Fun Playing With Calzone

When last I blogged about the Cincinnati Ohio-based chain, Dewey's Pizza, I received passionate comments about the calzone served there. I adore calzone, which I ate more than my share of as a college and law student in New York City. I will never forget the day that Bob visited me when I lived in Montclair (NJ), and we took the PATH Train into New York from Hoboken NJ - we stopped to get awesome calzones from a little pizzaria right outside the train station. Bob was amazed - he'd never had a calzone before!

Well, having lived in Cleveland for 13 years now, I fully understand why Bob was so ignorant of the charms of a great calzone. My office is on Mayfield Road, surrounded by numerous independently owned pizza stores, and not one of them seems to know how to make a delicious calzone. In addition to the usual pizza related issues of "easy bake" (conveyor belt) ovens and crummy sauce (or - horrors - sauce put inside the calzone) - no one in these parts puts ricotta cheese in their calzone, and it is not an option!

My readers assured me that Dewey's calzone was made the "right" way. I finally had occasion to try it, and I'm sorry to report, it lacked profundity.

The filling in the Dewey's calzones starts with mozzerella and (yea!) ricotta cheeses, and the diner then selects three additional items from the "toppings" list. I chose spinach (fresh and not frozen!), whole roasted garlic (intense!) and basil.









First, the good news. The sauce, served properly on the side, was not as sweet as I remembered it, and actually had a bit of chile zing.



And indeed - the indescribable taste and texture of the ricotta was included. But the large dough pocket wasn't as fully stuffed as I would expect (though the fillings themselves tasted delicious). Moreover, after a few bites I realized that the product was practically swimming in a pool of grease (and it didn't taste like EVOO - it tasted like grease).



A quick flip over explained part of the problem.



As you can see, the bottom is not at all crisped, and bears the hatch marks of a pan in addition to a layer of grease. A good calzone, like a good pizza, should make full contact with the floor of the oven to get the ideal texture. Moreover, the dough didn't have any real flavor or unctuous mouthfeel.

The texture of the bottom crust improved when I re-heated my leftover calzone half in the toaster oven for another lunch. But it was only then that I discovered that they had totally skimped on the ricotta - the half I had left didn't have any!

So - I guess Dewey's remains on my list of ok, but nothing to go out of my way for. Though any calzone with ricotta is worth playing with!

Fun Playing With Dewey's Pizza

So - where I have been for a week? You really don't want to know; it was not fun. About an hour after I returned to the office from the lunch I'm about to show you, I tripped over a briefcase and landed full force on my already unhappy knees (I had just gone to the doctor that morning for the results of an MRI on my right knee, which needs some specialized care to fix the damage from the fall I took LAST spring). I wound up in the Emergency Room. Two days later, I became hideously sick to my stomach - a victim of a Hospital-Acquired Infection of some sort. I did not eat anything but chicken soup from Solon's The Soup Pot for several days. Their made-from-scratch soups are simply fantastic, and I urge anyone in range to try them out.

The reason I was in Cleveland Heights at all last Thursday was to fill a compounded prescription for an anti-inflammatory cream for my knee, at the Lee-Silsby Pharmacy. I dropped of the script, and walked down Lee Road. I had been looking forward to trying the pizza at Dewey's, which I have heard good things about. But any time I'd go for pizza at dinnertime in this neighborhood, I'd be at Marotta's. On the East Side of Cleveland, Marotta's pizza is the closest I can get to the pizza I love from home (ie, New York City and environs), as discussed in the linked EGullet thread.

So, I ambled down the street and got comfy at a table at Dewey's. Normally, I would eschew a chain operation like this, but I'd heard enough good things about it that I was willing to give it a try, with an open heart and empty stomach.

My conclusion: Dewey's makes a very respectable pie, but it's no Vincenza's (or Marotta's).



They also have an open kitchen, where you can see freshly made dough being tossed and topped, then cooked in a proper pizza oven without a pan.





[The oven shot did not come out - sorry]

To truly test the pizza, I ordered the largest of the three sizes, 17 inches. I ordered "half & half," which the menu says they gladly do - half plain cheese, and half meatball. The server encouraged me to make the meatball half their "Meatball" specialty pizza, with fresh basil and "fresh" mozzarella, oregano and Parmesan cheese, rather than plain cheese with meatball as a topping. I said, "sure." And enjoyed the house-made iced tea while I waited.


Half Meatball, Half Plain Cheese Pizza

Imagine my New York-Brained surprise when the pizza arrived - sliced into 12 micro slices! I asked: why? Why take a beautiful thin crusted pizza like this, and make the slices too small to fold? The answer (and I swear that this is what the manager told me; I am not making this up) - it is easier for Midwesterners to eat it this way. And I can't argue with that - I've seen people having trouble with a big gooey slice at Marotta's and Vincenza's; even my husband occasionally fumbles with his pizza when we visit NY.

I started with a slice from the meatball half of the pie.



First thing - the meatballs were in "moon" shapes instead of sliced. Still - they tasted good. The crust was thin and had a nice texture underneath. But there was a lot of sauce, and it was a bit sweet for my taste.





On to the cheesy half of the pie:







Nice and thin, and still a good crunch and mouthfeel from the crust, though the top part of the crust, around the sauce and cheese part of the pizza, was a little too puffy for my taste. Sort of reminded me of Papa John's pizza crust around that part of it.

The manager told me that they make their dough from scratch every day, but the sauce is a corporate mix. And he agreed, they make it a little sweet "because Midwesterners like it that way." He didn't explain why they use so darn much of it, especially in contrast to the modest portion of cheese. I liked the cheese side better - the "meatball specialty" side had less cheese and more sauce, and the "fresh" basil had no flavor that I could discern.

On my way out, I took a photo of a nearby table enjoying three pizza varieties; they seemed to be enjoying their lunch very much:



I can also report that the salads were huge and looked delicious. But my mission was pizza, and I could not be distracted by other menu items.

I would certainly eat Dewey's pizza in a pinch - if I was absolutely craving pizza, and I couldn't get to Marotta's (only open for dinner, no reservations taken), Vincenza's (only open for lunch M-F), Issy's, Lolita or Bar Cento (the latter two do not make NY-style pizza, but true Neapolitan pizza, which does satisfy my cravings). The people were nice, and the pizza, to my NY palate, is certainly a cut above most of the local chains and even the local independents who make pizza in "easy bake" ovens - on a conveyor belt, in a pan (there should be a law against this, unless it is Chicago Deep Dish style). I did enjoy playing with my pizza at Dewey's, and regret I didn't get to eat the leftovers, which stayed in the office fridge after I left for the Emergency Room. But that's another story for another blog.