TX, Houston, Luigi's Pizzeria

TX, Houston, Luigi’s Pizzeria, 3700 Almeda Road, 77004 (281)793-3333

Each week Houston Press sends me an email called Café Bites where they mention one or two new cafes that have opened in our fair city. This week they mentioned a new pizza place that they said is “churning out some of the best pizza the city has to offer” and ever hopeful that I can find a rival to Star Pizza I sent a text to my friend and we headed for Luigi’s Pizza.

The restaurant is a free standing building on the corner of Almeda Road and Windbern Street in the third ward. This is where Crawford Street coming from downtown takes a slight jog to the left and becomes Almeda Road. There is parking for three cars behind the restaurant, and street parking is plentiful and free on Windbern. There are only four four-person tables inside the restaurant each covered with a red and white plastic checkerboard tablecloth, but if it is a nice day there are three large wooden picnic tables on the fenced patio facing Almeda. The dining area was a little crowded since there was a pizza delivery motor bike parked against the patio doors.

We ate a medium pizza, which starts off as a New York Style cheese pizza with fresh tomato sauce, oregano, virgin olive oil, mozzarella and parmesan cheese then we added Italian sausage, mushrooms, Canadian bacon and artichokes and sat down to watch the Presidential debate and wait. It was a little disconcerting when two tiny plastic containers with lids containing parmesan cheese were delivered to the table with our water.

The menu on the blackboard listed the 14 toppings that could be added to the basic pizza together with four ‘special’ pizzas - Vege, Caprese, Mexican and White. Breadsticks and a salad are also offered. All drinks are non alcoholic. Fountain drinks are Coca-Cola products and they also offer 20 oz smoothies and frappes in eight flavors.

The pizza was excellent. The thin crust was hand formed and cooked to perfection and the sauce and toppings were flavorful. We drank tap water with our meal, then afterwards I tried a cappuccino made from freshly ground beans. The coffee was excellent. Total bill was $12.54 including tax, though I didn’t leave a tip since the restaurant was essentially self-service.