Charcoal Guidos

 The closing of the upper crust left a bit of a thin crust pizza gap on Moody street. Well, this week a new restaurant stepped up to fill that gap. Charcoal Guido's opened for lunch and dinner this past Wednesday. I managed to get there with some friends on Saturday night ( not our best choice timing wise).

The decor is very cute well put together and the bar looks really great, the top shelf of liquors is even bookended with two bottles of skull vodka, a touch that definitely gave me a smile. For such an epic looking bar the drink list was a bit of a let down, hopefully something they will work out in the coming months.

We started with the lamb skewers and Arancini. The lamb skewers were simple and delicious, definitely a must get for meat lovers. The Arancini was very good as well nice and crispy on the outside with the right amount of soft rice and melty cheese on the inside. Then we moved onto the pizzas which were excellent. We were a table of 4 and we split 3 pizzas leaving 1/2 a pizza of leftovers. We tried the prosciutto, the sausage and ricotta and the diavola. The prosciutto was a lighter treat with a no sauce pizza crust topped with salty prosciutto, slightly sweet thin slices of cheese and lightly dressed arugala. The ricotta and sausage was a pizza overflowing with high quality italian sausage melt in your mouth ricotta, tomato sauce and caramelized onions. While this one lost something in the structural integrity department the flavors were perfect. I didn't try the Diavola but my friend who did was extremely happy with her choice to add it to our table. There were also tasty looking salad, pasta and entree options that we didn't end up partaking in on this trip but will definitely try next time we stop in. The prices are pretty good with our entire meal coming out to around 70 dollars for 4 people though none of us partook of the alcohol offerings.

This brand new restaurant definitely still has some kinks to work out in the logistics department the waiting area is small, the putting your name in for a table process is disorganized, there are no reservations,  it's VERY loud, the space could benefit from some experimenting with the table placement, and they haven't quite worked out a take out option yet.

However, the quality of the food does making dealing with these inconveniences worth it. Just maybe stay away on Friday and Saturday nights until they have themselves together a little bit more.
All in all I am very excited about this new addition to Moody Street and I'm also excited to check out their lunch menu ( I'll update here once I do).

Stuff to Eat in the Suburbs: Saugus - Angela's Coal Fired Pizza

We’d heard some interesting things about Angela’s Coal Fired Pizza in Saugus, but frankly, this Bostonist hasn’t really sat down for just pizza and wings since she was in college (except of course for the occasional trip to Regina’s in the North End). So last week when we were out in the Saugus area we decided to check it out. Now a sit down restaurant that only serves pizza and wings seemed a little limited and frankly we were expecting a greasy hole-in-the-wall kind of place. But we were pleasantly surprised from the moment we walked in the door.

Angela’s high ceilings, spacious seating, and comfortable modern furnishings gives it both a trendy and family friendly feel. The open kitchen at the front of the restaurant makes it so that a perpetual aroma of coal-fired pizza wafts over diners as they await their delicious meal; making the anticipation even sweeter. Each table has a funky black pizza stand in the center to remind you what’s important. The outdoor patio is decorated with modern bar-height tables and chairs and small circular stands, just big enough to put your drink on, have been attached to a row of trees that give diners shelter from the building next door. The area feels secret and secluded even though it is right off Route 1.

The pizza is simply spectacular, as one would expect it to be in a sit down restaurant that has decided to specialize. But this pizza was particularly impressive. The pizza has just the right amount of cheese. Not too much, not too little, and the cheese runs throughout each piece of pizza both on top of and underneath the toppings. The thing that struck us in particular was how wonderfully melty and gooey it was. The toppings were generous on each piece but not overcrowded, and the crust was incredibly crisp on the bottom and provided a nice firm support for the toppings and cheese. The sauce is the perfect finisher for this fantastic pizza; salty and just a little bit spicy but not too chunky or runny.

The wings were another amazing surprise. No buffalo, crispy, hot, or sweet and sour here. You are only given two options: small or large. These wings are incredible. The meat simply falls off the bone and each bite is infused with lemon, garlic, rosemary, and who knows what other wonderful ingredients. The wings are served atop a tasty piece of focaccia and have sweet delicious onions heaped on top.

The wings and pizza aren’t the only things on the menu, there is also an extensive and very tasty looking wine and beer menu. Honestly, this may now be this Bostonist’s favorite pizza in the greater metropolitan area. Even though it is seriously out of the way, we will definitely be headed back out to Saugus soon to partake of this awesome new find.

Anglea’s is located on Route 1 in Saugus, they also have a location in Tyngsboro. You can check out their menu their website.

This post originally appeared on the Bostonist.

Stuff to Eat in the Suburbs: Cambridge—Stone Hearth Pizza

Sometimes it can be hard to take a gluten-free friend out to lunch or dinner. Pubs usually deal in foods that are fried with some sort of flour-based batter, any kind of sandwich is automatically off the menu, even salad dressings can sometimes be a dicey prospect and almost all Italian food is right out. Yet this Bostonist recently accompanied her gluten-free friend to a little pizzeria in Cambridge called Stone Hearth Pizza and discovered a new world of deliciousness, with a side of tasty gluten-free fare. Stone Hearth Pizza has locations in Cambridge, Belmont, and Needham; and is dedicated to providing customers with organic and local fare whenever possible. If you download a menu from their website you can see all the local farms they support, even their beers and wines are local.

