Picasso Pizza Main Street Commons Building Ground Floor Historic Bethlehem (610) 882-5800

October is national pizza month. As a paean to the last such celebration in this millenium, let us start with a story of the venerable sage and revered guru Yogi Berra. When asked whether he would like his large pizza cut into four slices or eight, Yogi replied: "Four, because I don't think I have enough appetite to eat all eight."

Based on reliable reports from our network of pizza aficionados, we ventured to Main Street in Bethlehem, on the floor below the Brew Works (with due apologies to Project Impact), to visit another new and putative MMO (melted-mozzarella oasis) in the Desert of Chains between the New Haven-New York and Chicago pizza meccas. Open for only four months, Picasso Pizza boasts "the biggest selection in the Lehigh Valley." The menu is propitious, featuring such specialty pies, calzones, and "boli" (i.e., stromboli) as chicken primavera and seven veggie. Even more exotic are the stuffed pizza, which include cheese steak, baked ziti with meatballs, and Italian grinder.

Sticking to our standardized sampling of large cheese and half-mushroom, half-sausage, we were initially impressed by the performance or our specimen (defined by the great Yogi as an Italian astronaut) on both the Droop and Drip tests. Literally plumb outstanding and sans grease. All agreed that the crust also passed with flying colors. Graduate student (Elementary Counseling) Alison Erk, formerly Alison Sferlazza when she was a Psych major as a Lehigh undergrad, described the pizza's firm forte as being "crispy, crusty" (which sounds like a new Kellogg's cereal or old Lehigh professor). Development officer Abby Dionne explained: "it gives, like good bread."

The toppings received generally but not universally favorable reviews. For example, even though the mushrooms were canned, University Events director Caroline Clifford pointed out that they looked and tasted relatively fresh. The sausage, Alison, chimed in, added --like her recent marriage -- spice. Her spouse (singular of spice), Jason Erk, who was a Cognitive Science major here and now is completing his M.Ed. as a teacher at Lehigh's Centennial School, observed, without procrastination, that the slices without toppings were lacking in zest. The sauce was, in senior Beth Antonuk's words, "kind of bland." Abby explained; "it needs some TLC a la Mama Leone." And the cheese, in Caroline's analysis, "needs to be cheesier,"which means it is too mild, or in le mot juste provided by Zoellner's new director, Liz Scofield, "glutinous." As Development Office director Nancy Westwood incitefully observed, "the plain pizza was well named."

Our overall rating, without Olympic scoring, was 5.5. Jason's advice: "don't order the plain or don't neglect the seasonings on the counter next to the soda machine." Liz's caveat: "maybe apres ZAC, but certainly not before."

The location of the establishment is not at the edge of campus but within a short ride or brisk walk, in the historic heart of Bethlehem, amidst quaint shops (e.g., directly across from "Bone Appetit," which offers a wide assortment of goodies for dogs) and other eateries. For example, Heavenly Hedgehog is in the same buillding, beckoning unfilled eaters (and their arteries) with its homemade ice cream, such as "slag heap" (chocolate with malted milk balls and a caramel ribbon), a special flavor designed to symbolize steel making. Free parking is available in a lot behind the building.

The co-owner, whose name is "Pino" (but not Noir) and who came here from Naples three years ago, pointed to the paintings on the wall to unriddle the name "Picasso Pizza." Liz observed that it must have been the artist's little known vegetable period.

The $8.49 for a large cheese pizza lowers the Scarfability Quotient (bulk divided by price), but Pino makes his own sauce, "like my grandfather taught me"; his sodas are refillable; and he gives a 10% discount for deliveries to Lehigh. He's open from 10-to-10 seven days a week (tel. 610/ 882-5800), making it a plosive place (Pino's persistent as well as propitious Picasso Pizza). Come over to the Main Street Commons Building, and literally get in on the ground floor.

Reviewed by:
Ron Yoshida, Dean of the College of Education
Perry Zirkel, Iacocca Professor of Education
Alison Erk, grad student, Elementary Counseling
Jason Erk, grad student, College of Education, and teacher at Centennial School
Abby Dionne, Development Officer
Nancy Westwood, Development Officer
Caroline Clifford, University Events Director
Liz Scofield, Director, Zoellner Arts Center

Picasso Pizza
Main Street Commons Bldg, Main Street, Bethlehem, PA. (610) 882-5800. Open M-F 10-10. Dine in or take out, 10% discount for deliveries to Lehigh.

This review originally appeared in The Brown and White at Lehigh University.