fromage homage

There's no such thing as bad pizza but some pizza is better than others. If I still lived in New York, I would always get my pizza from Roma Restaurant in Tuckahoe. Instead, I try new places hoping to find one that reminds me of my childhood favorite.

I thought I had found a new pizza place at Turkey Creek last night but the manager said that Mangia Pizza & More has been there for five years. I guess I don't get to Turkey Creek that often. The restaurant is delightfully smoke-free, an instant improvement over Big Ed's in Oak Ridge. The pizza was so good that I asked the manager if he or the owner were from New York. Turns out they are both Tennesseeans with an appreciation for thin crusts, good sauce and good cheese. They gladly put some extra oregano on my pizza, unlike most places. Whether because of Valentines Day or Wednesday church services, my wife and I were the only customers between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. The manager told us that they are busiest on Friday nights.



While we were eating our pizza at Mangia, my wife told me about the "Desperate Housewives" episode she had watched earlier that day. Pizzeria Scavo is about to open and my wife remembered that Doug Savant, who plays Tom, used to work at Dino's Pizza in Burbank. He was already a regular on "Melrose Place" by the time we became regulars at Dino's

The next time they come to visit, my sister and her husband might want to include a stop at the new restaurant opening soon right next door to Mangia. It appears to be the first Tennessee location for Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries. The Five Guys in Centreville, Virginia is one of their family's favorite places. I ate there with them just before starting my weight loss program seventeen months ago.