Their dedication to local businesses spills over to their customers. What originally brought us to their door was the promise of their gluten-free pizza crust, which it turns out is crispy and light, without a hint of the grittiness that can sometimes accompany gluten-free bread products. Clearly, someone worked hard to get the consistency of this crust just right.

The restaurant's Neapolitan style fire-grilled pizzas are both inventive and well put together without an overabundance of any one ingredient, which creates a nice balance of flavors. The cheeses are fresh and well blended, and in this Bostonist’s opinion, their sauce is just right: not too sweet and not too salty.

There are several pre-imagined options available on their menu, or if you’re in the mood to be creative, just go ahead and make your own concoction from their extensive ingredient list.

The sandwiches at Stone Hearth are just as noteworthy as their pizzas. While the restaurant does not carry gluten-free sandwich bread, these sandwiches really prove that a good sandwich is all about the ingredients. Wraps are not normally this Bostonist’s thing, but it looked so delicious that she had to give it a try, and the chefs were very accommodating when we wanted to add fresh mozzarella to our California wrap. And wow, was it worth the risk!

The California wrap is a simple enough sandwich with romaine lettuce, grilled chicken, avocado, shaved red onions, and lemon Dijon dressing. Somehow the food artists at Stone Hearth Pizza managed to make this simple sandwich into something spectacular; all of the ingredients were chopped very finely and then mixed together with the dressing so that every bite contained a little bit of everything. The wrap was fresh and chewy; it (thankfully) lacked that slightly stale taste and texture that often afflict wraps. The most amazing thing was the avocado, clearly cut fresh as the sandwich was being made because it didn’t exhibit any of the watery loss of flavor that can happen with a pre-cut fruit. Somehow they managed to mush it just enough so that it still maintained enough integrity to not dribble out of the wrap but instead to cling perfectly to every other ingredient to hold the sandwich together. Every bite of this huge wrap was a joy and we kept eating it long after we were full just for the flavor of it.

Stone Hearth Pizza also offers baked pastas, both standard and gluten-free, and some very tasty salads with amazingly good homemade dressings.

The Stone Hearth Pizza in Cambridge delivers to areas of Cambridge and Somerville, so check in with your local Stone Hearth Pizza to see if they deliver to you. We highly recommend this gem to everyone and are happy to be able to suggest a gluten-free pizza option to our gluten intolerant friends who are missing their pizza fix.

This post originally appeared on the Bostonist

Stuff to Eat in the Suburbs: Needham—Pizzapalooza

Finding good pizza in Boston can be a complicated business. While some pizzerias focus solely on baking a good pie, others provide more well-rounded fare in the form of tasty sandwiches, paninis and pasta. From greasy to gourmet, you can find almost anything if you know where to look.

Pizzapalooza in Newton has a lot to offer the hungry diner. Their pizza is fairly good, if a little too heavy on the sweet sauce and light on the cheese for this Bostonist’s taste. Not quite deep dish and not quite thin-crust, Pizzapalooza’s pies come across almost like the best French bread pizza you’ve ever had, with a crunchy base topped by lots of chewy dough. You can order a whole pizza or get it by the slice. One of the best (if worst for your health...) things about ordering in the shop is that each slice is a quarter of a pizza!

Individual slices tend to be available in classic flavors, like cheese and pepperoni. However, their pizzas really shine when the chefs get creative in the kitchen. On our most recent visit, we sampled the Hawaiian (pineapple and prosciutto) as well as a creative concoction involving Italian sausage, ricotta, and caramelized onions. The Hawaiian is a perfect balance of sweet pineapple and salty prosciutto, with neither overpowering the other as can often be the case. The Italian sausage, ricotta and caramelized onions combine to create a really complex flavor; the sweet and salty Italian sausage is complimented by the sweetness of the onions and both are surprisingly well accompanied by the creaminess of the ricotta.

But pizza isn’t the only tasty treat you can find at Pizzapalooza. In fact, this Bostonist first fell in love with the restaurant's Panini sandwiches. The Panino Pollo is a simple Panini containing fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, and a balsamic marinated grilled chicken breast. But the first bite tells you that this is no ordinary sandwich; the sliced Italian ciabatta bread is clearly fresh-cut for each sandwich. And all of the ingredients perfectly complement one another, right down to the sprinkle of Pecorino Romano that adds a salty, tangy accent to the sandwich and gives it the final nudge from good to great. Finally, the toasting method leaves the sandwiches a perfect combination of crunchy on the outside and warm and gooey on the inside. The Pollo is, in this Bostonist’s opinion, one of the best paninis in the area.

Another notable menu item is the “Pizzapalooza Cruiser.” This on-the-go option is like a rolled-up piece of pizza but without all the mess. Pizzapalooza uses its regular pizza dough, wraps it around a variety of ingredients, and then bakes them to perfection. The Maserati is a portable collection of complimentary yet complex flavors. Sweet Italian sausage, salty pepperoni, and melty mozzarella cheese are well accented here by Pizzapalooza’s sweet tomato sauce; and best of all this treat is wrapped up and ready to eat!

Though Pizzapalooza is not this Bostonist’s favorite spot for pizza every day, the pizza is good enough to keep us interested. However, the thing that keeps us coming back is the paninis. If you are a fan of crunchy bread and high-quality, high-taste ingredients, then you might want to give the Panini Sandwiches over at Pizzapalooza a try. For your first time we highly recommend eating on their patio instead of getting take out. This sandwich experience is worth savoring!

Originally posted on the Bostonist.