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Tower of Pizza
Metairie 2: Orleans Line To Houma Blvd: 2104 Veterans Blvd. 504-833-9373. Map. WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY WHAT'S GOOD BACKSTORY DINING ROOM ESSENTIAL DISHES FOR BEST RESULTS OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT FACTORS OTHER THAN FOOD
Casual.
DS MC V
You know something about this place before you even step inside. One of the neon signs in the windows beams the charmingly retro expression "Pizza Pie," the other "Spaghetti." This is no affectation. The Tower really does serve the kind of food that the city's first pizzerias did back in the 1950s. Which is to say that it's highly Americanized, but not mechanized the way most pizzerias have become.
The pizza is exactly as it was when I was a regular customer of the Downman parlor in college. Thin crust, hand-tossed, baked in the old-style Blodgett ovens, with lots of a somewhat sweet sauce. Even a cheese pizza here slightly overloads the crust. Add pepperoni or sausage and it gets a bit oily. Add more stuff, and the crust begins to get flaccid. Despite that, the flavors hold together here, and the product remains respectable. The salads are enormous and very good for biding the time while you wait for the made-from-scratch pizza. The spaghetti is the mountain of white pasta with a big splash of red sauce on top, and to be avoided.
The original Tower Of Pizza opened in 1970 on Downman Road in New Orleans East, and grew out of a loosely-allied group of similarly utilitarian pizzerias, including Sandy's in Arabi and Artista on Franklin Avenue. Only the Tower survives, and only in its second location on Veterans Blvd., which has been there since 1971. There is some forward motion: the Tower is now open for lunch, and accepts credit cards.
Pizzerias of the Tower's generation were never much on looks, and the Tower still isn't. It's too small for the number of customers who are always there, and there's not enough staff to keep the place neat. Families are drawn by the window through which the kids can watch pizzas being made while the adults drink beer. The staff is sometimes short on patience, but the time you spend with them is brief.
»Italian salad with artichokes
»Cheese pizza
»Pizza your way
Spaghetti and meatballs
It's tempting to get pizza to go, but don't. It doesn't survive any more than the shortest trip.
If the Tower of Pizza could move to a larger space without changing its style, that would be very welcome.
Up to three points, positive or negative, for these characteristics. Absence of points denotes average performance in the matter.
SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES
- Open Sunday dinner
- Open Monday dinner
- Open after 10 p.m.
- Historic
- Good for children
- Easy, nearby parking
- No reservations
