discontentment

My bro-in-law J. and I have been on a quest to find some decent N.Y. style thin-crust pizza in the Fremont area. At first glance you'd think it would be easy -- heck there's a place literally across the street from my house called "New York Pizza". But we've been there, and the pizza was underwhelming to say the least. The place is run by a Chinese guy, and I don't even know if he's ever been to New York. They also sell Chinese take-out food there but we weren't brave enough to try it. Maybe after a few drinks...

So anyways I heard about this place in Newark called Vito's Ristorante and Pizzeria that was supposed to be really good, offering N.Y. style pizza. I got home early from work yesterday so I suggested we go try it. J. readily agrees and we're off to Vito's.

When we get there we are greeted warmly and given menus to look at. After some thought we decide on a large combo pizza and an order of buffalo wings, to go. Because it's our first time there, the lady asks us if we'd like a sample slice of their pizza to try while we wait. Not one to turn down free food, of course we said yes!

A few minutes later the lady brings out a thin slice of pepperoni and cheese for us to try. Oh man, it was exactly what we had hoped for. Thin crust, slightly crispy. Lightly coated with tomato sauce and cheese, a little pepperoni, and some more light cheese sprinkled on top. We polished off that slice in no time, and eagerly awaited our order.

When it was ready, we snatched up the pizza box like it was gold and headed back home. I go to wash my hands, and upon coming back out, I find a look of dismay on J.'s face. "It's too thick," he laments. Sure enough, upon further inspection, the pizza looks like any regular pizza; worse, it looks like Costco pizza. Now don't get me wrong, I like Costco pizza, but it ain't N.Y. style pizza, and that's what we really wanted. And we had tasted the goods, really had it within our reach, with that sample slice! That thin crust delight, where did it go? It was like we had eaten at one restaurant, then ordered a pizza from a totally different restaurant! We ate the pizza, and it was good, but it wasn't nearly as good as the thin slice of heaven we had briefly savored at the restaurant. In fact the crust was downright thick and extremely filling. I think either one of us could have eaten an entire large thin-crust pizza if we were challenged to so, but with the thick crust of this combo pizza we could barely get through half of it. So disappointing. It wouldn't have been so painful if the pizza had turned out this way, but we hadn't sampled the thin-crust version. It was like taking the lead in a race, knowing you had victory in your hands, only to fall short at the finish and come in second or third.

Here's where I think we went wrong -- ordering the combo pizza. I think we should have gotten the simple, cheese or pepperoni pizza and specified the thin crust. We owe it to ourselves and to Vito's to give it another try, I think. They can make the pizza we want, we just need to make sure that's the pizza we bring home.