What a classic joint. Like it's been frozen in time for 40 years.
I heard from a friend who is a big fan of LR and he said that his favorite pie from them is their plain pizza, with only sauce and grated cheese, with thin crust (they have thickness options there, from thin through double dough, and their "traditional" is not very thin).
I figured that was a high-risk proposition and that I would still be wanting to try something with more flavor as well, so I also ordered the sausage pie (thin crust).
I ate half of each, which was easily three slices too many. For some reason (hmmmm...maybe gluttony?) no matter how many times it happens, I simply don't wait long enough most of the time to let the pie cool down, so I end up singeing my mouth on the first couple slices and then I overeat because I really don't start to taste how great the pie is for a couple more slices, when it starts to cool down. And the guy even warned me that it was scorching hot. Of course, I waited; but I'm sure what I thought was five minutes was more like 30 seconds, because I was starving.
I am glad I got both pies. The plain was cool to experience and it tastes good enough, but that's not the way I like my apizza. I need more cheese than just grated, for starters. But it is a cool pie.
The sausage was very good. He said it gets it from Hartford, the same place they've been getting it for over 40 years. They crumble it, which I like.
The crust was thin and crisp, but a bit too try for my preferences. I like a slightly chewy crust, at least around the outside. They do theirs very thin and short around the outside, so you really don't even have much of a crust at all when you get to the end of a piece. Nice char though--could use a touch of olive oil imo.
Funny, there were only two other customers the whole time I was there, one of them who looked like he, too, was frozen in time for the last 40 years. He may have been wearing a Chess King jacket. He asked if they were the only coal or wood-fired pizza place left in Meriden (yes); and then he asked about--yep, you guessed it
@mauconnfan --Verdolini's. I think what I heard the LR guy say was that they got closed down several years ago (early 90s?) because they had no insurance so they lost their lease, or something like that. He said that LR is closest in style to Verdolini's.
Of course, I had to ask him about the Spooker then. He had never heard of it, but he said that the guy from whom he bought LR probably did, because he was around when Verdolini's was in its heyday. He said that the signature, old school Meriden-style pie from places like LR and Verdolini's is the plain, like my buddy told me to get.
Glad I checked it out. Would stop again.
