In spite of a lack of food funds, I’ve finally been able to knock out a post. Having finally obtained gainful employment, my schedule has been quite busy with constant adjusting and last-minute changes. Luckily, I do manage to find one port of calm in the storm during my half-hour of lunch everyday. The issue of redundancy arises, however, when the only nearby options are a corner store, a hospital cafeteria, and the remains of higher-end restaurants long gone. So, in an attempt to venture past those to the closest burnt chicken joint, my lunchtime rush found me Pomodoro’s Pizza in Coral Gables.
In a part of the township chockfull of competing restaurants, Pomodoro’s has managed to stay open in its current location for five years on what I have to imagine is a great pizza pie. It can’t be the foot traffic. Hidden away off Coral Gables’ main streets, the storefront offers a bar-and-stool arrangement for maybe eight people; it’s almost pristine whenever I pass by. Right in the window, a whiteboard denotes the specials while a huge poster-board inside lists a small hill of offerings including sandwiches, finger foods, and pizzas by the pie and slice.
Reminiscent of New York’s utility pizza, a slice of cheese will cost the customer $2.50 and feed two small children easily. Anything more on a slice will cost an extra 50¢ per topping. Whole pies are available of course, ranging from a $9 for a small cheese to $18 for one of their specialty pies. Cans of soda run for about a dollar, and other items like stromboli, calzone, sandwiches, and wraps run the gambit between $5 and $8.
Being in a rush, I ordered two slices to go, and being of the mind that pizza should and must be topped with wonderful things, I ordered them meat lover’s style – with pepperoni, ground beef, sausage, and bacon. After watching my slices be loaded and put in the oven for a time, I realized while I was rushing back to the office that I’m the poor type of sap who likes to over-think things, seeing this as a challenge to Pomodoro’s name if the flavor of the pizza could withstand Miami’s current climate of whatever Mr. Frosty up there is feeling like.
Thankfully, its flavor did hold up, and made for an interesting taste. From what I’ve tasted of New York utility pizza, the sauce here was minimal and almost all but absent from the bite. It did lend a slight hint of tomato and a bit of sweetness to the slice that’s usually absent in pizza. The cheese was done right, and the toppings’ flavor really got the chance to come through, thanks in part to that lack of sauce. Pizza being the touchy subject that it can be, it could be argued that Pomodoro’s treats the pie as a vehicle for toppings, not the thing itself.
A pleasant plus was that the pizza wasn’t as greasy as other places I’ve tried. Granted that may have been because the pizza has found time to sit after being freshly baked, and slices are topped upon order. Freshness nuts, simmer down. Whole pizza pies made to fill an order for one slice is inefficient, and offering slices only from freshly-made pies is delicious; but just bad business sense. Either way, there isn’t much to say that’s wrong with Pomodoro’s Pizza. Well, I have my thing with the sauce, but that’s personal. All in all, it makes for a great lunch.
Pomodoro’s Pizza is located at 2413 Galiano Street in Coral Gables, FL, near the corner of Galiano Street and Miracle Mile. Open Monday to Saturday from 11:00 am to 9:00 pm, and closed Sunday.
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