There aren’t many cuisines that you can get a whole walking tour out of, but pizza is definitely one of them. As with most cities in America, pizza is a huge part of the food scene, and Philadelphia is no exception. There are countless establishments offering their own unique style of pie, from authentic Neapolitan to innovative gourmet flavors, and during this two hour Passyunk tour we would be trying four of them!
Staff Review
| LaScala's Birra
Arriving at LaScala's Birra, I met our tour guide Robert, and four others who were visiting from out of town. On other food tours I’ve attended the meeting point doesn’t actually feature as a stop on the tour, but this wasn’t the case for Birra, as after our introductions and general chitchat we were presented with their speciality Pear, Speck and Gruyere White Pie, with a pile of arugula (that’s rocket to any British readers) in the center. I’d never had fruit on a pizza before, but the sweet pear and honey paired with the salty speck was seriously good.
As we ate, Robert talked about Passyunk as a neighborhood and how it’s been changing over the last twenty years or so. Supposedly the restaurant Bing Bing Dim Sum across the street had a lot to do with the influx of millennials and hipsters, and since then there had been coffee shops and trendy restaurants popping up on every corner. Our next stop on the tour was one of the oldest establishments in Passyunk though; Marra’s.
| Marra's
For over ninety years Marra’s has been a Philadelphia institution, and is still family run into its 5th generation. Here we tried their signature Margherita, made with fresh mozzarella and fresh basil - sometimes the most simple pizza is the best! As a special treat we were invited into the kitchen to take a peak at the oven that was built by the founder of Marra’s, Salvatore Marra, using bricks from Mount Vesuvius. Pizza doesn’t get more authentic than this (unless you’re in Naples maybe).
| Francoluigi’s Pizzeria
Up next was Francoluigi’s Pizzeria, which was a short walk from the main avenue running through Passyunk. On the way Robert pointed out the typical ‘South Philly’ architecture and ‘The Miracle on South 13th Street’, an impressive holiday light display that apparently stays up year round. Francoluigi’s was a quaint two-storey restaurant with a tempting display case of round and rectangular pizzas. On the menu for us was the classic ‘tomato pie’, which comes from the small town of Old Forge who developed their own twist on red pizza. Frank "Franco" Borda uses a flour that makes the dough very cakey, so the base is thick and almost tastes uncooked - but in a good way!
| Singing Fountain and Brigantessa
Back on the Avenue we stopped at the ‘Singing Fountain’, a small but pretty fountain marking the epicenter of East Passyunk. Why is it called the Singing Fountain you ask? Because there are speakers playing Italian music of course!
Last but not least on the tour was Brigantessa, a relatively new restaurant with an authentic wood-oven. For us they cooked up their best-selling pizza, the Stella (stella is ‘star’ in Italian), so named because slits are cut into the side and rolled around ricotta, making this a stuffed-crust pizza. Also adorning the top was pork sausage, tomato, and mozzarella di bufala - a masterpiece!
| Thanks for reading!
We all agreed that the first pizza at Birra was our favorite, but the vote for second favorite was mixed among us. I’ve always loved deep-pan pizza so Francoluigi’s was a winner for me, but others seemed to prefer the Stella! Either way, we’d enjoyed four incredibly delicious pizzas within a 3-block radius and learnt a lot about the Passyunk neighborhood, so I’d highly recommend this food tour if you’re not familiar with the area. Big thanks to Robert for being an enthusiastic and entertaining guide, and I’ll be back on Monday to do the Flavors of Philadelphia tour!
