Zing Pizza, Porter Square, Cambridge - yum!
Stopped into this new pizza joint on in Porter Square Cambridge, home to the old Falzone's (whose sign still has not been taken down yet). They don't have an official menu yet, but are offering salads, several types of thin crust pizza - think Emma's style - blue sky sodas, and roti. I opted for the chicken roti, whose filling included squash, potatoes, green beans, and chickpeas. The roti was fresh made to order and the curried filling delicious. They'll be offering a varied menu soon. For those environmentally-conscious amongst us, looks like they're using recycled containers and composting waste. Lovely.
gini
Oct 17, 2008 06:14AM
Do you know the address? I was not familiar with Falzone's. Thanks in advance.
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1923 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA
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Thanks, Gini, this is really good news!
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Has anyone else been to Zing's yet? I'm hoping to try it this weekend but would love any other reccomendations on things to try.
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Literally, the review at the top of this page is my experience at Zing. Like I said, pizza is yuppy style, but I adored the roti most of all.
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Putting aside Gini's excellent palate, why not just check it out? Isn't that what hounds do?
From the now abbreviated Chowhound Manifesto:
"Chowhounds blaze trails. They comb through neighborhoods for culinary treasure. "
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Agree completely, bettlebug, but being the indecisive hound I often am, it never hurts to have suggestions!
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I also tried the "omnivorous" roti (sounds pretty much the same, different greens) and found it well-cooked and well-meaning, but bland. Don't feel the need for another. it was a fair amount of food ($7). Nibbled a sample of pizza--crackerier crust than I like but interesting topping, seems worth a shot. Cute little place, very young vibe.
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Ordered from Zing this past Friday—I had a buy-one-get-one-half-price coupon that, oddly, applied to deliveries only. (The opposite of Dial-a-Pizza!) We got feta salad, the Annie Oakley (not my favorite—oily eggplant slices on top of a normal pizza), and the Blue October (delicious—butternut squash+mozzarella+caramelized onions). Thing is... it took <strong>two hours</strong> to arrive. Clearly they have a kink or two to work out.
On the other other hand, they gave us coupons for future free pizza and the leftovers fed several people for several days, saving time over the weekend....
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Pizzeria Regina does that too with their eggplant slices. You have to cut them really thin - the eggplant is like a big sponge - and fry them hot or else they get laden with oil. So gross. For eggplant on pizza, Armando's has the right idea - eggplant dice, bread and fry - smaller pieces are crunchy, not heavy.
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I tried the roti, which was dry -- rather like a caricature of health food -- and, on another visit, a slice of eggplant pizza, which was heavy and charred on the bottom. In the organic Porter Square slot, I'll take Stone Hearth.
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Zing is now offering gluten free pizza!
I have extremely sensitive celiac disease and find that even eating at restaurants with "gluten free options" leaves me feeling ill (cross contamination seems to be a major problem.
However, I just tried the gluten free blue october pizza at Zing's and it was a great experience. The pizza was delish (butternut squash puree, mozz, blue cheese, spinach, carmelized onions) albeit quite pricey ($17.50) for the GF crust (they don't offer GF by the slice). However, I still have half of it leftover for tomorrow and most celiacs seem willing to pay a premium to eat out with our friends.
The restaurant is tiny, with a laid back hippy vibe, really nice employees, and an emphasis on social responsibility. Very Cambridge.
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Per "they don't have an official menu yet": they've been posting it as a blog -- which is kind of nice, as you can have a look at the latest offerings from afar (and even subscribe to their feed). URL is http://zingpizza.blogspot.com/
We had all four of the current offerings the other night, and all were very good. Their red sauce is great, so even the basic cheese pizza does well. The "Blue October" in particular rocks: Butternut squash sauce, Mozzarella cheese, Spinach, Caramelized onions, Bleu cheese. The butternut squash "sauce" is inspired and delicious and it really makes this pie.
Only nit I had was that I'd like the crust a bit more crispy, but overall we loved the place and will definitely hit it regularly.
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Butternut squash sauce - what was that like, besides orange?
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BD- The butternut squash "sauce" was really just butternut squash pureed to a saucelike, spreadable consistency. Something about the technique just really works. Instead of having chunks of squash on the pizza, you get a nice underlying and consistent squash taste across the whole pie. Tasty.
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Thanks, Franks. That sounds like an improvement over the chunks of squash.
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Roti at a Pizza place? Is this West Indian Roti? I'm curious.
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They're hyped in today's Globe:
http://www.boston.com/ae/food/restaur...
Pizza remains very good, but these guys are still working out the kinks in terms of timing and service. Gave us all kinds of business last week because we had the audacity to expect our pizzas to be ready for pickup when they told us to expect them -- as opposed to 45 min's later, when they actually were ready...
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I've stopped by a few times for slices, and been very impressed. FINALLY, a decent thin-crust pizza in Boston! The Blue October, especially, is a great combination of flavors; the butternut squash sauce isn't overly sweet but pairs really nicely with the blue cheese and caramelized onions.
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