Well over a year ago, I became aware of La Grande Orange, an unlikely-named pizzeria in one of those neighborhoods where the people have too damn much money.
It happens to be within a short distance from my office and, you’d think, I would have managed to get down there at lunchtime to review them.
You’d think that.
Sadly, they don’t serve pizza until 4:00PM, long after I’ve gone home for the day.
It’s a curious place that combines a grocery, a coffee shop, a pizzeria, a gelato shop and apparently a bakery. (I was honestly unclear if the bakery is affiliated or not, but they seemed to have some crossover.) Although they aren’t open for serving pizza until 4, even at lunchtime, their small parking lot is always full. Not just full with ordinary cars, either. The combined value of the vehicles frequently tops a cool million dollars. It’s an upscale place with a capital “FRU†and another “FRU†for good measure. I wasn’t too surprised to learn today that they have valet parking in the back.
The review pizza was approximately 14“, the only size they have. As I was sharing it with my wife, we departed somewhat from a standard review pepperoni pizza. We choose the â€gladiator“, described as â€Schreiner’s sausage & pepperoni, premium cheese blend & house made red sauce.“
A brief aside about Schreiner’s Fine Sausage: Schreiner’s has been a small, family-owned business making handmade sausages in Phoenix since 1955. Coincidentally, they just happen to be next door to my previous place of employment, and I’ve purchased their sausages several times. Good stuff, all around.
As is custom, when I share a pizza, I don’t discuss with them until after I’ve formulated my opinion.
This pizza gave a whole new meaning to the word, â€subtle.“
My first piece was, I’d swear, flavorless, or near enough that I was immediately disappointed. La Grande Orange has had some strong reviews and several first hand recommendations to me, so I was expecting something immediately inspiring. The only thing I really tasted on the first piece was the sausage, which was a nice Italian sausage with a slightly unique flavor I couldn’t quite place.
I dissected the second piece. I tried a solitary piece of sausage, which was consistent the same as on the first piece. I tried the pepperoni, which comes in large slices. It was a good, solid pepperoni – not too bland, not too strong, but it was overshadowed by the sausage. The sauce tasted very fresh and had a strong tomato flavor. There was very little sugar used in the making of this sauce. The cheese, still very hot, had no flavor. Most disappointing was the crust. Thin and hand spun, it was the perfect thickness and texture, but without much flavor. It was also undercooked in the center.
I take a lot of the blame for the undercooked crust. To avoid what I anticipated to be an insane Friday-night rush, we arrived precisely at 4:00PM. We received the first pizza of the day and the pizzeria ovens are almost never up to temperature when they start cooking. I knew that going in and I’m not going to count that as a strike against them. Well, only a slight strike, they could turn the ovens on earlier.
Sounds like I didn’t enjoy the pizza, doesn’t it?
The funny thing is, the pizza got better the more I ate. The flavor of the sauce became more pronounced and the cheese took on more mozzarella flavor along with a slightly bitter taste that is the telltale sign of a cheese blend. The crust stayed the same though. By the end it wasn’t bad, but it still wasn’t a â€wow“ pizza.
I have two theories about why the pizza seemed to change flavor. The first is that, as the pizza, and particularly the cheese, cooled the flavors became more pronounced. I favor this theory because certain cheeses, particularly mozzarellas taste different when hot or cold. Usually mozzarella gains flavor when it is hot, but I’ve tasted other cheeses that were stronger when cold. It’s possible their cheese blend contained something that was stronger when cooled.
The second theory is that the pizza was just uneven; that the cheese blend wasn’t evenly distributed and, by coincidence, we started at the bland half.
Either way, this was a pizza that’s flavor came upon us in a subtle fashion. After we’d eaten, my wife remarked that the first slice she ate had little or no flavor but that the subsequent pieces were batter, confirming my impression.
All-in-all I’d have to give them a slightly higher than neutral rating, but I’d certainly like to go back later in the evening and try a pizza after the ovens have been cooking a few hours.
La Grande Orange
4410 N 40th Street
Phoenix, AZ 85018
Cost: 14†Pizza, (Sausage & Pepperoni*) $14. ($0.09 per square inch)
*For an apples to apple comparison, the price of a standard pepperoni pizza is also $14, so the cost per square inch remains the same.
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