I am back from the East Coast! Boy, it’s great to be home and to NOT have to break out the GPS to get anywhere. I’m going to kick off the week with a Massachusetts post from the very first place we visited after landing in Boston – a pizza joint in my dad’s hometown of Fitchburg, MA. Don’t worry, there will also be San Diego posts this week as well!
After a snafu at the car rental place in Boston (they only had MINIVANS for us to rent, ugh) we drove out to Fitchburg, winding through streets in Boston with no idea of where we were (thanks, GPS). Once we started to get out into the suburbs there were NO LIGHTS. What’s up with that, MA? I started to recognize things once we started to reach Fitchburg and we arrived at our destination in Downtown Fitchburg.
This is the side view from the parking lot. The front of the restaurant faces Main Street (and yes, their one street through downtown is really called Main Street!).
My aunt, cousin and dad all recommended that we check this place out. My dad used to go here when he lived in Fitchburg! I feel like I have a vague memory of visiting once when I was a kid.
Here’s the pizza menu. I remember asking what was on the Californian pizza and I think it had pineapple on it… all I remember is that it didn’t seem very “California” to me!
In addition to pizza they also have appetizers, pasta, and calzones as well as sub sandwiches.
There’s a pretty spacious dining area off to the right of the front entrance. Plenty of seating for guests!
[italian rice ball / $3.25]
My aunt Joyce told me that my aunt Patti really digs the rice balls here, so I decided to get one. I didn’t notice that it does indeed say “rice ball” and not the plural form so I was surprised to see this one baseball sized rice ball in a cup. Whoa, nelly! You have the option of getting their sauce on the rice ball or on the side. On the side is the recommended option – that way the rice ball’s exterior stays nice and crispy.
The sauce is the same as their pizza sauce. The pizza sauce is a bit different here. Yelpers and other articles I read state that the sauce is made with orange soda. One of my relatives told me that she saw a story about Espresso Pizza recently and the owner stated they do not use orange soda as most people suspect. The sauce is quite sweet though so I wonder what they do use for that sweetness! People (Yelpers) commented that you either really like the sauce or you really don’t.
Inside the crispy coating is a mound of delicious rice mixed with cheese and bits of veggies (Jake and I spied carrots and peas in there). I really liked how soft the rice was and it tasted pretty darn good with bits of that sweet sauce. I was really glad we got the sauce on the side since it would be overwhelming to have this sucker drowned in sauce.
[12″ medium pizza + two toppings / $7.50]
There was a slight mess up with our pizza. We wanted half bacon/meatball and half meatball/mushroom, but we got bacon all over the place instead.
It turned out to be a happy mistake though since I enjoyed the bacon more than the meatball. The meatball was a bit dried out.
The crust is on the soft side so it felt a tiny bit like eating saucy sliced breadsticks to me. The sauce here is really unique. It’s much sweeter than any other pizza sauce I’ve ever tried. Jake said he got the aftertaste of the orange soda after eating the pizza. I did like it a lot, but I don’t think it’s a pizza I could have all the time. Two slices was more than enough for me! I did like the soft crust (though usually I favor the crispy crust) and felt it was uniquely Fitchburg.
I was messaging with my aunt and she asked if she could put in an order for a large pizza. I said of course and we ordered this large half cheese / half pepperoni and onion pizza for her. She was with my cousin and they were all hanging out in the bridal suite (my cousin’s wedding day was the very next day!) so we didn’t mind delivering some pizza to them. Waiting for the second pizza allowed us to eat our hot food right away so it all worked out!
I also grabbed this bar for dessert (though I don’t think we ate it until a couple days later since it was forgotten in my bag). It looked like those 7 layer magic bars to me – but much thinner. There were nuts, coconut shreds, chocolate chips, and white chocolate chips sprinkled all over the top. The bottom was like a sugar cookie. I dug this a lot!
Espresso Pizza
584 Main Street
Fitchburg, MA 01420
(978) 345-1918
Hopefully my cousin Ashleigh, the newlywed, is reading this post to see photos of our hotel room. After we delivered the pizza (which was funny since the moment we were about to knock on the door, Joyce opened the door after spying us through the peephole) and chatting for a bit, Ashleigh said she wanted to see our room and Jake jokingly said, “no”. And I think also “Feels good to want, doesn’t it?” (He’s a meanie sometimes, hahah). These photos are for you, Ashleigh, since you didn’t actually get to see our room! Fancy king sized bed.
And “ooo” a mini fridge and microwave!
And “ahh”… the bathroom and um, the toilet. That’s the complete tour of our room at the Wachusett Village Inn, which according to my aunt Joyce, will be a “druggie rehab center” after January.
That rice ball is interesting and pretty large. I don’t know if I would dig orange soda flavored sauce. Whatever possessed them to include that as an ingredient, eh.
Looking forward to your MA posts!
Hi CC – yeah, I wasn’t expecting the rice ball to be quite that large! Crazy. One of my relatives just told me that the owner of Espresso Pizza said they don’t use orange soda in their sauce, so it must have just been speculation and rumors all this time. Jake said he thought he could taste an orange soda/soda flavor when he was eating the sauce.