint at caramel yet it retains the, oh, I don’t know—tomato leaf?—and herbaceous notes of Sangiovese. I am gaga for this wine. I do in fact love it bunches. PEPPERONI OR SAUSAGE PIZZA (IN THEORY) + TEROLDEGO Zeni Teroldego Rotaliano “Lealbere” Okay I don’t know about pepperoni, but I do enjoy some vegan Italian sausage (one of the VERY rare meat sub things I’ll ingest. Mostly I like just the spices added though) and I’ve read a lot of pepperoni flavor profiles, so I knew I needed to combat some spice or in this case, match it. This Teroldego is so nice! Bright acid and ripe fruit but wow, macerated green pepper and earth make so perfect for a decadent spicy pizza pie. Sharp enough to fight back. MUSHROOM + MONTEPULCIANO D’ABRUZZO 2017 Nicoletta de Ferma ‘Concrete’ Montepulciano d’Abruzzo I know Pinot Noir and mushrooms are a classic pairing, but I went for a heavier wine that can be earthy. Montepulciano is a harder hitter in terms of the tannins but can have pretty high acid too. My nose went nuts upon smelling this. Earth as earth can be but stinky in a good way earth. The palate is non-barnyard earth, red fruit and flowers have gone into creating the compost for it. Big tannins but not mean ones. WHITE PIZZA + PINOT GRIGIO 2018 O'Neill Vintners & Distillers Line 39 Pinot Grigio White pizza, white wine—amiright? I’ve had a few styles of white pizza but the cheese is frequently the drier sort, like a goat cheese or feta, and it needs the bright acid and sympathetic lactic tones and the leesiness of PG can provide. The lees, the acid, the lightly honeyed fruit of the Cecchetti all work really well here! HAWAIIAN PIZZA + LAMBRUSCO DI SORBARA 2018 Paltrinieri Lambrusco di Sorbara Radici Lambrusco di Sorbara wines can veer into off-dry zone, which is nice when you have a sweet element like pineapple on the pie. But this one was dry! I was enamored of this offering. Feel free to go sweeter Lambrusco for Hawaiian too! The Paltrinieri was unique in being bottle fermented—it threw impressive sediment. I got thyme and honey notes brightened by grapefruit and lemon. Totally complex and plush! AND FOR DESSERT… So there you have it, a smattering of pie styles and wines to drink with! I recommend closing the night with some Amaro is you are honoring your digestion, or some Amaretto if you give no f*#@ks. Or some grappa , if you live dangerously. It may just be the excitement your quarantine needs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Want to read more from Ellen? Check out her recent articles: Old World vs. New World: Pinot Noir Part Deux Old World vs. New World: Pinot Noir Part One Quaran-wine Pastimes It's Okay to Like Pinotage Fast Food Slow Wine: THE Taco Bell Oscars Gold Wine You can also listen to Ellen's podcast with Shaughn Buchholz, The Wine Situation here . Check out her recent transcripts of the Final Five questions: Wine Situation Final Five! With Carrie Dykes Wine Situation Final Five! With Matt Hirscheld