Fun Playing with Pizza and More at Crostatas

It was just a couple of weeks ago that the discussion flared up in the office again: people saying that they like Crostatas Pizzeria in Highland Heights Ohio, but "it's just so expensive for what you get." I continue to respectfully disagree, and offer the following in evidence. Crostatas features pizzas made in the Neapolitan style, with a thin crust.

All of the pizzas are presented cut into 8 small slices.

Pizza Alba: San Marzano Tomatoes, Capocollo, Arugula, Fresh Egg, Grana Padana and EVOO, $14. 

This delicious pie fed my dining companion and myself, with two slices left over. As you can see, the crust was thin, with chew rather than crunch, and just the right amount of char on the bottom - a perfect crust. The fresh, runny egg complimented the salty capocollo, with arugula offering a slightly spicy contrast. The cheese brought it all together. And at $7 a person for lunch - what's not to like?

A few weeks later, I finally got my husband to join me for lunch at Crostatas, and he enjoyed it so much that we went back for another shortly after. 

We began with hot peppers stuffed with house-made sausage, served with house-made tomato sauce and house-made breadstick. 

The dish was simply magnificent. The peppers had just enough spice to play off of the mild tomato sauce, but not so much as to outshine the sausage, which truly starred. So much more than the sum of its parts - the preparation enhanced each element on the plate. I don't think I've ever enjoyed the texture and mouthfeel of peppers so much before, without a hint of wateriness or stringiness. At $7, I could easily make a lunch of this if I didn't have someone to share it with!

Basic margharita pizza - $11.50 for 8 slices and worth every penny! 

The pizza consisted of a thin, chewy crust with just a bit of char on its belly, topped judiciously with tasty tomato sauce and cheese. Again, there were leftovers for the next day's lunch. 

Our next visit began with Arancini. Risotto is formed into a ball and stuffed with a meaty ragu, peas, and parmigiano, then breaded and fried, and served on a bed of marinara sauce with a sprinkling of cheese. This generous portion, which again could have been an entree for a single person, was $6.

The only flaw in this dish, for me, was the frozen peas. Otherwise, we deemed it plate licking good.

For our Entree, we shared a Pizza Salsiccia: San Marzano Tomatoes, Mozzarella, Italian Sausage and EVOO, our most expensive item yet at $14.50.

The sausage, probably the same as that which had previously stuffed our hot peppers, melted in the mouth. The crust seemed like it had been made by different hands - it was a bit crispier and to my taste, maybe should have come out of the oven a few seconds sooner. But this pizza still ran circles around any lunch pizza available on the East Side of Cleveland.

I agree with my office-mates that Crostatas is not always the cheapest date in town. But the quality is certainly in line with pricing - quality of ingredients (most are imported from Italy; the Berkshire Hog featured on the specials sheet the day the last photos above were taken is from Chardon, Ohio) and quality of preparation. For my money, when I'm hankering for pizza at lunchtime, Crostatas remains my first choice on Cleveland's East Side, and the appetizers recently sampled also rate honorable mentions. (I do have a second option at dinner, Marotta's in Cleveland Heights, which is more New York than Neapolitan style, and which I enjoy as much as Crostatas.) Case closed.

Crostatas Pizzeria
558 Bishop Road
Highland Heights, OH 44143
(440) 449-7800
Closed Sunday

Fun Playing with Neapolitan Pizza

It was October 2008 when I first learned that Cleveland Restaurateur John Quagliata was putting together a pizzeria at the intersection of Bishop Road and Highland Road in Highland Heights. Despite little buzz about the place, I learned that the pizza oven had been manufactured from parts brought in from Italy, and the menu would emphasize rustic Italian style pizza. Some office-mates and I were actually lunching at Harry Buffalo's, across the street, when I snapped this photo of the restaurant in progress:



Crostatas finally opened, but no one I lunched with wanted to try it. The word on the street was that it was expensive and had inflexible pizza toppings - horrors, no pepperoni! But I had a feeling that this might be another case of suburban folks not "getting" what a restaurateur was trying to do. So - alone at the office on a Friday and hungry for lunch - I made my way up Richmond Road towards Crostatas.



