Not too long ago we got a recommendation that sent us out into the
country to find a really tasty burger in
Lodi. We got another “must have” recommendation for a place in
Valley City. Didn’t know there was a Valley City in Ohio, now I know
it’s the frog-jumping capitol of the state. I had looked up the menu
at Somosky’s HomeStyle Pizzeria and was surprised by some of the
options under their specialty pies. We were sold. I didn’t pick up
on all of their exploits until later. |
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It was pretty easy to find and we quickly found ourselves seated in a relatively plain but clean dining room with plenty of black clad and young servers, a salad bar and bakery/ice cream counter. Our server was very nice and continuously reassured us our order was not nearly as ridiculous as we thought. The whole team seems to cover each other and multiple plates made it to our table in the hand of multiple employees.
As far as their exploits, it wasn’t til we got there I began to
understand things have changed since the bakery opened in 1910.
Jason, the fourth generation in the family to helm the restaurant
has won first place two years running at the American Pizza
Championship and has competed at the World Pizza Championship in
Salsomaggiore, Italy. I suddenly understood why some of their pizzas
had medals next to them on the menu. Not only did they sound unique
but apparently the powers that be find them delicious. |
We ended up ordering two appetizers, four small pizzas and three desserts. Our fridge is currently full. It was a lot of food but we really would have missed out on some of the magic of the place…good thing the ogre was with us. First the appetizers, we saw calamari and onion rings that looked awesome at other tables but what caught our eyes were the eggrolls. Stuffed in house, there are two options, slow smoked pulled pork and mac n cheese with bacon. We couldn’t split the order nor could we make up our minds, so we got one of each.
The mac n cheese was good and came with a boat of ranch dressing. I
suspect they may smoke their own pork bellies on the rig outside,
the bacon had a much stronger smoke presence than most you will
find. They also make their own cheesy mac for the interior. It was
good. I would never order it again. I would always and forever get
the pulled pork eggrolls. Served with a boat of vinegary sauce,
these wrappers were loaded with incredibly succulent and smoky pork
which just melted away with each bite. We never would have tried
their Q if there were not three of us and we had not seen the
smoking rig...and the world would have been mysteriously drabber not
knowing. |
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The Bacon N Mac Were Pretty Good... |
...But The Beautiful Pork Crushed All Competition |
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Then there were the pizzas. We were recommended one winner, had
preselected two others and found a special on the sign out front we
couldn’t ignore. Again, we were lucky to have added the extra. The
two preselected options were my least favorite. All of their pizzas
were good, just a couple of the one’s we tried were much better.
They season the tops of most of their pizzas with salt and pepper,
it helps. The dough has a distinctive yeastiness and chew,
indicative of quality ingredients, method and proofing. It’s nice.
The Marsala pizza is based on the traditional sweet wine and
mushroom sauced dish. This one started with the sauce, added philly
steak meat (should be thinly sliced ribeye), red onions,
shiitake/oyster/crimini mushrooms, Parmesan/Provolone/Mozzarella
cheeses, and it’s finished with fresh spinach. Great crust, lots of
cheese, varying mushroom flavors…but I wanted MARSALA. I was
promised Marsala and most of the flavor had migrated under the
cheese towards the outside ring of the crust and it still had little
impact there. Good pizza but my least favorite of the four…bring on
the promised sweet wine flavor or make it a mushroom pizza. |
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The Marsala Pizza Tasted Fine... |
But Lacked The Essence Of Marsala Wine |
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Just above the Marsala was the Chicken Pot Pie pizza…alfredo sauce,
chicken breast, broccoli, peas, carrots, onions and cheddar cheese.
I loved the veggies on this one but the alfredo didn’t quite make up
for the lack of chickeny veloute that would have made this as stupid
good as the next two. |
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Veggies Were Awesome On The Chicken Pot Pie... |
...But I Wanted Chickeny Essence Instead Of Alfredo |
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We were told to try the Philly Cheese Steak Pizza with the house
Alfredo sauce, swiss-American Cheese, Philly Steak meat, onions,
mushrooms, green peppers and salt n pepper. Here the cheesy sauce
fulfilled it’s purpose. The steak was tender and beefy, the veg
worked very well…it’s a tasty treat. |
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The Philly Cheese Steak Was... |
...Steaky & Cheesy With Appropriate Veg. Well Done. |
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Then there was the new pizza, ingredients chalked on the sign outside the door. It’s called the Spinachi and consists of a Garlic Butter crust, sausage, spinach, Feta cheese, Asiago cheese, sunflower seeds, and dried cranberries. Oh, dear. Hard to describe. Eating it I though the name sounded like Fibonacci famous for the Fibonacci sequence…the mathematical equation for determining the Golden Spiral. It goes something like this…
It goes on like that for a bit. I just filched it from Wikipedia. I
don’t understand it. I know it has something to do with spirals in
nature that we tend to find beautiful. The pizza somehow made me
think of it. I don’t understand the whole concept or the mathematics
of the pizza, but it is beautiful. The crust is awesome, the sausage
has serious seasoning and porky deliciousness, Greek and Italian
cheeses play well together, dried berries bring some sweetness,
while salty seeds delivery some nutty earthiness and the spinach
brings fresh greenery into the storyline. It’s a good thing we still
have some in the fridge, cause I might drive to Ohio's frog jumping
capitol and slap someone for another slice. Or just buy some...pizza
doesn't necessarily cause random violence. |
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Never Would Have Dreamt This Up But This Thing Is Magical |
Every Ingredient Serves It's Delicious Purpose |
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The desserts were less successful than the first two courses but
they were still pretty good overall. The very berry cobbler was
functional but needed something for texture and I was surprised to
find huge slices of apple inside. Is that normal or did they just
run short of berries? The key lime pie was a mildly tangy (at least
compared to those we have had in Fla) but a very tasty slice. There
were day-glow puddles of green goop that tasted like someone had
gelatinized lime flavored nerds candy…if they made such a thing. The
bread pudding was probably my favorite, lightly sweet, warm, studded
with pecans and raisins and oozing a little orange marmalade, it was
dense but savory enough. A pool of sauce anglaise and some caramel
brought the whole thing together but next time I would stick to
porkrolls and pizzas…I definitely want to try some of their other
pizzas…just as soon as I get my Spinachi on. Diane has now hooked us
up twice. |
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We Didn't Need Any Desserts...We Got Three |
The Cobbler Was Good & I Learned About "Appleberries?" |
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Mild But Tasty Key Lime Pie With Crazy Nerd Sauce |
Bread Pudding Found The Way Of Balance |
Ratings | |||||||
Food |
Service |
Ambiance |
What's Best |
What's Worst |
Overall |
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B+ | B | B- | A+ | C | B+ | ||
Pork & Spinachi Equation | Missing Marsala |