Pizza Capital of the World

     

     Old Forge, PA has been called the pizza capital of the world.  It's a small borough just outside Scranton nestled in the saddle between two mountains with a scenic view of Montage Ski Resort.  It is a town of about ten thousand composed mostly of older clapboard houses built close to the curb where the snow begins to accumulate soon after Thanksgiving and stays til almost Easter.  In my research I learned that they have a decidedly different take on pizza so I decided to go and sample some for myself.

     As I cruised down the Main Street I saw about a half dozen Italian restaurants.  They all had signs out front advertising that pizza was indeed on the menu and that they were, indeed, the "Pizza Capital of the World."

     But upon closer inspection, I noticed that several of them were closed, maybe for the winter and perhaps permanently.

     Others indicated that their pizzas were "New York Style" or "Sicilian" and not the iconic Old Forge variety.  There was even a Domino's franchise in a small strip mall, not far from the lone "Chinese Star" restaurant in town.  

 

So after about an hour of surveillance I decided to have lunch at Arcaro & Genell and see what the Old Forge pizza was all about.  The menu indicated several kinds: Red, Thin style, White, single and double crust, and Peasant style.  And I quickly learned that they are not called pies, but trays since they are not round but rectangular, baked on a sheet pan.  And a single serving isn't a slice, it's a cut.  I ordered up a cut of sausage pizza and inquired why it is so special, different from all other pizzas in the world.  The waitress informed me that everything is freshly made.  In the kitchen the staff prepares the dough, the sauce and the blend of cheeses fresh every day.  And the cheese blend is a close kept secret.  "If I told you, I'd have to kill you," was the answer to how it is made.

 



     Soon my order was delivered to the table and I sampled my first Old Forge Pizza.  The sauce was sweet and the cheese sparse.  The crust was neither thick nor thin and had a toothy character to it, browned on the underside due to the olive oil coating applied before being placed on the pan.  It was just OK.  But I'm not sure it was worth the 90 mile trip.  I had hoped to sample other cuts before leaving, but I seemed to find the only game in town as other places were either closed or empty.

     I did, however, find an open diner on Main Street with an Italian sounding name, Mischello's.  So before leaving Old Forge I had the daily special, Polish stuffed cabbage!