Little E's Pizzeria - February 18, 2023

Last night's pizza outing was our first dine-in experience in a few weeks, and it was a good one. We went to a pizza place called Little E's in Greensburg. Chip and I had tried it years ago but didn't remember much about it. Our friends Jim and Beth (who had joined us at Jioio's) accompanied us.

But first, a little about the beginning of our evening. We'd originally intended to try a different pizza joint, but our interaction there was so weird that I was convinced it was the start of a classic horror movie. Or a really bad dining experience. Or maybe both. Welcome to Abie & Bimbo's.

Abie & Bimbo's has operated in Greensburg since 1967, and wins local awards not only for their pizza but also their massive fish sandwiches during Lent. Chip and I ate there once years ago and I remember really liking the pizza. They also serve bottled beer, always a plus when chowing down on a hot, fresh pizza pie. We pulled into the parking lot at about 5:30, and there were only two other cars in the lot. The Open sign was lit, so we assumed it was just early. Through the windows however we could see that every table except one had the chairs on the table.

We walked in and asked if we could eat there, and the guy behind the counter seemed very surprised when he responded "Sure?" (Yes, his response ended as a question). There was a bike parked in the middle of the dining room and as we were pulling chairs off another table, a man came out from the back with a broom and dustpan and began sweeping the floor all around us. The counter guy handed us menus and Jim asked, "are you just opening up?" but counter guy said "No, we're just not really set up for dine in. He then pointed us toward the cooler with soda bottles, said "all we sell are 20-ounce bottles," then disappeared into the back. 

Meanwhile sweeping man continued to remove the dirt off the floor (where does it come from if no one eats in?) and I noticed that the beer coolers were papered over, even though Chip said there was beer in them. I decided it would be sort of sad to sit there and eat, especially with no beer, so we left.

Little E's was booming. The restaurant has a bar/dining room with some high top tables, a side dining room with a few tables, and an outdoor eating area for the warmer months. 

There was no one in the side dining room when we arrived, so we grabbed a table there and went off to look for a menu.  

Little E's is known for its gluten-free and vegan options in addition to traditional pizza. They offer a good selection of draft beer (not all of which were on this wall menu) so I ordered a tall Southern Tier 2xIPA and Jim ordered a Helltown Brown Ale. Chip and Beth ordered smaller pours of a light beer and a cider, respectively.

 

 

They were crowded so we ordered our food at the same time that we ordered our drinks. Jim has been trying a meatless diet lately, so he and Beth opted to split a Stromboli with mushrooms, olives, and roasted red peppers. Chip and I ordered a medium sausage and mushroom traditional pie, and a small pierogi pizza. The latter was advertised as having a butter sauce, a layer of mashed potatoes with onions and bacon, and then topped with cheddar, provolone, and mozzarella cheese. 

The atmosphere was pleasant (much more pleasant than Dawn of the Dead Pizza would have been) and the line of folks coming in to pick up carryout was steady. There was a fireplace at the end of the room we were sitting in and a happy little Christmas tree on the window ledge right next to us. At this stage I guess it's a winter tree more than a Christmas one.

Even though the restaurant seemed crazy busy, the food arrived quickly. The waitress wasn't kidding when she said the Stromboli was enough for two. It looked amazing.

Jim cut into the Stromboli and when he pulled a slice onto his plate, I could see that it had a wonderful cheese pull - hot and gooey. When our pizzas arrived, I could tell that the cheese-to-topping ratio was perfect, unlike the pizzas we'd tried the last two weeks which had either not enough cheese or really dense cheese. 

My first bite into the sausage and shroom pizza confirmed what I'd suspected as soon as I saw the pie: this is great pizza. The mushrooms were fresh, the sausage was incredibly tasty without being spicy, and the cheese was perfect. The crust was a little thinner than what I think of as traditional hand-tossed crust, but I'm not sure I'd call it a thin crust. But it was just the right amount of chewy and the pizza was light on sauce without us having requested it that way.

The pierogi pizza was out of this world. The bacon was real bacon, not bacon bits, the onions were diced small, and the mixture of the three cheeses was perfect. If the onions hadn't been sauteed before adding them to the pizza, they were small enough that they cooked a bit in the pizza oven and didn't have a raw onion taste or texture (which would be totally wrong for pierogis). The other amazing thing about both the pizzas, but the pierogi pie in particular, is that the cheese was browned perfectly.

This is a pizza shop that we'll frequent once we get through this Year of Pizza. Although we didn't try the gluten-free crust, I've heard good things about it from others. Little E's is highly recommended to anyone in or around Greensburg and those who need or prefer gluten-free options.