Caesar's Bistro (RIP)

Original Title: "Great Caesar's Ghost!"

Review from 2010:

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Originally uploaded by thejukeboxlean

So for this trip I invited along some old roommates and band mates. Unfortunately, due to typical circumstances only a few of the invited were actually in attendance. In tow were Commander and K.I.L.R.O.Y. of the Protomen, Armando Apache Putay of Makeup & Vanity Set fame and the ladies who love them. It was time to hit up an old favorite enjoyed by many on several occasions. Upon our arrival we all became a bit hesitant as we realized that none of us had actually been there for dinner before and the name had changed from Caesar's Ristorante to Caesar's Bistro. I think the whole dinner thing was freaking us out more though. We had been there for the lunch buffet countless times throughout our stint at the mighty Thundercon. Nevertheless, we walked on in and took our seat in the "plaza" area of the dining room. The dining room of Caesar's is designed to look like a tiny Italian village complete with a pathway marked in the floor tile and house numbers for the different sections of the room. Once settled, we ordered our drinks and food and they promptly brought out a plate stacked high with their bread sticks. Now, during the buffet hours, this bread is just pretty much ok, but during dinner, this bread is awesome. We were all pretty stunned with the difference in quality when they're not sitting out for 3 hours under a heat lamp. The bread was a lot softer and just basically better tasting. Commander ingested about 6 of these things before the pizza came out.

When the pizza came we were all pretty excited to try it out. I know I was curious if the quality difference between buffet and fresh order also applied to the pizza. Thankfully, it did. I've always loved Caesar's pizza, but getting a super fresh pie as opposed to one that may have been cooked 15 to 20 minutes ago, was a huge step up. The buffet food is good, but this really upped the ante. Caesar's pizza is known for being super heavy and both Commander and KILROY were out after one slice (though they did tear up those bread sticks beforehand). I somehow managed to eat 3 slices which is so far the most I've eaten in one sitting at Caesar's. When I hit up the buffet I'd get at most 2 slices. It's by far the heaviest pizza around town.

The pizza was a traditional American thin crust, which was soft, but not so thin and soft that it reqiured utensils. The sauce was very flavorful and full of tomato flavor. I don't really recall the pepperoni standing out too much, but that is probably due to the super spicy pepperoni I've had elsewhere in the past couple of stops. The pizza wasn't overly greasy either and it was ready to eat as it hit the table. No burned mouth roofs this time around. The food was also very cheap. Our bill which included the large pizza and 3 soft drinks came out to around $15 or $16, not like it really mattered... this stop was fully sponsored by Banana Buttons. And yes, there are now official Pizza Summer buttons! I've got a pretty much endless supply of these things, so if you want one, just ask me and I'll give you one.

As it stands now Caesar's is in the top 3 or 4 pizza joints in town.

Michaelangelo's (Elliston)

Original Title: "Spice Up Your Pizza Summer"

Review from 2010:

Yup, that's right, Mr. Spiced Justin was there to "Spice Up" the Pizza Summer. He even had his own testing method, which included mushrooms instead of pepperoni. Gotta respect a man and his methods. He summed his pizza up as "damn solid." My pizza was pretty damn solid as well.

Michaelangelo's is in the heart of "Pizza Alley" or as the other 619,768 Davidson County residents know it, Elliston Place. Their immediate competitors are New York Cafe and Obie's which will be visited as part of "Elliston Week" in the coming days. Jet's and Roma are also along the strip but of course will be avoided until after Labor Day. Michaelangelo's is a tiny little place located on 22nd Ave N directly behind the Corner Bar. It's an order at the counter and get your own fountain drink type place which I actually enjoy. Most of the staff there could seem to care less whether or not you're there. They were all very quiet and not really friendly, but who I'm assuming was the owner was really nice when he waited on a table behind us. On the Titans memorabilia wall, he was the one pictured w/ Steve McNair and he seemed to be the oldest dude in the place and also the nicest one, so that would leave me to believe he's the head dude. But anyways, the pizza! The "service" is at least quick. Our medium 12" pizza was silently delivered to our table in a very timely manner. Over all I do think the pizza was pretty "solid" as Mr. Spiced would put it. The crust was flavorful, soft, somewhat thick and not dry at all. The sauce, cheese and pepperoni all tasted a bit sweet. There wasn't a particular flavor that really stood out that I could describe. The pizza wasn't overly greasy either. The slices were average size, bigger than Venito's but smaller than the other places visited so far. I wouldn't really say this pizza stood out as amazing, but I did really like it and it's definitely on par with what I've visited so far. It may be tied with Venito's at the moment, though one person at the table ranked it lower. This was the first pizza of the summer to be completely finished before leaving the restaurant, though so keep that in mind. The total for a 12" pepperoni and 2 fountain drinks was just over $14.

Michaelangelo's is located at 205 22nd Avenue North, just behind the Corner Bar on Elliston. They're open 'til 3:00AM Monday through Saturday and 'til Midnight on Sundays. They had a buffet stand in the middle of the dining room so I guess they have a lunch buffet during the week but I didn't see any info on that while I was there.

This week is ELLISTON WEEK on Nashville by the Slice. We kicked it off last night at Michaelangelo's and will be hitting up Obie's and New York Cafe this week. Exact dates and times will be posted shortly.

(Spiced Up) Pizza Summer!

Chicago Italian Beef

Original Title: "They All Changed Their Names to Chicago"

Review From 2010:

Originally uploaded by thejukeboxlean

Acting on a tip I got from a buddy at work I added Chicago Italian Beef to my list of places to hit this summer. I had never even heard of this place before he told me about it, but as I started asking around, it seemed as though anybody who has ever eaten there loved it so I've been excited about this one for a while. As with DaVinci's and Manny's I was still skeptical of it's Nashville quality to actual quality ratio. Add to the fact it's Chicago style in Nashville in a weird part of town and my skepticism was growing bigger by the day. As soon as I had the chance I had to go and see what's happening down there for myself.


