Little Italy Pizza

I was really out of it today, and couldn't even muster enough energy to think about what to do for lunch. The easiest thing to do was to take a walk around the block (to try to get in some minimal amount of physical activity) and then continue the block by block challenge. After the soup cart, the next place on the block was Little Italy Pizza (or, as the sign says, "The World Famous Little Italy Pizza" or, as the foursquare page says, "Little Italy Gourmet Pizza & Pasta Parlor"). I had ventured in once or twice before on other days when I couldn't decide what to do for lunch but had never actually ordered any food there. (Yes, there were days in the past when I couldn't decide what to do for lunch and would walk in and out of multiple places before giving up and getting something.)


Little Italy Pizza is a long-ish restaurant. There is ample seating in the front and middle of the restaurant, and the pizza counters and ordering area are in the back. Along the walk to the ordering area, I enjoyed looking at the various statues of pizza makers.

I'm not sure what's wrong with the guy on the left side...
At the back, you're confronted with many, many choices. There were over 10 different pies on the counter (and most of those were half pies, so there were even more options) and the menu on the wall also listed heroes, calzones and other options. I didn't really feel like I wanted pizza since I just had some this weekend, so I went for an eggplant parmigiana sandwich.


It took awhile to get my order, but I think it's because they needed to make it fresh unlike some of the slices which you only need to heat up in the oven. When they gave me the bag with the hero in it, I was shocked by how much it weighed. The hero was less than $6 and quite heavy, by weight alone. It was a very generous portion of eggplant parmigiana.


The sandwich was a bit messy, as parmigiana sandwiches tend to be. There was a good amount of sauce, but not too much. The eggplant itself was breaded well (but again, not too much) and was not dry at all. It was a pretty good parmigiana sandwich, but just a really large size. I liked it, but found myself craving something light and refreshing for dinner later to balance out the day.


While waiting for my order, I listened to them call out the other orders people were picking up. There were a few other parmigiana sandwiches (mostly meatball) and lots of specialty slices. It doesn't really make sense to get a plain NY-style slice (if they even have them; I didn't see them in the window but wasn't really looking) at a place like this when you can just go to the nearby 2 Bros for $1 slices. The most popular slice seemed to be the calamari. About 80% of the people there at the time picking up slices got a calamari slice and then something else. Seems like that might be the thing to get!

It's an interesting thing I've realized from doing the block by block challenge. Even though I check things off the list as done, it seems that, to really experience a place, maybe you need to go twice, applying all of the knowledge you gained the first time. I know one thing for sure - next time I go to Little Italy Pizza I am trying that calamari slice!