The Phoenix Network:
 
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 

Stella's Pizza

A little slice of mid-century American heaven
By MC SLIM JB  |  August 24, 2009

0908_stella_Main

Asked what I thought about Stella's the other day, I went on at some length about the swank South End fine-dining Italian destination. "No, no, MC: I'm talking about Stella's, the pizza joint in Watertown, not Stella." Aha! I'd never been to this storefront that is widely admired on chowhound.com for its big slices of thin-crust pizza. Luckily, it's my job to review worthy cheap-eats places, even 48-year-old ones. The current proprietor, there since 1984, is one of those genuinely warm family-business owners you love to give your patronage to. It doesn't hurt that his pizza is really, really good.

Stella's works in the Neapolitan-inspired, Italian-American idiom, creating a thin-crust pie ($6.45/12"; $9.45/16"; $10.95/18") in a gas-fired oven, topping it with a smooth, faintly sweet marinara and not too much low-moisture mozzarella. Toppings ($1–$2 each) are fresh (no canned mushrooms here), high-quality, and mostly old-school: expect more options like pepperoni and anchovies than pesto and sundried tomatoes. The slice ($2.25–$3) is a good 10 inches across at the crust edge, if not quite big enough for a homesick New Yorker to fold in half. Stella's puts the perfect light char on its crust, which runs from thin to very thin: the 18" pie is the 16" rolled out thinner. I think this thinness favors eating it immediately out of the oven; a to-go pie will necessarily lose some crispness. I recommend the "thick dough" upgrade ($1–$1.75), too; the modest additional thickness allows for the development of some bubble structure, yielding a richer, chewier texture without upsetting the sauce/cheese flavor balance.

The menu also includes a few deli-style sandwiches ($4.50–$6.50) on good Italian rolls or Syrian bread, like Italian cold cuts, chicken salad, breaded/fried cutlets, and excellent housemade beef/pork/veal meatballs, generously loaded; the small has eight meatballs the size of ping-pong balls. A deep fryer produces an assortment of comparatively run-of-the-mill appetizers like chicken tenders ($4.25–$6.95), jalapeño poppers ($4–$6.50), and curly fries ($2.75–$4). Drink options include the usual American sodas, energy drinks, and juices ($1.45–$2.25). The room is prototypical mid-century neighborhood pizza parlor: a few booths, TV, Celts/Sox/B's/Pats memorabilia. You could say it's a throwback in a lot of ways: attractively priced, super-friendly, not a chain, doing the original American pizza style, and shunning precious gourmet touches. It certainly ain't the South End — and in this case, that's a very good thing.

Stella's Pizza, located at 605 Mt. Auburn Street, in Watertown, is open Monday–Thursday, 11 am–10 pm; Friday and Saturday, 11 am–11 pm; and Sunday, 1–10 pm. Call 617.924.5692.

Related: Ali's Roti Restaurant, Open your pie hole, Portishead, More more >
  Topics: On The Cheap , Culture and Lifestyle, Food and Cooking, Foods,  More more >
  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • RSS feed
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article
Comments

ARTICLES BY MC SLIM JB
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   ZO  |  September 16, 2009
    There are many reasons to silently mourn the closing of Filene's in Downtown Crossing, but I know I vociferously wailed at the accompanying evictions of several worthy take-out restaurants that operated at the famed department store's sidewalk level.
  •   J.M.P. INTERNATIONAL FOODS  |  September 11, 2009
    Hooking up with a great cheap-eats restaurant can be like finding romance: you can scour the wide world in vain, then one day discover something terrific right under your nose.
  •   MIKE'S BÁNH-MÌ  |  September 02, 2009
    Someday I'll be able to review a bánh-mì joint without providing a primer. But as a raft of new college students are arriving from the provinces, I'll once again offer Bánh Mì 101.
  •   LA FOGATA  |  August 26, 2009
    Few Boston neighborhoods are as blessed with affordable restaurants, or as unfairly overlooked, as Eastie.
  •   STELLA'S PIZZA  |  August 24, 2009
    Asked what I thought about Stella's the other day, I went on at some length about the swank South End fine-dining Italian destination.

 See all articles by: MC SLIM JB

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group