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The Food Issue: Teresa Caffe vs. D'Angelo Market

Margherita pizza has a long and illustrious Italian history. According to popular tradition, it was named after Queen Margherita of Savoy in 1889. The primary toppings, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and basil, correspond to the red, white and green of the Italian flag. For the Food Issue, Street tried the Margherita pizzas at Teresa Caffe and D’Angelo Italian Market.

Teresa Caffe

Teresa Caffe, located in Palmer Square, is an upscale sit-down restaurant. Complimentary bread is available upon request, which is served with olive oil for dipping. The atmosphere is refined, featuring black-and-white photographs on the walls and wines showcased in wooden boxes. While the restaurant was fairly busy on the evening that we visited, the service was still quick and responsive. The server’s attentiveness to refilling water and bread was particularly impressive.

The Margherita pizza from Teresa Caffe is a traditional thin crust served freshly made. The server garnishes it with crushed black pepper and grated Parmesan cheese upon request. The thin crust was crispy and provided good support for the toppings. The sauce did not overpower the crust at all. The toppings on the pizza were very homogeneous — the sauce and cheese seemed to blend together. Some may view this as a positive feature, as each bite includes both cheese and sauce. However, the quantity of both cheese and basil on this pizza felt lacking.

D’Angelo Italian Market

D’Angelo Market’s pizza selection is more reminiscent of the pizza station at Frist’s Food Gallery. The pizzas are ready-made and displayed for customers behind a glass pane. The servers then reheat slices of pizza according to the customer’s order. As a result, service at D’Angelo Market is faster than at Teresa Caffe. Unlike at Teresa Caffe, the toppings at D’Angelo Market remained discrete: the red, white and green of the Italian flag were all clearly present. The Margherita pizza at D’Angelo Market had more toppings, including a thicker layer of mozzarella cheese and more basil. However, the crust was not as crispy as the crust at Teresa Caffe, and the pizza was greasier.

Ultimately, even though Teresa Caffe and D’Angelo Market both serve pizza, they fall under different categories of restaurant. Teresa Caffe serves its pizza on ceramic dinnerware and includes complimentary bread and water, while D’Angelo Market caters more to the quick service aspect. However, they are comparable price-wise — D’Angelo Market offers pizza by the slice as well as whole pies, while Teresa Caffe only sells whole pies, but the price per unit area of pizza works out to be roughly the same. In terms of service, Teresa Caffe beats D’Angelo Market in attentiveness. The Margherita pizza at Teresa Caffe has a superior texture to the pizza at D’Angelo Market, but D’Angelo Market’s Margherita has a better taste.

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