Big Star Pizza
 Akron, Ohio        Date of Visit  08/16/15         No Known Website

I was recently at a store in town when someone came in with lunch from the little pizza shop up the street. They were excited. I like that it’s a mom and pop kinda place. On the list and off we go. The place is being run by a young and very Italian man.
 

Fried Veggies Weren't Bad
 

He is made for the hospitality industry. Quick and friendly, he went out of his way for us. He even moved a table and chairs out onto the sidewalk, noting how hot it was in the shop.

We ordered fried veggies, two little pizzas (I was curious how different the New York and Chicago styles were), and a cheese steak deluxe. I was hoping we had found a go to place, but for me it is just another pizza place. The veggies were pretty good for a pizza joint, steaming hot, a little crisp, ranch dressing and a fair dose of salt after leaving the oil. Not bad at all.

I didn’t know what the difference was between the cheese steak and the cheese steak deluxe. Turns out it’s pepperoni and banana peppers plus maybe the lettuce, tomato and cheese, still don’t know what comes on the regular. None of the above were going to assist the very dry beef. Have had worse but far from special.
 

The difference between the two pizza’s (at least as far as I could determine) is the hand tossed crust is rolled thinner for one and left thicker for the other. The Chicago is not a buttery dough baked into a bowl and stuffed with cheese, then toppings then sauce but a thicker and smaller in circumference NY. I was hoping for a little crunch in the NY crust but it was just lightly browned on the bottom.

Both had a subtle sauce, functional toppings and a light dusting of an herb blend but nothing really made any of it stand out. When it comes down to it, outside of the efforts of our host, nothing about Big Star really stood out. Too bad, so much for high apple pie in the sky…..

We finished with a perfectly mediocre baklava.  It was stickier and less sweet than our favorites.  It also tasted more of walnut than pistachio compared to our favorites and it was clear that Big Star was perfectly okay, but would never be a favorite. 
 

Flaky But Doesn't Deliver In Flavor

The Chicago With Shrooms & Meatballs