It has been a few months since I last sallied forth on the quest for pizza along the 92 bus route. There are several reasons, none of them a lack of interest in pizza. Mostly logistical – as the quest has gotten further and further away from home the time commitment involved has gotten greater – getting out where we left off and the continuance takes well over an hour, and, add to that two factors – as this quest has gone on, the friends who accompanied me early on have lost interest, so I’m now venturing forth solo, which means fewer places can get covered on any given day for two reasons (see how this runs on?) – I don’t have people to split the pizza with, and, as the neighborhoods have gotten more suburban, I’ve been finding more places that only serve whole pizzas, not pizza by the slice. Or maybe it just feels that way being solo. Still, I’ve managed, often just eating one or two slices of a pie, depending on how good it is, then having them pack it up to go and giving it to a homeless person on the street. Of course, that also then costs me more each trip. Oh, and more and more places in these residential ‘hoods are only open at night, so they’ve been back-burnered for possible future visits. It’s a balancing act.

However, I’ve reached the turning point, literally. I’d said that likely I was only going to follow the route as far as the city limits, and with this update, I’ve not only reached that but headed back a fair distance (much of the latter part of the 92 route travels on the same street both directions so I’ve got whole swathes I can skip over because I’ve already tried the pizzerias on both sides of the street – I suppose I could have done them one side at a time, but didn’t for the most part). So yesterday brought me to the overpass of General Paz along Av. Eva Perón where I waved at Ciudad Madero on the other side, and started back. I don’t plan to venture into the trek on the other side of the frontier unless someone out that way wants to assert that there’s pizza there that simply must be tried (though there’s only a short section that passes through that ‘burb, most of the remaining 92 route is along the expressway before ending in Villa Circunvalación). Or, of course, if the numbers don’t work out on the return trip.

(44) First up, at the corner of Avs. Bruix and Directorio, where I left off last time, is Papi Pizza!!!, a small, takeout only place, which also only serves up whole pies – small or large – and they won’t make a half and half pie with a small size, so mozzarella only. Luckily, there’s a nearby plaza, just a block away, Plaza Domingo Oliviera, where I grabbed a bench, snapped a photo, and took a bite. Let’s just say that I didn’t make it through a slice, and I don’t know whether I was actually doing a charitable thing by giving the balance of the pizza to the homeless man on another bench. The crust was bland, the sauce nonexistent, the cheese a sort of rubbery, flavorless mass, and the whole thing coated with a thin layer of salt and dry oregano. Not a good start to this round.

(45) Luckily, a better experience just a block or so away at El Rincón de Marcos, just off the corner of White, where the negative is that they only serve one size pizza, large (their menu board lists a couple of dozen pizzas and two sizes, plus by the slice, but the waiter told me that’s left from the previous owners, nearly six years ago, and the current owner just hasn’t bothered to take it down – they only have large pizzas, and only four different types). So, I ordered a half plain and half napolitana. Took forever – 40 minutes from the time I ordered it until being served it, with almost no one else in the place. Crust, good flavor, could have been charred a little, cooked a little longer (what were they doing for those 40 minutes, making the dough from scratch?). Decent sauce, mostly just fresh tomato, but at least present. And, okay cheese. A bit heavy on the coating of oregano on top for my tastes. They also apparently don’t use pizza boxes for takeout, when I asked for the pizza to go, they piled up the slices on top of each other, wrapped them in sandwich paper, and stuck them in a plastic bag. Not a pizza I’d rush back for, but not bad either. [Closed]

(46) What ensued next was another trip, but literally hours of walking without anything happening. From this point along Directorio there’s only one further pizzeria, only open at night, all the way into Mataderos, where the route goes completely residential. On the entire loop I only found two spots, one also nighttime only, the other looks like it’s been closed awhile. Since the return trip follows mostly the same route all the way back through Mataderos, Parque Avellaneda, Floresta and into the heart of Flores, I ended up zooming through a couple of kilometers on the bus without needing to stop (the few deviations from the same route I just watched out the window to see if there was anywhere that I might be missing. There is a second branch of Pizza Joy on Av. J.G. Artigas just off of Av. Rivadavia, which was closed on a Sunday afternoon, but as noted in the past, I’ve been skipping branches of the same chains, just giving them a number and moving on, especially when it’s a pizza I don’t like.

(47) Just down the block, however, at Av. Artigas 138, just off the corner of Yerbal, is Morris Pizzeria, which looks a bit more like a bar, and most of the folk there were just drinking beer and watching futbol on television. But the food is pizza and empanadas for the most part, and they bill themselves as a pizzeria, so be it. Pizza by the slice available, only in a couple of varieties (whole pies available in more combos), so I just ordered a mozzarella slice. The waiter insisted I try their roasted pepper and ham too, on the house, who am I to object to free pizza? Great crust, one of the lightest, airiest ones I’ve found anywhere along this trek. Basically, however, no sauce, just well browned, good quality cheese. I just want some zip from sauce. Still, not bad. [Closed]

(48) Apparently continuing in a theme, the next spot I came across was a small spot called 33 de Mano, at Av. Avellaneda 1753, off the corner of Av. Tte. Donato Alvarez. The name is apparently an expression something to do with card games, I didn’t quite get the explanation (any help, local friends?), and also the name of both a folk band and a rock band. Nice people. Really nice people. They only offer whole pizzas, but they had a plain mozzarella pizza that they’d just made for themselves, so they gave me not only a slice of that, but an empanada that was fresh out of the oven and something to drink and only charged me ten pesos for all of it, and we all chatted away while watching (a different) futbol match. Very thin crust, nicely charred, good flavor. Good sauce, with a nice zip to it, and good cheese, nicely browned. All in all, a nice way to wind up this round. [Closed]

And, with the next round, back into closer territory, I (we? anyone?) will be picking up there in Caballito, I’ve already got the first spot noted.