We knew what we were getting into with Chicago Style pizza and how long it takes to cook so we made sure to phone ahead. We placed our order for a large pepperoni deep dish and were told 45 minutes to an hour so we slowly made our way towards that part of town. Chicago is located in the same building as that gigantic pet store on Nolensville Rd called the Aquatic Critter so it was pretty easy to find. We arrived right at 45 minutes and when we got inside the girl behind the counter said it would be right out. Just a couple minutes later our pie landed on our table. Pretty good timing. The pizza looked and smelled amazing. I was still skeptical, however, as I have been fooled in the past.


Just looking at it, I knew the crust wasn't as thick as Obie's and actually reminded a bit of what Pizza Done Right was trying to accomplish out there in Joelton. The cheese was barely visible in the pool of sauce and seasoning. I've never seen a pizza that looked anything like this, but I've also never had real traditional Chicago style pizza. I've only had Obie's and a couple of chain versions. Surprisingly, the pieces separated quite easily when it was time to serve it up. We made sure to wait a minute or before digging in to avoid the same mouth scalding that Obie's gave us. When it was finally time to take a bite I did so with great caution and skepticism. I was very quickly turned around. This was the first really good discovery since Sal's which was 15 pizzas ago. It's been a long time coming.


The crust was thinner than you would expect with a Chicago style. Most of us think of them as being super think throughout, but that's not the case here. The crust was still thicker than a lot of pizza, though. The center crust was somewhat crispy but still flexible while the edges were super crispy and hard. No part of the crust appeared burned in any way, however, and full of flavor. It didn't really taste like any crust I've had in the past either, no garlic butter or anything, just really, really good. The cheese was somewhat scarce and didn't really stand out too much. The pepperoni seemed like it was almost mixed in with the sauce. It was pretty spicy and definitely plentiful and tasty. The whole pizza was also blanketed with Italian seasoning which may have been overpowering the cheese. My favorite part of this pizza was the sauce. The sauce was amazing. Probably the best I've had all summer. It was as if they smashed fresh tomatoes to make the sauce just for my pizza. It was really thick, yet not chunky. I'm not exactly sure what they're doing behind the counter there, but I hope they keep it up. The pizza as whole was definitely one of the best in the city, though it felt more like we were eating a baked dish than a pizza, but that's Chicago style for ya. Chicago is definitely among the Top Ten of the summer so far.


Chicago Italian Beef is located at 5017 Nolensville Pike. They're open daily 10AM-11PM. My large pepperoni deep dish pizza, a Coke and a tip came out to just $20. Make sure to allow 45 minutes or more for a deep dish pizza, it will be well worth it. I actually can't wait for the Pizza Summer to draw to a close so I can get back down there and get another pizza. Speaking of the Pizza Summer's end, there are only 3 entries left and 2 stops. We're currently working on the final pizza party event. Details will be posted by tomorrow evening.

Gyros Pizza

Original Title: "We Don't Need Another Gyro"

Review from 2010:

On a very hectic Monday evening it was time for another take-out pizza. This time I made the drive out to Hermitage to give Gyros Pizza a try. I noticed Gyros when I was on my way to Picasso Pizza after my day in Lebanon. I went into this with no expectations of greatness. I already had in my mind that this would just be a quick necessary stop that I needed to mark off my list.

I rolled into the tiny little storefront and ordered a medium pizza to go. When I got in there I noticed that they did actually have a dining room, but I had already made up my mind for carry out. Plus, I had a busy night ahead of me so dining in wasn't really an option. I put in my order and began to wait. I was expecting to be there for at least the next 15 minutes, but I was in there for exactly 11 minutes. I ordered at 6:43 and was at the door at 6:54. I only noticed this because I had so much to do and time was essential. Usually my wait times are just total estimates.

On the drive home I ran into some pretty sweet Monday Night Football traffic so I had to rack my brain and find an alternate route that would at least get me home a little bit quicker. I rerouted myself through some industrial areas of town that I frequented during past employment and headed towards home. On the drive I ran into some heavy game traffic anyway as I still had to go by the stadium, so I began to get pretty hungry. I went ahead and started in on the pizza even though I hadn’t had a chance to photograph it yet. By the looks of it, I knew the pizza wasn’t going to be very good, but I had no idea how bad it would really be.

This pizza showed its true colors with the first bite. The crust was really thin and flimsy which made for a pretty messy slice that was extra hard to eat in the car. It was also pretty flavorless. The sauce on the pizza was almost stomach turning. It seemed to be a bit acidic I guess from the tomatoes used. Thankfully it was used pretty conservatively. The cheese on the pizza didn’t even seem to be thoroughly cooked, which wasn’t a total surprise given the super short wait time. That was definitely a stomach turner. I don’t do so well with undercooked food, especially when it comes to pizza. The pepperoni on the pizza was extremely cheap tasting. It was like something from a budget grocery store such as Aldi or Sav-A-Lot. All of this combined was making the drive home especially frustrating and stressful. Too many cars, too few detours, and too terrible of a pizza. Maybe this place is better at the first word in their name, but I think they need to go ahead and give up on that second word.
 
Also on the negative side of things for this place was the price. My tiny little medium pepperoni pizza ran me $11.35, which is way higher than any other place in town that I’ve noticed. I think that even beats out Sir Pizza, which is notorious for high priced “food.” Gyros Pizza is located at 5751 Old Hickory Boulevard, where it crosses Central Pike in Hermitage. They’re open 11-10 daily. Have fun and good luck!