First on the list was Toledo Toledo pizza. Their claim to fame (and the reason we remembered it) was that it served its pizza in a cone. Yes a cone. Like an ice cream cone except warm with savory ingredients instead of cold, sweet ingredients. Reviews on this one were lukewarm at best. They get points for originality however usability is a bit lacking. First when they bake/warm it up, they have to have a special contraption to keep it upright. This is not efficient. Then they have to have similar stands to keep them held up while you wander over to pick up your order. Next is a challenging part...eating it. You can't start too quick or else the hot oil and ingredients will kill your mouth. So you are stuck holding it or lying it down, which causes ingredients to fall out. And I am not even going to go into the salad in a cone. I am guessing after a night at the bars this might be better, but for me on that night I am going with a 2 of 5.
Next was some sweetness at La Creperie where I went for a crepe. You may remember that I did a quick entry about this place earlier because I stopped by for a smoothie and they were playing Gang Starr. So I went back to try out a crepe. Sadly they were not playing memorable music that night, but the Nutella and banana crepe was good enough to remember. Though not the most sanitary looking building, they got it done with a warm, tasty crepe that was not overpoweringly sweet. I give it a 3 of 5. If you can find it in the alleyway, I suggest you give it a try.
To round out the night, I had another slice of pizza at Antonio's which is located across from Toledo Toledo. Its sign advertised $1 cheese slices, but I went for the chicken pesto. This pizza was really tasty due to the mass quantities of chicken and flavorful pesto sauce. Similar to NY style pizzerias, they have the slices cooked and on display and then warm it up when you order it. I feel this gives the crust that extra crunch and allows the cheese to melt even more. I did think this pizza was good especially when compared to Toledo Toledo, and will rank it a 4 of 5 as I would definitely go back for more. I did not try the $1 slice, but if the size of the chicken pesto slice is the same as the cheese, it would definitely be a good value. Much larger than the Backroom/In-and-Out of former Michigan days.
Overall I like Thayer St. I have been in the area a couple of times and there are reasonable choices for the late night college crowd. I also noticed a few sandwich shops and surprisingly a few Mediterranean places. I think I mentioned it before, but it is a cross of Main St and South U at Michigan with it leaning more towards the South U atmosphere. Nice area that you can count on for late-night eats.
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| Toledo Toledo - pizza in a cone |
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| La Creperie - filled with Nutella and bananas |
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| Antonio's |
Toledo Toledo Pizza Cone's
257 Thayer St
Providence, RI 02906
La Creperie
82 Fones Aly
Providence, RI 02906
Antonio's
258 Thayer St
Providence, RI 02906
Excellent review on the Toledo Toledo experiment. Interesting idea that just has too many flaws. It seems similar to the calzone concept - a different way of distributing bread, ingredients, sauce, cheese, but doesn't measure up well to normally-cooked pizza.
ReplyDeleteYou went and got the crepe. Congratulations. I actually had the same kind in French Guiana. I probably didn't have mine with nutella though. Nutella is definitely a winning spread.
That is a lot of chicken and a lot of pesto. Definitely a sizable slice if that's a standard paper plate. Must be a 16" pizza. Which makes it more impressive - the center of that slice doesn't look super droopy, like most undercooked 16" pizzas, yet the crust doesn't seem overdone. Of course, I could be wrong about all that.
What S. University/Main St. food spots did you like? I like Backroom still, but this Antonio's looks better. On State St., I like Amer's. On Main, I don't know, they're mostly overrated. Any other U-M alums care to weigh in?
calzone can at least be set down properly.
ReplyDeletecrust not droopy because they reheat in oven right before you get it. they place it directly on the hot surface which gets the crust crispy.
always have a soft spot for University Cafe on Church as that was like my first dining out experience at umich. Charley's was good back in the day - have yet to find wings better than their monster buffalo wings with the late night special! i also was a fan of China Gate and Chef Jan...
You mean the Chef Jan who may or may not actually exist?
ReplyDeleteConor O'Neill's on Main St. is pretty decent and not as overpriced as the rest of the joints there. Rendezvous Cafe on South U. has crepes not unlike the one featured here but I always love finding those street stall crepe places. There was one of those in Oxford when I was there which got me through many a day of studying.
This pizza in a cone concept is intriguing; not so much the salad in a cone. How does that even work??
the crust on the cone acted like croutons. it was not good especially since you are cutting a reasonably crispy crust with weak plastic forks
ReplyDeleteI hate gimmicky food like that. There's a place here that serves tacos in a cone. It's a regular taco, basically, but they roll the tortilla up into this paper cone which makes it impossible to eat.
ReplyDeleteI could totally go for that crepe right now. And pesto pizza is my favorite! I wouldn't have pegged you for a pesto pizza guy.