Pizza makes me think anything is possible. ~ Henry Rollins

Happy Pizza Find in Syracuse

So recently I had a trip to Syracuse for a job interview. What will come as a surprise to no one who knows me or regularly reads this blog, prior to heading to Syracuse I googled, best pizza in Syracuse. There were several places that came up, but overwhelming it seemed that people were pretty high on a place in Mattydale, just north of the city, a place called Paladinos.

I’ll post this review onto the Pizza Page soon but wanted to drop it here first. I popped over in the late afternoon and the first thing I noticed was the atmosphere was completely right. It was a smallish place, not fancy and just felt right for NY pizza place. There were working class guys eating lunch, and a couple of old guys arguing nonsense with each other over slices. It was busy, fast pace and the women working the counter were both nice and complete wise-asses, I definitely felt at home in this place. One look at the slices and I knew I was going to be happy, but of course, looks aren’t everything.

The first bit of happiness was that my favorite combination, pepperoni and mushrooms, which is never available in slices was there. So I got two and a cheese slice (the standard by which I judge all slices), a coke and settled in. I immediately noticed something that made me very happy.

There were granulated garlic shakers on the table. It’s one of my biggest complaints is a lack of granulated garlic available at a lot of pizza places.

When my slices arrived they looked even better warmed up.

The toppings were amazing, well crisped pepperoni, the right kind of mushrooms. The cheese was well portioned and the sauce was quite tasty. My only complaint I have, and it’s a very tiny one, is that the crust was not as crisp as it could have been. They were really great slices, a solid 9.8 out of 10. Which should have been of no surprise because as you can see from above, this pizza place has won a very impressive pizza award.

The next day after my interview I decided to stop in again for lunch since Paladinos sits right next to I-90, I would be rolling right by on my way back to Albany. Lunch was really pizza and the slice selection was a bit lower because they were turning over slices really quickly. So no pepperoni and mushroom and I decided to get one of each, a pepperoni, a mushroom and a cheese.

I was even more impressed this time, apparently the pies the day before had just been pulled early as the crust on these was perfect. The one complaint I have is that they use the absolute cheapest paper plates, but everything else was spectacular, the best slices I’ve had outside of Brooklyn.