Capparelli’s comfy with pizza excess

Restaurant goes all out with Supreme

Rating: Solid neighborhood option

Pizza occupies just one section of a multifaceted Italian menu of pastas, sandwiches, salads, seafood, chicken and veal at Capparelli’s on Main, the family-run Monte Vista Italian restaurant.

It’s not artsy and refined, but neither is it an afterthought. It’s the kind of pizza that unites us rather than divides us. It starts with a crust best described as American pan style, with a medium-thick, doughy body, a buttery finish and a short, raised collar that stops shy of deep-dish pizza but still carries the load.

After a lonesome lunch at Capparelli’s in July to highlight some of the city’s best lasagna, I came back the first day of October for 52 Weeks of Pizza to find business spooled up to the max, testing the speed but not the good humor of a streamlined crew that still knows how to treat its neighbors.

Best pizza: For those times when less is not more, Capparelli’s steps in with the Supreme, a super-stocked amalgam of pepperoni, salami, sausage, hamburger, mushrooms, olives and onions under a thick blanket of cheese ($22.50 for a 16-inch pie). Sure, all the flavors kind of crash together in a blur of Italian red sauce, but Capparelli’s gives you the nuclear option of adding jalapeños and anchovies on request. Request them, and add firepower and funk to a pizza already comfortable in its excess.

Other pizzas: At the other end of the spectrum, Capparelli’s

plays it low-key with a margherita pizza that dispenses with sauce and just goes with garlic, mozzarella, fresh tomatoes and chopped basil. A $10.99 combo brings together a personal-size margherita pizza, salad, garlic bread and iced tea for the

best overall value in this report.

A highlight of this summer’s lasagna report was a chicken Alfredo version in a lush cream sauce. That translates smoothly to pizza as well, with grilled chicken, mushrooms, artichokes and red onions ($15.50 for a 12-inch pie).

Shrimp pizza isn’t for everyone. But Capparelli’s gives it a fighting chance by keeping it simple: tangy red sauce, generous amounts of cheese and perfectly cooked curls of shrimp ($14.50 for a 12-inch pie). Think of it as a shrimp cocktail appetizer for all the other pizzas.

Photos by Mike Sutter / Staff Pizza choices include, clockwise from top left, shrimp, Supreme, chicken Alfredo and margherita at Capparelli's on Main.

A combo special includes a personal-size pizza (a margherita pizza with mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, in this case), salad, garlic bread and iced tea.