It’s been a long while since I did an all pizza special, and I’ve been collecting these to offer up to the Pizza Gods. And, away we go….

El Fuelle, Av. Medrano 99, Almagro. A year ago, almost to the day, we had a Horde lunch at El Patio de Mingo, a fun steak-heavy outing. Wandering around the neighborhood prior to the lunch, as I’d arrived early, I spotted this corner spot with its tango and bandoneon theme. Other than the visual, there was no reason for it to stick in my mind, but at some point, it was still there, and I looked it up. Pizzeria and tango, and a lot of locals opining that it’s Almagro’s best Argentine style pizza. So, it went on the map, and sat there throughout the pandemic (there are plenty of places that have been on the “to try” map far longer – I’ll never get to all of them).

Small, medium, large pizzas available, this is the medium. All of them available half and half if you want, and a true half and half in pricing as well, none of this making it more expensive to get two different toppings (pies hover around 500, 700, and 900 pesos respectively for the three sizes). They have some unusual combos, particularly in the seafood world – mussel pizza anyone? The most touted is their provolone pizza, which turned out to be a classic, simple mozzarella and tomato sauce slice with a thick grating of crispy provolone cheese over it. We paired that with their calabresa, with spicy sausage, and plenty of it, below a gooey layer of mozzarella. There’s good and okay here – the crust is the latter – it’s very “white bread”, kind of flavorless. On the other hand, really good tomato sauce, and a decent amount of it, good quality cheese, and sausage. But it’s hard to ignore that crust. The slice of fainá was just okay. Damn I wish someone would do a really great job with fainá somewhere… suggestions anyone?

Overall, just okay pizza.

Heroes Pizza on Fire, Helguera 4195, Villa Pueyrredón. Damn…. look at that pizza. Now that’s loaded with toppings. I first heard about this place just by chance on Instagram. I kind of got hooked on their photos, and also that they open up at 8 in the morning, and yes, while they have coffee and pastries available for breakfast, they also fire up the pizza oven for anyone who understands that pizza for breakfast is a real thing. I’ve had a couple of Instagram chats with them, and if it hadn’t been for the pandemic, I’d have been there long ago.

They only offer large pizzas. And they’re big. Two of us couldn’t finish one. We got half and half – mushroom, bacon, and caramelized onion on one side and arugula, sun-dried tomatoes, and parmesan on the other, and then topped the whole thing off with added anchovies (they have build your own pizza options, which is nice). Great crust. Buttery, well risen, crunchy bottom, cooked through – a very different dough from the usual sort here. Very good tomato sauce and as you can see, lots of it. Tons of toppings, and all high quality. Really good cheese, and not piled on, but just right. Overall, a really well constructed and delicious pizza. If I lived anywhere close to them, they’d be a go-to spot. Pizzas run from around 800-1000 pesos.

Togni’s Pizza, Blanca Encalada 1665, Belgrano. Over the years I’ve been here, various spots have opened up claiming to offer “New York Style Pizza”. None of them has succeeded. Many of them, it’s clear that they haven’t a clue what NY pizza even is – they seem to think that if they just make the same Argentine style pizza they always make and offer it by the slice, that constitutes New York style. It doesn’t, and I’ve, I think, been pretty clear about that in my reviews of them. The two closest were probably the not so aptly named New York Style Pizza on Gorriti, and Hell’s Pizza on Humboldt, but both missed the mark for various reasons.

Now, Togni’s doesn’t make a big deal about being NY style, in fact, they don’t even mention it. They just call themselves a “slice shop”. However, while not dead-on, it’s far closer to NY style than any of the others here have been. The crust is a bit “artesanal”, with a long fermented, whole grain kind of vibe going on, which of course, a typical slice shop in NYC isn’t going to do. But it’s the right texture, it folds perfectly, and it’s cooked just right. The sauce – delicious, with some zest to it, and just the right amount. Really good cheese, browned nicely, and even stretchy. And good toppings. The pepperoni is made in-house and is the right size, and does the little cupping thing – though the slice could use more of it. While meatball pizzas aren’t particularly a classic of NYC pizza, theirs looked really good, and it was, plus turned out to be some of the better tasting meatballs I’ve had in BA, and again, could be more plentiful. Slices run from 200-250 pesos apiece, so it’s not cheap – you’re certainly not getting “dollar slices” here, but they’re big – two is plenty for one person for lunch. You can also order, of course, a whole pie (a little over 1000 pesos), and they offer a sort of Sicilian style deep-dish square pie (only by the pie, no portions, a shame, as I’d have liked to try one), also around 1000 pesos.

Yum!

Okay. Not exactly a pizza, but kinda sorta. A new offering from the local Recoleta branch of Almacén de Pizzas, French 2301, though on delivery sites they’re listing themselves separately as Khachapuri Original. When you visit, they’re just on the same menu. Though, interestingly, the online delivery menu offers up about eight different khachapuris while in-house they only offer three, and they were adamant about not offering one of the others to eat on-site – a bit odd I thought. Now, it’s not a real khachapuri either – a traditional Georgian flatbread normally filled with a ton of cheese and some soft egg to mix in, and sort of create a dip – you tear off pieces of the surrounding crust and plunge them into the mix in the middle. But they also state “Khachapuri inspired”.

First off, a khachapuri wouldn’t normally have pizza sauce in it, and it wouldn’t be filled with mozzarella (it’s traditionally a blend of imeruli and sulguni, two Georgian cheeses, the first for that sort of stretchiness, the second is a salty, briny, tart cheese – maybe if they’d mixed local cuartirolo with feta or something like that). And the eggs would be soft enough to mix into the cheese, these weren’t. This is basically a khachapuri shaped medium sized pizza. And, honestly, when I order a sausage pizza, I don’t expect sliced hot dogs. It was good, but no more than that, and certainly doesn’t justify a price 100 pesos over that of Almacen’s large pizza, which this is far small than, bringing it in around 1000 pesos. It’s more a pricey gimmick than anything. Ah well.