Neighbor Roy went with me to review Rocco’s Little Chicago Pizzeria on East Broadway for our upcoming List of the 10 Best Pizzas. Did it make the List? Indeed it did.
Rocco’s Little Chicago Pizzeria, Tucson AZ.
There was only one problem. The dozen or so pizzeria at which we have dined for this list, we had always ordered a thin crust pizza pie. But Rocco’s (Rock-O’s) specializes in Chicago style deep-dish and stuffed pizzas. If we ordered their specialty, we wouldn’t be comparing apples to apples, so to speak. Oh, what to do?
A slice of Rocco’s Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza with the sauce on top.
We solved this vexing problem with yet another stroke of genius. We ordered a slice of deep-dish (tomato sauce on top) with pepperoni AND a 12 inch thin crust pie with Italian Sausage and sautéed Portabella Mushrooms.
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The deep dish was served first. Because the sauce was so prominent, it tasted more like lasagna than traditional pizza pie. The sauce really made this pizza. Hints of fresh garlic and rosemary. Roy and I gave it a four saguaro rating: Very Good!
Soon thereafter, our thin crust arrived. The sauce seemed to be the same as on our deep dish. The crust was the crispiest of all the pizzas we have sample recently. The toppings were very generous. The Italian sausage was good, but the Sautéed Portabella Mushrooms really made this pizza special! Rocco’s will be high on our List of the Best Pizzas in Tucson.
Rocco’s Thin Crust Pizza with Italian Sausage and Portabella Mushrooms.
One more thing about the thin crust. I particularly liked the crust with the excellent pizza Ms. Sue and I so enjoyed at Travolino Ristorante’ a few weeks ago. Olive Oil was clearly one of the ingredients. While Rocco’s crust was good, it clearly was not made with Olive Oil. I asked our friendly waitress about this. She didn’t know, but went to the kitchen to make inquiries. When she returned, she said, “The crust is made with Canola Oil”.
“Great!”, I thought. “We are dining on a pizza crust that has an ingredient used in WW II for lubricating the steam engines of naval vessels.”
As long as I had her attention, I inquired as to the type of oven used to bake Rocco’s pizza. I was curious, because many of the pizza places we visited touted their oven as being almost as important as the actual ingredients. Some are proud of their wood-fired oven. Others are proud of their coal-fired oven. Others use a natural gas oven. Turns out Rocco’s uses an old-fashioned electric conveyor oven. If the type of oven makes a significant difference in the quality of pizza, it’s lost on me.
Rocco’s Menu
One more thing about Rocco’s. Their menu is extensive: sandwiches, salads, soups, pastas, calzones, and craft beers. Two fellows seated at the table next to ours both ordered Chef Salads ($8.99). These substantial salads appeared to include ingredients fresh off the farm. On the way out, I asked them how they liked their salad. Both replied, “Excellent!”
It’s going to be as difficult to rank the best pizzas in Tucson as it was to rank the Best Burgers or Best Mexican Restaurants. We have one more pizza place to review for our list, the highly touted Bianco’s Pizzeria Downtown. We’ll find out next week if it deserves all the accolades it has received even before it opened.
Rocco’s Little Chicago Pizzeria
2707 E. Broadway
Tucson, Arizona
520.321.1860
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