Ravenite Pizzeria

Sources of good local pizza have significantly increased in the past few years. There are several styles of crust, creative combinations and personalities of each place. I have been searching for my memory of an old-fashioned, gritty-but-not-dirty pizza place.

Anyone over the age of about 35 ought to remember Tony’s Pizza in Springhill. First located where a fancy retirement center now sits on the hill, Tony’s was a no-frills take-out pizza joint. Tony’s served regular pizza—no fancy toppings, no 30-minute specials or bad attitudes. Just pizza.

I remember vividly hopping in the back of my father’s car at dusk on weekends to pick up a pepperoni. Dining out or even take-out was a treat then, not a necessity like today. We expect to eat out all the time, and to meet this demand many restaurants today have become homogenous, all offering the same choices.

I digress. Maybe it is one of those childhood suspensions of reality, but my love and respect for good pepperoni pizza was formed at Tony’s. As Tony got busier he moved to where Spoke and Trail is today and expanded himself out of business. For the rest of my life I searched for pizza parlor pizza. I think I have found it in Fairhope of all places.

The Ravenite Pizzeria is located on Section Street, immediately next to The Colony Grill on the left as you enter downtown Fairhope. Slender and dark, it screams regular Joe pizza. A wooden bar sprinkled with video trivia boxes span one side of the room. Regulars - mostly over-the-bay hippie types - hold up the bar. Televisions perched high in corners flash baseball, stockcar racing or anything else found on ESPN, FOX Sports South or CCS. On the opposite wall from the bar is a large painted New York City skyline, pre-9/11, the towers memorialized. There are about six or eight booths and about as many tables for four or six. Pizza stands sit high in the middle of the tables, waiting to serve.

My family and I ventured across the pond early one recent Saturday evening to the Ravenite. Young families, high school kids and middle-aged couples filled the room. The setting, the crowd, along with the strong smell of baking dough and tomato sauce piercing the air immediately had me thinking that this was a good choice.

A fairly steady stream of take-outs entered to retrieve several boxes a time. In addition to the video games and television, two pool tables and dart machines caught the attention of my son. He can be obsessive about playing pool. But the tables and dart games were in heavy use from a family of boys playing with their father to some middle-aged sweethearts.

A simple menu of hoagies, calzones, stromboli and pizza frame the menu. Most ,if not all, of the hoagies seemed to come baked, with an Italian combination catching my eye. The choices of sandwiches are numerous—a Philly cheesesteak, veal Parmesan, meatball and even a muffaletta. I made a note to come back again to try them out. The pizzas passing by smelled too good and looked terrific. The calzones and pizza choices were all of the basic variety with a few creative pizza concoctions.

For me the test of a good Italian or pizza place is how well they can prepare the basics. While I did not spend anytime looking at the gourmet selections, later perusal piqued my interest. Among them are a Southwestern, with a base of white queso sauce with mesquite chicken, tomatoes, black beans, red onion, grilled red pepper, chipotle peppers with mozzarella and cheddar cheese.

They have a pesto that includes shrimp, a deluxe vegetarian with the usual artichoke, sun-dried tomato, etc, and a cheeseburger pizza, made with ground beef, bacon, cheddar, mozzarella, onion and tomato. But two “Greek” pizzas seemed the most unusual and tantalizing. The “deluxe” Greek contains Italian sausage, feta, onion, mozzarella and provolone cheese. The “upside down” Greek has sausage on the bottom, cheese in the middle and sauce on top.

For my first visit I stuck to my convictions and ordered some basics. There are several salad choices, from antipasto, a chef, Greek or a plain old side salad. Each of us ordered a side salad, but none of us would know what they look or taste like because we never got one. You see, the wait staff, at least on the night we went, was very laid back.

While our waitress was nice enough, she was not in tune to her surroundings or what she was supposed to be doing, forgetting items or bringing the wrong things. For instance, I ordered an unsweet tea only to receive sweet, ask her to get me another, then got another sweet only to have her perturbed when I had to hail her down AGAIN. I was in a good mood, so I forgave the actions and just rolled with it. My surroundings were engaging and relaxing, and we were in no hurry.

My wife ordered a chicken, spinach and mozzarella calzone and the three of us selected two pizzas, one cheese and another pepperoni, sausage and mushroom. Our first chance to play pool came right at the time our food arrived. I promised my son we would have an opportunity after we finished eating. An enormous plate of dough covered in tomato sauce was presented to my wife, oozing cheese. It was good, but there was a little too much dough and she thought the chicken was a bit sub-par.

Our pizzas were awesome. The crust was right in the middle. It was not too thick, no undercooked dough, and not too thin. A crunchy outer shell revealed a warm, soft interior upon first bite. Generous amounts of real, fresh sausage, pepperoni and mushrooms were balanced atop good quality mozzarella cheese. The cheese pizza was tasty for its plainness. Their tomato sauce has a bit of a kick and not too rich. It also was not piled on and spread out to the edge like so many other pizza places trying to maximize profits. Our pies were large, but we only brought a few pieces home.

I almost forgot. They seem to have good wings as well. I saw several pass by on their way to tables full of college kids drinking beer and playing pool—they come in either buffalo style or honey garlic bbq. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, my kid beat the crap out of me in pool.

Ravenite is located at 102 Section Street North in Fairhope and opens daily at 4 p.m. for take-out and dine-in. 929-2525.

Kinnon Phillips is Lagniappe cuisine editor. Contact him at kphillips@lagniappemobile.com.

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