Bella Italia in Annapolis – Serving Up Sicilian Pizza
Lunch counter Italian restaurants are a dime a dozen on the east coast. They are literally everywhere, but that doesn’t mean they all serve up great food. Many Italian restaurants that are lunch counter spots tend to fall into the boring sub and pizza shop. Italian cold cut with bad ingredients and boring bread.
Bella Italia in Annapolis, right off of Rowe Blvd. near Navy Stadium tries to buck that stereotype. They have a diverse menu with an array of options, but honestly I didn’t try any of it. Why? Because this bad boy above had me as soon as I walked through the door. It was their Sicilian pizza and I was drawn in immediately.
Being a sheltered kid whose cultural culinary exploits as a kid was really limited to Middle Eastern food, I’ve always assumed pizza kind falls into the various categories we’ve come to find it here. I know pizza in Italy can vary greatly from what we get here, but I wasn’t expecting this. Now, I’m no expert on authentic Italian pizza, so I can’t verify if this is actually a Sicilian style pizza, but our friends on the internet seem to confirm that it’s something similar to this.
I don’t really care, this thing was unreal. It’s a thick layer of crust that resembles a focaccia then it’s filled with an array of cheeses and hard meats. It’s then topped with another crust on top that is thin yet crispy. This was literally perfection on a plate, it’s not for those of you on a diet, but if you can afford the calories do yourself a favor and try this.
The cheesy is a creamy combination of Italian cheeses, it combines with the crispy crust to make an almost giant size Italian toasted cheese sandwich. You need a knife and a fork to eat this thing, don’t even attempt to use your hands. But when you break into it with your fork, you see the cheese ooze out and you’re left with a perfect cheesy bite with just enough pepperoni dispersed throughout. The sauce on the side is a simple marinara sauce, it’s nothing special but it does the job.
The rest of the food here looked good, they have fresh salads and seem to use quality ingredients in the other dishes they make there.
This is one of the tastiest things I’ve ever eaten. If you find yourself in this area, take a quick trip to Bella Italia, you won’t regret it.
