Dining This Week
Mario’s Pizzeria
By SHERLEY BUCKLAND
Mario’s
Pizzeria in
I was
really looking forward to my visit at Mario’s for two reasons: one, it had
been a while since I had dined at there, and I will admit, my last experience
was not the most favorable; and two, this was the first time a restaurant
owner exuberantly insistent that the photographer and I bring our families.
Upon
my arrival, I was introduced to Mark and his apprentice cook, Kevin Chunn.
After a brief tour of the tastefully renovated establishment, Mark and
Kevin retreated to the kitchen and began preparing what seemed like every item
on the menu.
We
began with a beautiful antipasto salad—a nice bed of greens topped with
provolone, ham and salami rolls, sliced red onion, pepperoncinis, tomatoes,
black olives and cucumbers, garnished with pepperoni.
This salad is usually served with the house Italian vinaigrette
dressing, which you must try. In
Italian culture, the antipasto is a dish served in anticipation of, or before,
the pasta meal.
The
garlic bread with cheese is supposed to be an appetizer, but could be a meal
itself. Fresh Italian bread is
brushed with garlic butter, topped with fresh mozzarella cheese, baked to melt
the cheese, and served with homemade marinara sauce.
The
chicken parmesan tied with the cannolis for third place on my list of favorite
items at Mario’s. The chicken breast is cut in house and hand pounded for
tenderness. Next it is breaded, baked and topped with fresh marinara and
mozzarella then served over a bed of pasta.
Mmm, mmm, mmm.
If you
prefer a chicken entrée without a red sauce, then I would recommend the
chicken francese. Chicken francese
is a tender chicken breast filet dipped in an egg batter, lightly sautéed in
olive oil and served over pasta. The
meal is delicate yet filling.
Also
on the menu is ravioli filled with fresh ricotta cheese the diameter of a
baseball, oven baked in the sauce of your choice and topped with melted
mozzarella. My son, the pickiest eater in the family, ate several of these
mouth-watering creations.
Speaking
of sauces, Mario’s offers many. The
pizza sauce is a red sauce made specifically for the pizzas, while marinara is
the red sauce used for pasta dishes.
The
gray sauce (which is actually brownish red in color) is the “old world
style” sauce that meatballs and sausage are cooked in. Mario’s meat sauce
is marinara with meat cooked in. There
are also alfredo sauces, double clam sauces and a sauce for scampi.
The
shrimp scampi took second place on my list with its tender shrimp sautéed in
olive oil and tossed with pasta, garlic and onion spice with a touch of lemon
and white wine. Amazing how the
simplest ingredients and preparation make the biggest impressions.
On my next visit, I will be ordering the scampi and the clams in white
sauce—which I gave top honors.
The
clams in white sauce have a robust flavor and a broth that you will want to
drink from a mug. Being careful
not to give all the details away, Mark did share a few key ingredients;
garlic, white wine, aioli and double clams. Cherry stone clams are finely
chopped and cooked into the broth that is served over littleneck clams.
All the clams are fresh from Russell’s Creek Shellfish.
There
is also a dish of clams in a red sauce that is full of chopped garlic and
stuffed clams, which are chopped and separated from their juices.
The juices are then used in preparing a homemade stuffing mix that the
chopped clams are added back into. The
entire mixture is “stuffed” back into the clamshells and baked.
Delicious. 
Three
types of lasagna available at Mario’s: regular lasagna, which is basically
layers of pasta and cheeses; meat lasagna, prepared with the meat sauce; and
spinach lasagna, with chopped spinach folded into the ricotta cheese mixture.
Keep
in mind that every dish at Mario’s is cooked to order and substitutions or
special requests are accommodated to the best of the chef’s abilities.
There
is every type of pizza topping available and some pretty tasty suggestions
like the vegetarian pizza; a pizza topped with eggplant, spinach, mushrooms
and artichoke or the surfer pizza; or a pizza topped with pineapple, Canadian
bacon, feta cheese and hot peppers. All
are quite tasty, and definitely a break from the norm.
Huge
calzones and stromboli are also available.
The pizza crusts are hand thrown and every pizza, calzone and stromboli
are baked in Mario’s brick pizza oven.
Dessert
choices at Mario’s include
Mario’s
is able to accommodate any size party. Birthdays,
sports team events and family gatherings are encouraged.
Mark
strives to make Mario’s a great family restaurant where everyone is happy,
comfortable, and well fed. With
prices that are hard to beat for the quality and amount of food you receive,
pick Mario’s for your next dinner out.
Enjoy!
Quick Bites
Location:
Phone: (252) 728-6602.
Hours: Lunch and dinner served Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Reservations: Appreciated for parties of 10 or more.
Payment Options: Cash, MasterCard, Visa, Discover.
12/01/06
See the previously reviewed restaurants on the Restaurant Archive page
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