antinomian.com

I was at Games of Berkeley today looking for a last minute Christmas gift for my nephew and as I was leaving I figured that I’d give this “Pie in the Sky” pizza place around the corner a try. I’ve seen it a couple of times before, but it’s also located around the corner from this other New York-style place (Arinell’s) that I’ve been going to for awhile, so that one usually gets my business. Anyway, as soon as I stepped into “Pie in the Sky” I knew that I had probably been making the wrong decision all this time. Arinell’s is great, but even during peak hours they restrict themselves to making *only* cheese pies, which they’ll top and re-heat to your specifications when you order. That’s all well and good, but I’ve been to New York, and I seem to recall some pretty elaborate combos on display (i.e. super-veggie with feta, etc. etc.) So “Pie in the Sky” (hereafter referred to as PITS) *has* these types of combos, and they look awesome! But I figured for now I’d better stick with cheese, so I can get an accurate reading on their sauce and crust and so on. Anyway, as I’m waiting for my slice, I start reading this newspaper review that they’ve tacked on the wall that talks about how their pizza is better than Arinell’s and all that, but it *also* mentions that there is another place I’ve never even heard of that is even better. So, after I finished with the PITS slice (which was, in my opinion, way better than Arinell’s) I decided to track this other place (Giola’s) down. Turns out Giola’s is in this weird out-of-the-way part of Berkeley called Northbrae, that’s sort of tucked away up near Albany. So I drove up there and ordered a cheese slice, again noting the wide variety of “special” pies on display. When the slice arrived, I started to fold it up for consumption, but the integrity of the crust was compromised (I think they left it in the oven a moment too long) so I had to do a kind of double fold to get it off the plate. Anyway, long story short, this slice was incredible, probably better than the PITS one, but I’m reserving my final judgement until I can go back during a more peak time and hopefully get a slightly sturdier piece. Also, I would like to try out some of the veggie combos at both places and see what all that is about. All things considered though, I’m feeling very good about the state of pizza in Berkeley. On a side note, there was a bakery next to Giola’s that looked pretty impressive but it was pretty overloaded with people picking up Christmas orders, so I decided not to sample the custard-filled donuts that were advertised outside. Next time…