Phantom Gourmet: Angelo's Coal Fired Pizza In Quincy

QUINCY - Without a doubt, this is the hottest pizzeria to ever come to Quincy. Angelo's Coal Fired Pizza is a big, wide open, brick-lined space with a vintage feel. This isn't just another house of pizza, it's a full-service, family-friendly restaurant that just happens to have some of the best slices you'll ever taste.

"We're trying to bring the flair of coal fired pizza to the Quincy area," said Executive Chef Chris Howard.

"There's plenty of pizza places in Quincy but we really wanted to stand out as something different and unique," added General Manager Michael Minihane. The difference is the 700-800 degree coal fired oven. "That heat imparts a really unique quality to the crust, as well as the toppings."

The behemoth oven is loaded up with one hundred pounds of clean-burning coal every morning.

"Working with these ovens, I mean it's really hot back here, but there's nothing quite like it," said Chef Chris.

"So the end result is a really unique distinct crust with a little bit of char," said Michael. "You get a nice crisp exterior, but it's still got a soft chew to it. We can cook a pizza in 4-5 minutes and cook it perfectly."

Their most traditional pizza is the Margherita, boasting fresh mozzarella cheese, vibrant basil, and high quality olive oil. The coal fire gives a little extra crunch to the Pepperoni, creaminess to the Ricotta and Meatball pizza, and a surprising sweetness to the Chicken Marsala pie. But for a pizza you can't refuse, take a whack at their best seller: The Goodfella. It's loaded up with sausage, onions, peppers, tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella.

"I'd almost equate it to getting a sausage with peppers at Fenway," said Michael. "It's got that unique combination and the garlic thrown in at the end really pulls it all together nicely."

You don't have to wait very long to get a pizza fired up at Angelo's, but if you can't wait to eat, appetizers here are no afterthought. There are hand-rolled, home style meatballs, bruschetta bursting with chopped tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella cubes, and a modern spin on stuffed peppers. But the top reason to come to Angelo's, other than the pizza of course, is their Coal Roasted Chicken Wings.

"The coal roasted wings have been a runaway hit here as we had hoped they would be," said Michael. "It's a traditional Tuscan style chicken marinade so rosemary, lemon; very, very simple. The chicken gets a nice char to it on the outside and it still remains extremely moist inside."

Those wings are topped with caramelized onions and served with a Buffalo gorgonzola dip.

The sandwiches at Angelo's aren't so bad either. The Meatball Primo sub is loaded with sauce and provolone, inside a crunchy toasted baguette. The Italian is stacked with salami, mortadella, prosciutto, and more, on fresh-baked focaccia bread. If you have big appetite, just order The Big Dog.

"It's a really unique sandwich. It's a spiral cut Pearl hot dog. So what you get with the spiral cut is you expose some of the center of the hot dog, and you get a little char on the inside, so it's got a nice bite," explained Michael. "The condiments and toppings all kind of fall into that spiral cut. So every bite you take, you get a little crunch. Really unique."

For a truly unique dessert, why not order up another pizza: an Apple Pie Pizza.

"Apple Pie Pizza is our signature dessert," said Chef Chris. "It is simply a piece of dough with apple pie filling, with apples that are a little crispy, with apple pie crumble, a scoop of gelato ice cream, and four dollops of whipped cream, caramel sauce over the top."

The Goodfella Pizza. Coal-Roasted Chicken Wings. The Big Dog. And an Apple Pie Pizza. You can't eat much better than that. And you can't get it anywhere else but Angelo's Coal Fired Pizza.

You can find Angelo's at 1657 Hancock Street in Quincy, and online at angeloscoalfiredpizzas.com.