The Pizza Diaries: Il Rione

It’s time for our next installment of the Pizza Diaries! If you missed our first post, check out our discussion on Harlow’s here. We also want to take a moment and thank everyone for your support and interest as we explore the best pies Cleveland has to offer. We received so many recommendations, and it looks like we’ll have to ruin our summer bods with all this pizza eating we have to do. Huge bummer.

Il Rione
The next stop on our pizza journey was Il Rione Pizzeria. We’ve only been here once before after a night of drinking with some friends, so we each only had one or two slices. Needless to say, we were excited to come back and get to try a bunch of different pies. We were joined by Nikki of EatLocalOhio and her boyfriend, Adam. We became friends with them from attending foodie events and were excited to hang out on a pizza date! They describe themselves as pizza fanatics and probably eat pizza around four times a month, Nikki’s favorite pizza is New York style pizza and Adam loves Lou Malnati’s pizza in Chicago.

Il Rione serves New York/ New Jersey style pizza. They’re not trying to reinvent the wheel, they just want to make damn good pizza. Their menu is small, they serve salads and pizza and you can also order a meat and cheese board. The pizzas come in small or large and you can create your own or order a suggested pie.

We ordered three small pies (the small has six slices):

• Clam Pie- middleneck clams, parmesan, mozzarella, garlic, oregano.
• Green Pie- red sauce, mozzarella, arugula pesto, fried sage leaves, basil.
• Roseanna Pie- white pie, prosciutto, red onions, arugula.

The clam pie is kind of famous here (everyone who has had it raves about it) so we had to order it.  We also wanted to mix it up and get a pizza with red sauce and a pizza with meat. Nikki and Adam drank Manhattans while Broad had Peronis and Beard drank a PBR.

Sauce
We all agreed that the sauce is not what you remember about Il Rione’s pizza, mostly because sauce was not the focus. The white pizzas just had olive oil and while the Green Pie had red sauce, the pesto stood out on that one the most. Nikki likes her pizza with a little more sauce if she’s getting a saucy pizza and prefers a mix of sweet and savory. Broad really like the Green Pie red sauce and pesto combo. She enjoys pizzas with lighter sauce and these pizzas nailed it. The red sauce on the Green Pie didn’t really stick out to Beard, but he thinks that’s kind of the point. Everything is supposed to work together on that pie, and it was the same story with the others. It’s all about the flavor combinations and balance.

Crust
Adam stated it best, the crust was crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside which is the perfect combo. Nikki thought the crust was phenomenal and the perfect combo of crunchy-airyness and it didn’t fill you up. Broad is picky when it comes to crusts and rarely eats all of it, but this is a crust she would eat. Beard appreciated the crunchiness of these crusts, but on the small pies there was a bit too much of it. Though it was delicious, his mouth started to get tired. Probably because he was eating too fast. Again, cause it was delicious.

Toppings
We all agreed the toppings on the pizzas really stood our with their freshness and flavors. Since sauce was not the main focus, the toppings really took over the pizza. We all loved the clams, as Nikki stated, “clams go ham!”…whatever the hell that means. We’ve all had experience with seafood pizzas and they tend to be too fishy or just not work out, but not with this pie. The clams were delicious, the perfect size, and cooked to perfection. The Roseanna was the perfect combination of prosciutto, arugula and red onion. The onion was cooked just enough that it added a nice bit of sweetness to the pie that balanced well with the salty prosciutto.

Cheese
Without knowing it, we ordered pies that each showcased a different cheese. We all agreed that the ricotta on the Roseanna was amazing. We would each get bites of pure creamy ricotta and it was glorious. The parmesan on the Clam was salty and delicious. We agreed that the cheese on the Green pie wasn’t super memorable, but probably because the pesto was the star. Broad prefers all pizzas to have a crazy amount of cheese so she wished there was more cheese on the pizzas, but they definitely didn’t NEED the extra cheese.

Overall Experience
Adam and Broad were huge fans of the ambiance and setting of Il Rione. Nikki loved the atmosphere and said she would have a hard time not going back at least once a month. It has a quaint, exclusive Italian feel to it but it’s also a fun environment. We could see spending hours there eating pizza and drinking bottles of wine. Beard also appreciated that they didn’t try and do too much with the place. Exposed brick along with some rustic concrete and plaster make it feel casual, but the service and decor let’s you know they’re serious about their pizza.

Next Day Deliciousness
Nikki loves Il Rione for next day cold pizza deliciousness. As much as she wants to scarf down the whole pizza, she feels like she needs to save a piece or two to eat the next day. Adam likes his pizza to be loaded with toppings for maximum next day deliciousness but hasn’t yet had this pizza the next day. He tends to trust Nikki’s opinion on this topic. Broad likes a thicker pizza to reheat the next day but still thinks this would be tasty. Beard does his pizza reheating in a skillet on the stove, but has yet to leave leftovers of this tastiness to test his method.

Final Rating
4.5/5 clams! All of us will definitely be back for more pizza from this place. There are not a lot of New York style pizza places in Cleveland so this is a refreshing change of pace. Although it’s small, the environment is cozy yet fun. The place tends to fill up in the evening on the weekends, so we suggest getting there early if you want to secure a table.

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