The open kitchen does indeed focus on pizza - and not just any kind of pizza - but thin crusted Neapolitan style pizza. Though this is not the gloppy New York style pizza I crave, it's a very close second when done right. I've had wonderful versions of this style of pizza at Cleveland's Lolita and Bar Cento - how would Crostatas measure up?


Inside the Open Kitchen


The Pizza Oven





Comparing pizza to pizza - Crostatas's pies cost a little more than the other Neapolitan pizza makers, however, comparing photographs (since I haven't eaten the others' pizza lately), it seemed to me that the pies at Crostatas are a couple of inches larger. Lolita charges $12-13 per pie, and Bar Cento $6-13. Crostatas's range is $9.75-17, with most of the pies priced between $14-16.

I decided to splurge and go for the Margherita D.O.C. pie, topped with San Marzano Tomatoes, Mozzarella Di Bufala, Basil and EVOO (regular Mozzarella would have been $3 cheaper). I also ordered an ice tea, which I am pleased to report was freshly brewed and delicious.

The wood fired oven completes a pie in 90 seconds:


Lunch is Served



The crust is thin, but not at all cracker-like, with chewiness and bite. You can see a bit of char to the left - the char was just about perfect!



I would have liked the basil to have been sliced and sprinkled over the whole pizza - that's probably the only complaint I had. That and their one-page website, which desperately needs an update!











By this slice, I had torn up the basil, and added just a bit of red pepper - this was pizza Nirvana.

Well, maybe not Nirvana. But pretty darn good, and I didn't have to drive to the city to get it. The slices were just big enough to fold (another reason I think this pie is bigger than the others, because those are a little too small to fold). The toppings were applied judiciously, because with this kind of pizza, the crust is the star. Perhaps that is another cultural disconnect that has resulted in some of the negatives I'd heard about Crostatas.

Crostatas also offers a selection of Antipasti ranging from $6-12 that looks lovely (I'm a sucker for Arancini or meat-stuffed risotto balls) and salads, as well as two varieties of soup. In addition, the menu recently expanded to include sandwiches during lunch time (priced from $8-10). Nine desserts are offered, including a Nutella Pizza that I think I need to try. Finally, the wine list is small but decent, consisting entirely of Italian wines by the glass and bottle, Italian beer, and Italian Liquors.

I was very pleased with my lunch at Crostatas, and am at a loss to understand why those I know who have eaten there came away with such negative reports. The quality of the ingredients was apparent with every bite, and the preparation of my pizza was pretty close to perfect.

I am ashamed to admit that I enjoyed this pizza so much, I ate more than half of it at lunch. The remaining three pieces were boxed up for me. I love the Crostatas label that offers re-heating instructions (500 degree oven for 3 minutes). But could a pizza with such a thin crust really be good the next day?


Saturday Breakfast

Stealing a play from all three Neapolitan pizza makers in Cleveland, I put my leftovers in the toaster oven to heat, then fried up 2 farmers' market eggs and put them on top. I also added some chopped Chinese Flowering Chives from the garden, which I sauteed quickly in a little butter, then placed atop the pizza before sliding it into the oven.


Oh. Yes.



Simply magnifico!

So - does a pizza at Crostatas cost a little more? Yes - and especially if your usual idea of pizza is Pizza Pan's 3 pies per order for pickup and ranging from $10-$18 (plus toppings) or something similar. Crostatas is about quality and simplicity, not quantity or fancy gimmicks. My pizza contained 8 slices, and could easily have fed 2 people, maybe even 3 if we also had toppings and/or antipasti, soup or salad. I've not had this much fun playing with suburban pizza since my last visit to Marotta's! Crostatas is a worthy addition to Greater Cleveland's wonderful pizza makers. And I need to get back while the Special pizza is still Burrata Cheese and imported Prosciutto.