Pizza Bella's is still a new-ish restaurant in the area straddling Beverly and Washington Park at the 95th Street Metra Station in Chicago. Nestled on the corner facing a cafe, nobody paid it any mind for a while until the flyers came pouring down the street. I can't really speak for anyone else, but I feel like this place needs a review because they've got a pretty good selection of food. So, I'll talk about the delicious calzone I had earlier this week and give them a little nod.
In my head, $7.75 seemed pretty reasonable for a calzone. I'm thinking this thing is going to be like a Hot Pocket to be carried around and munched on. It never dawned on me to Google Image one. I have never had a calzone before in my life. I've heard about them on old Pizza Hut commercials and assumed they were all that size--kinda small/medium. I felt like a nut asking the delivery guy "what is that?" when he handed me the 11-inch pizza box. This thing felt heavy! I'm thinking it's either more than one in the box, or that I've made a mistake in ordering fries with this thing like it's a dang sandwich.
I waddle to my room with the calzone, my bags (I hate that they couldn't group my stuff all in one or two bags. Instead, I got one bag for my juice, one bag for my fries, and one bag for my canoli...), and my curiosity on level 8. I push everything aside on the bed and find a HUUUUGE calzone staring back at me. It's smelling so good, a little shiny, and has all kinds of seasonings on top of it. It's golden brown and perfectly shaped. A little cup of marinara sauce is on the side. Yeah, it was a terrible idea to get fries with this thing. This is a dinner in itself. This is going to take five people to eat. This...this makes me look like a nutty shut in with a bad food habit.
I stare at the thing wondering how I'm going to start eating it. I grab a knife and fork and begin to carefully slice into the side of it like a surgeon. The sweet aroma of the yeasty, buttery dough combined with ground beef and onions was soooo devine. This baby was fresh out of the oven, steaming, smokin', and ready. I took my first bite without the sauce and knew I was in deep foodie trouble. This was a serious, seductive dinner-type entree. It might have taken 3 days to finish it, but every bite was well worth the "work". Somebody took their time with the creation of this culinary beauty. The insides of the calzone were full of meat and cheese and onion. The outer and inner crust layers were fire-baked to perfection. I didn't taste any under-cooked dough against the mozzarella cheese and nothing was over-cooked. The ground beef was fresh, not much seasoning aside from pepper. The onions were finely chopped. By my third bite (with sauce), I was no longer intimidated by the size of the dish. Before I tried to kill myself by eating the entire calzone, I stuffed the yummy dinner treat far away into the belly of the fridge. The mystery was over and I could barely move from my seat. I pigged out on fries like I was 22 again and proceeded to flop into my office chair for a good 3 hours with a bottle of Mystic Juice and the Adult Swim line up.
It's safe to say you can feed about four or five people with something of that size. If you cut it the right way, everyone gets a good portion. I won't say something extravagant like "it's the best in the world", but I will say it was pretty good for a first-timer in calzone land. Lucking out with capable chefs for a great food experience makes me want to try some from other restaurants in the city. Next time I order one, I'll make sure to skip the fries and invite a friend.
If you're in the Chicagoland area, you'll find the Pizza Bella's I ordered from here. If you're just visiting, I highly recommend giving them a try. They have a lot to offer aside from calzones and pizza dishes. Get on Foodler already and give them a try.
In my head, $7.75 seemed pretty reasonable for a calzone. I'm thinking this thing is going to be like a Hot Pocket to be carried around and munched on. It never dawned on me to Google Image one. I have never had a calzone before in my life. I've heard about them on old Pizza Hut commercials and assumed they were all that size--kinda small/medium. I felt like a nut asking the delivery guy "what is that?" when he handed me the 11-inch pizza box. This thing felt heavy! I'm thinking it's either more than one in the box, or that I've made a mistake in ordering fries with this thing like it's a dang sandwich.
I waddle to my room with the calzone, my bags (I hate that they couldn't group my stuff all in one or two bags. Instead, I got one bag for my juice, one bag for my fries, and one bag for my canoli...), and my curiosity on level 8. I push everything aside on the bed and find a HUUUUGE calzone staring back at me. It's smelling so good, a little shiny, and has all kinds of seasonings on top of it. It's golden brown and perfectly shaped. A little cup of marinara sauce is on the side. Yeah, it was a terrible idea to get fries with this thing. This is a dinner in itself. This is going to take five people to eat. This...this makes me look like a nutty shut in with a bad food habit.
I stare at the thing wondering how I'm going to start eating it. I grab a knife and fork and begin to carefully slice into the side of it like a surgeon. The sweet aroma of the yeasty, buttery dough combined with ground beef and onions was soooo devine. This baby was fresh out of the oven, steaming, smokin', and ready. I took my first bite without the sauce and knew I was in deep foodie trouble. This was a serious, seductive dinner-type entree. It might have taken 3 days to finish it, but every bite was well worth the "work". Somebody took their time with the creation of this culinary beauty. The insides of the calzone were full of meat and cheese and onion. The outer and inner crust layers were fire-baked to perfection. I didn't taste any under-cooked dough against the mozzarella cheese and nothing was over-cooked. The ground beef was fresh, not much seasoning aside from pepper. The onions were finely chopped. By my third bite (with sauce), I was no longer intimidated by the size of the dish. Before I tried to kill myself by eating the entire calzone, I stuffed the yummy dinner treat far away into the belly of the fridge. The mystery was over and I could barely move from my seat. I pigged out on fries like I was 22 again and proceeded to flop into my office chair for a good 3 hours with a bottle of Mystic Juice and the Adult Swim line up.
It's safe to say you can feed about four or five people with something of that size. If you cut it the right way, everyone gets a good portion. I won't say something extravagant like "it's the best in the world", but I will say it was pretty good for a first-timer in calzone land. Lucking out with capable chefs for a great food experience makes me want to try some from other restaurants in the city. Next time I order one, I'll make sure to skip the fries and invite a friend.
If you're in the Chicagoland area, you'll find the Pizza Bella's I ordered from here. If you're just visiting, I highly recommend giving them a try. They have a lot to offer aside from calzones and pizza dishes. Get on Foodler already and give them a try.