Pizza Pizza....

Pizzeria Stella

420 South 2nd Street

Philadelphia, PA 19106

www.pizzeriastella.net/‎ 

I had my eyes on Pizzeria Stella for some time. Everything on the menu looked fantastic and they have a pretty good beer selection to go right along with that rocking food menu. I was really excited when my girlfriend moved just down the street, and I had a Stephen Starr gift card to use, so we headed over one Friday night for a great meal. They don’t take reservations, so we put in our name and grabbed a seat at the bar. No sooner had we sat at the bar and ordered a round of beers, when we were called by the hostess and escorted to our table. While looking at the menu, I was in my infamous moment of indecision, because they had so many amazing pizzas to choose from. My girlfriend and I decided to order two and just take home whatever we didn’t eat because we weren’t sure how big the pizzas were. We ordered a red and a white pizza, as well as an arancini for an appetizer. 

I first fell in love with arancinis at Spasso's in Old City, but this was my second venture with them. These particular arancinis were delicious, but the breading on the outside was not as good in my opinion. They were a smoother texture, clearly because they used a different form of breadcrumbs, or none at all for that matter. I preferred them with the more rustic texture offered up at Spasso's when they were fried with panko breadcrumbs on the outside. The filling was very rich and creamy, as you would expect it to be from risotto. 

I was so excited for the pizzas we had ordered. We had decided on the lamb pizza with scarmoza, oregano, and slow cooked lamb shank, and the piccante pizza topped with capicola, crushed red pepper, aged provolone and san marzano tomatoes. Both were truly fantastic pizzas. It all began with the crust. It was slightly charred in spots, leaving it bubbly and crunchy in most spots. Then came the toppings; incredibly delicious and tender lamb, salty and creamy scarmoza cheese, paper thin spicy capicola--mounds of it, perfectly aged provolone cheese with just the right amount of bite, and the always delicious and flavorful san marzano tomatoes. These pizzas were phenomenal, but they were also extremely filling. We only got about halfway through each one and wrapped the rest up to take home with us. 

Since the two of us always feel the need to satisfy our sweet tooth a little bit, we indulged in their homemade gelato, apparently a secret family recipe of the chef. The two flavors that we ordered were mascarpone and Nutella. Both were really very tasty, but I was pretty partial to the Nutella. Both were super creamy, and both had really intense flavor working for them, but I have been obsessed with Nutella for quite some time, so I finished it off rather quickly. It worked out well because my girlfriend preferred the mascarpone. Neither was a bad choice by any means. 

Three and a half pints of beer for Pizzeria Stella. You definitely don’t have to be the most fancy  place in the world to rate well on my list. All you have to do is commit to what you are doing and execute it well, and Pizzeria Stella does just that. They nail it with the pizzas, they nail it with the beer, and the service and ambiance is pretty fantastic as well. Definitely give it a chance... you won't be disappointed! Cheers!