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Mario’s Pizza owners are, from left, Sal Burgarello; his father, Mario; mother, Anna; brother Eddy and brother Joe. They’re shown with a giant green chile pepperoni pizza. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Journal)
My first experience with Mario’s Pizza was a slice of pie with dimensions approaching the business end of a shovel. It was served at work at some event where being fed was of prime importance. While that employer has receded into the past, those enormous pizza boxes left an impression. Growing up in Albuquerque means that when you need a lot of pizza, you call Mario’s. After 40 years of honing pizza recipes and the rest of their Italian-heavy menu, it’s worth seeing if they hold up to casual dining scrutiny.
The San Pedro location is what we all think of when contemplating Mario’s – it is well-worn and well-known despite being tucked into a strip mall to the west of the sprawling Coronado Shopping Center complex. Sitting in the dining room provokes a bit of a time warp experience – is this 2012 or 1982? The staff are friendly, the carpet and tables gently used from years of regular customers.
One menu item will yank you back into the correct year: gluten-free pizza dough. Available as a $2 upgrade only for small pizzas, this is a curiosity I must try. Going gluten-free is often done under duress and a medical diagnosis, leaving behind nostalgia for breads of meals past. While it sounds tempting to re-create the taste of forbidden foods, I wouldn’t do it with this pizza. The thin crackerlike crust holds the toppings just fine; after that, similarities to real pizza dough end with this saltinelike flatbread.
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Mario’s Pizza & Ristorante LOCATION: 2401 San Pedro NE, west of Uptown Boulevard, 883-4414, www.mariospizzaabq.com. Other locations at 11500 Menaul NE, 5700 Fourth NW and 7501 Paseo del Norte HOURS: 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays, until 10 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays BEER AND WINE |
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You’ll find great and flavorful crust with the classic pizzas in sizes from 12 inches to the “giant party pizza”: a 26-inch diameter of gooey cheese and all the toppings you desire. It will get pricey – gourmet small pizzas are $13.79 and a giant is $32, but more than quadruple the size if you count pizza acreage. Combinations range from classic supreme to my recent discovery of pesto with both pine nuts and tomato to go with the pesto sauce.
Those on moderate eating routines should find much to love in the salad menu – an antipasto ($8.59) was perfectly filling and full of flavor, from the cured meats to the pickled peppers. There’s no end to the menu variations – soups, calzones, hot and cold sub sandwiches all make appearances for happy family dining.
Italian entrées garner their own full menu page, from lasagna to Chicken Piccata; we chose Southwest Chicken Alfredo ($10.99 dinner). The white sauce tasted more of milk than cream or cheese, and the green chiles had barely detectable heat. We turned back to the pizza and salad, contemplating dessert.
Our server said the tiramisu ($4.99) was prepared in-house, and we were rewarded with tender cake and ample sweetened mascarpone. Choose tiramisu and have a sweet ending.
