The Pizza Gambit

It’s been quite the celebration of our nation’s 250th birthday, and it seems that everyone is getting into the act. When I returned from DC, I noticed that Reginelli’s Pizzeria was offering a large cheese pizza for only $2.50! This offer is good through July. Such a fun idea, and a great savings for anyone. Good for them.

I had to see this for myself. I was curious if such a good deal would mean reduced anything. It didn’t, and that impressed me.  I am not a Reginelli’s regular, so I have little in the way of comparison, but the pizza I picked up (incredibly, it’s not even dine-in only) is a normal-sized pizza with a normal amount of topping. This is a very generous giveaway.  You can only get one at a time, and you must be a member of their club, but I was signed up as I waited for the pizza. I love things like this, when an offer is actually an offer. No catches.

Reginelli’s is celebrating its own birthday, though not so lofty as the nation’s. Reginelli’s is 30 this year. I remember when they were on Magazine as a first-class restaurant. We had an Eat Club there in the early years, and Darryl Reginelli had a delicious place. The first-class dining venue was traded in for the pizza place, and it has been increasingly successful ever since. Ti  Martin of Commander’s fame became a partner many years ago, and a major expansion of locations commenced.

My brother is a fan of the place, and one day I had some pizza at his house. It was the combo, which is similar to an “everything “or “supreme” pizza.

I thought it was good enough to make me go in and see what else was there. What was there was Detroit pizza, and I don’t think that is available anywhere else in town. I don’t know why it is even available here, but it is. I don’t even understand Detroit pizza, but I thought what I had at Reginell's was good.

I’m a New York pizza girl, so both Chicago and Detroit pizza is lost on me. But it was certainly tasty. I just don’t like that amount of dough. The crust of a pizza, to me, is just like a plate to hold ingredients. We had a few other things that night that I barely remember.

But last week, when I went in to get my $2.50 USA birthday pizza, I looked over the menu while I waited and vowed to return.

A week later, I did. This time, I got the Watermelon Salad from the summer menu, and a lunch special that allowed a choice of two from four menu items: soup, salad, half a sandwich, or a slice of Detroit-style pizza. I chose the soup and a half meatball sub, and I got a single slice of the Detroit-style pizza with sausage and pepperoni, and the baked tortellini with creamy pesto sauce. And ML told me the hummus was great, but I didn’t see that on the regular menu. It was on a “secret menu” on a card at the table. I added that.

The Watermelon Salad was predictably refreshing, consisting of chunks of watermelon with feta cheese crumbles, candied pecan pieces, and mint. The fruit was not as cold as I would have liked, but the feta and mint were a nice combination of flavors. The candied pecans were a distraction to me, and in my view it didn’t belong in this mix.

I was equally unenthusiastic about the seafood chowder I chose as part of the lunch special.  It was so thick I felt like it was a side of creamed corn rather than a soup. It had a decent flavor, but it was all too much.

ML wanted the meatball sub, so I got the Detroit-style pizza as a single slice, opting for pepperoni and sausage. The cupped edges of the pepperoni in this were crusty. I thought this was a very nice slice of pizza, making me want a whole one. They ladled some sauce on it, and I liked that well enough, too. 

The half meatball sub was a little lame without much sauce, but I thought the meatballs were quite good.  Very nice texture, not overworked, and I wished I had gotten a full order of those. The focaccia bread on which it was served was good too.

But the star on the table was the baked tortellini with creamy pesto. This was a large bowl of delicious pasta for only $13. 

ML was missing the hummus, which she liked, but it wasn’t on the menu. She found it on the secret menu on a card on the table.

This came with a lot of nicely toasted pita, but I found the hummus a little dry and pretty ordinary.  There was a ton of roasted garlic with this, which I appreciated. We doctored this up at home with olive oil and Kalamata olives. Big improvement. 

The prices at Reginelli’s relative to the goodness make the place a deal. I was impressed that the restaurant was practically giving away a pizza at $2.50, even without requiring me to dine in. Now I understand. That little gambit made me curious, so I returned. And I liked what I had today enough to return again. So they gave away a pizza and got a new customer in return.  Pretty smart.