Etna Pizza & Ristorante - San Diego

Let the Quest begin. So here we are on our first entry into our Best Pizza Quest. We start at Etna's On El Cajon Blvd established 31 years ago by a family from Sicily. Now owned by the Taste of Italy Restaurant Group http://www.tasteofitalyinc.com/pages/contact_taste.html. this company owns 6 restaurants in San Diego. Four Taste of Italy's, Vesuvio's and Etna's. Although owned by the same company each establishment has it's own individual recipes and flavors.

Etna's has a few plus's on it's side. They are open til 3am and will deliver virtually anywhere in San Diego. No kidding. Although this place is in a dodgy part of town and parking is definitely at a premium it is worth checking out. Everything looks food magazine cover worthy as we watched the plates come out of the kitchen and brought over to tables seated around us. But we are here to cover the Pizza Quest and not the entire establishment. As I said before though it is note worthy to make mention of the other food items as they looked phenomenal I must say. Note the Antipasto Salad.

Just incredible. it's not covered with that salty over vinegar driven cauliflower concoction of limp veggies.no way. this one was covered in one of the best light vinaigrette's I have ever had on a salad. WONDERFUL.

And Although the wine list is very limited and a bit pricey for the area it still has merit with at least some fairly high end imports. Mainly Chiantis and such. Henry the main training waiter for the company waits at Etna's and whether you like the food or not. you cannot dislike this guy. he should be the first human cloned and then the Henry clones should be sent out to work in every restaurant in the country. Great Job Henry!!

We had ordered a bottle of wine which the place was out of stock on. Henry immediately gave us a higher priced wine on the list for the same price.
Here is Henry with Taylor. Great guy.

OK the reason why I had to go on and on about the place is that to me it is a shame that we are only on a hunt for the best pizza. because this place has lot more going for it. We will return to review the rest of the menu at a later date. Shame because the pizza is odd to say the least. let's start with the crust and move up the ladder from their.

The crust is light and flaky but with an overwhelmingly taste of Bisquick Pancake batter! Sweet but biscuit dough like. Not good. Although cooked all the way through. Just really couldn't get into the sweet dough thing.

The sauce on the other hand was sublime and tasty. tangy and not sweet with a hint of red pepper flakes. wonderful stuff. maybe the best pizza sauce I have ever had. The toppings were of course as per the contest rules. only pepperoni and cheese. Tons of cheese and greasy pepperoni. Like I said before. it is too bad that we are only doing pizza at this time. because this place could be a little gem of an out of the way eatery. Except for it's pizza. I see it falling rapidly from the list and eventually falling off the top 10 completely.

Agree? Disagree? lets wait for Sue and Taylor's review.



Chow

Michael