Old-school family pizza shop serves up tried-and-true fare
Ithought I’d move past all the new year’s hoopla by visiting someplace old that brazenly flaunts an old-school bent: Enrico’s Pizza & Restaurant. Here’s how old-school Enrico’s is: The only beer offered on tap is Bud Light, and it’s $8.50 a pitcher.
Tucked away in a suburban strip mall, Enrico’s — which has been in the house-made pasta and pizza business for 30 years — is the kind of idiosyncratic, family-run establishment that seems to be getting more rare by the day. Good thing a steady stream of Dublin-area locals keeps the little place routinely bustling.
Patrons picking up food to go often outnumber those dining in, but tables can still be hard to come by — especially on weekends, when diners can expect a wait to be seated. Customers who choose to eat inside are treated to an ambience as unremarkable as it is unforgettable.
They’ll be greeted by sometimes-visible whiffs of smoke from the hard-working ovens. Then, they’ll get an up-close-and-personal view of the hard-working staff in the busy, informal open kitchen of a multigenerational mom-and-pop operation. Diners can also glance at wood-paneled walls decorated with faded travelogue posters and photographs of Italy that look like they might’ve been around since the restaurant opened in the 1980s.
Enrico’s dinner salad ($3.45) looks like it’s from the ’80s, too. It’s a visually drab assembly of mostly iceberg lettuce salvaged by a bright and perfectly salty house vinaigrette. Diners with an appetite for nostalgia will enjoy the salad, which is included in any pasta dinner order along with a small, warm loaf of sesame-seed bread from Auddino’s Italian Bakery.
That duo makes a fitting preamble to the Homemade Lasagna ($13.50). Unlike lasagnas that revel in meat and cheese, this dish showcases silky-yetfirm sheets of pasta lightly accented with ground beef and gooey cheese. The modest-sized portion is livened by an ample dousing of a simple house tomato sauce that’s oil-enriched and slightly tart.
A similar homey charm accompanies the deeply comforting if pricey Homemade Ravioli ($17). Four thick, al dente dumplings shaped and sized like hand pies arrive ladled with red sauce and filled with either a ground beef or ricotta cheese blend. Both styles are good, and customers can opt for a half-and-half order.
The precisely named Homemade Spaghetti with One Meatball entree ($10.50) delivers comparable, oldfashioned pleasures: a large plate of properly cooked thick and sturdy spaghetti, tomato sauce and a straightforward, pliable meatball.
Nice as these classic Italian-American-style pastas are — they’re even nicer with a bottle of Peroni Italian beer served in a frosted glass ($4.15) — Enrico’s standout pizzas are the main reason for the shop’s longevity.
The distinct crust offers a hint of smoke, and it snaps with an audible crunch at the edge, which is mediumthick, golden-brown and
recalls Italian grissini. Toward the center, the crust is pleasantly thin and crisp. Good sauce and cheese are applied generously, the latter arriving attractively browned in spots.
Two-topping pies are $14.35 for a medium, which feeds about two people, and $17.25 for a large (feeds about four). Along with the usual suspects, toppings include cappicola, crisp pepperoni discs and slices of mild housemade sausage.
A plump link of seared sausage lends distinction to the somewhat humble Homemade Sausage sandwich ($7.50). Also on the well-toasted Auddino’s roll: plenty of house red sauce and loads of melted provolone cheese.
Although missing its hot peppers and rather meagerly assembled, my hot Italian sub ($7.25) — good toasted roll, cappicola, pepperoni, salami, provolone, lettuce, tomato and house dressing — was above average. It isn’t what will bring me back here; that would be the oldschool pizzas, pastas and oddly endearing ambience.