Sanfilippo's Pizza - La Mesa

I know that we are rolling through the double and triple A teams of the pizza world right now as we eat our way to the "A" list or major league of pizza in San Diego. It seems we started out at the farm teams to get our palette ready and to also give the places out there that have been institutions in their various cities another look.

After all places like Etna's and Sanfilippo's have both been open for 31 years! Have to be doing something right.

If San Diego had a pizza of their own or style of it's own, it would have to be the style of pizza that is served at Filippi's and Sanfilippo's. Both are thick with crust and thick with cheese. Lot's of cheese. These are the heavy weights of pizza.

Yet only Filippi's and not Sanfilippo's has ever been ranked a number one on some peoples list's.
Very similar style and texture between the two places.
And both restaurants serve the basic red sauce Italian fair, nothing outstanding.

Sanfilippo's in La Mesa serves up big hearty portions of food, but with no flare at all ...even though I have been eating at this place for a very long time now. The food it serves would be my idea of what an elementary school cafeteria in Italy might serve.

The Antipasto is made with that limp veggie overdosed on red vinegar concoction that I really don't know anyone who likes it?

Piled high and huge portioned. $11.55 on the menu and says it will feed 4. This antipasto will feed at least 8. Chunks of huge pieces of Mozzarella. And all the various salad dressings that you can ask for. Strictly off the shelf Smart and Final stuff here.

OK, on to the pizza. We ran into a glitch over this review. It seems that Anna and her husband Donato Sanfilippo, the owners were off that night. And when they are not in the place. the pizza seems to suffer. As it was with this night. I asked for a "do over" from the staff here at Foodopolis we could come back and try it again. I was quickly shot down on that one and for good reason. The crew had a great thought on this. "What if we go into a restaurant that we don't know. and the owners aren't there? how would we know?" And of course every place has to perform as consistently as possible. So.....no "do over"

We ordered the basic contest pizza. Pepperoni and cheese. They serve a 16 1/2 inch pie. Price $14.25. Not a bad price. The slices as all of the portions of food here are humongous. This is one of those pizzas that you can only eat one slice of, no matter how hungry you are. I would estimate that a slice of this heavy weight would weigh in at around 1/2 a pound or so.

The crust although well cooked had a clean bread taste to it very similar to homemade bread that you forgot to add the right amount of salt too. It is a sturdy crust and has to be to hold up to the weight of the cheese on these babies. No New York Folding here. Just no taste to it tonight.

The sauce was very good, tangy and not sweet. the way I like it. it had bits of tomato skin in it and every other bite you bit into one. Not a bad thing. I thought it was very well done. it tasted almost like a raw sauce and not cooked until it was on the pizza. interesting. You also had a nice faint bite of red chili flakes throughout as well.
Topped with slightly greasy and tasty slices of pepperoni this pizza would now hold onto the number one spot on the the Foodopolis Top 10 List. But for how long?

If only we could get a combo of Etna's Pizza toppings and Sanfilippo's crust on a good day, then we can talk.

Chow

Michael

Sanfilippo's Pizza
8141 La Mesa Blvd
619-464-2088