The Village Italian Restaurant and Lounge, February 26, 2023

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, 50 and sunny, so we decided to trek to Mount Pleasant. It's a cute small town, population ~4200, about 30 minutes from where we live. There was an antique store in town we wanted to hit (Janford and Son - yep, you read that right) and then we parked downtown and walked for a bit. The town serves as a sort of gateway to the Laurel Highlands, part of the Allegheny Mountains.

Mount Pleasant once had a thriving glassmaking economy (an item in the antique store was a tote bag that read "Stay Glassy, Mount Pleasant") which means the town once had money - and there are some beautiful old homes and commercial buildings to show for it. There are also four pizza places on my list in Mount Pleasant. One of them, The Village, was recommended by a staff member at Laurel Highlands Meadery early in our pizza journey, so I was excited to finally give it a try.

Neither the website nor the Facebook page has any information about the history of the restaurant, so I have no idea how long it's been in business or whether the same family has owned it since the beginning. Their site says that they serve "authentic Italian food" so I'm assuming Italian heritage. 

UPDATE: I went to a different tab on their Facebook page and learned that they’ve been around since 1963 and have always been owned and operated by the Rega family.

The Main Street building looks like it may always have been a tavern or restaurant. The front dining room is a little sterile, but the back lounge is cozy and warm so we chose to dine there.

All the walls in the lounge hold Pittsburgh sports memorabilia...as well as a strange painting of a woman who appears to be naked. Neither Chip nor I have any idea who she is.  

When we arrived at 4:15, 15 minutes after opening, there was a couple at the bar and only one other occupied table in the lounge. But by the time we left at 5:30ish, the entire place was packed.

Because this is an Italian restaurant and not just a pizzeria, the menu is more extensive than most. It's filled with Italian favorites such as gnocchi, rigatoni, spaghetti aglio e olio, and linguine with clam sauce, as well as appetizers, salads, and Italian soups (wedding soup and pasta fagioli).

 

 

We each started with a draft beer. After stating earlier in the day that we weren't going to eat any fried food (two fish fries in a week will do that to ya), we caved in and ordered the snack pack since that would give us an opportunity to try so many of the appetizers at once. We also ordered a large sausage and mushroom pie, light on sauce.

As other folks were being seated at tables nearby, I overheard greetings that made me think The Village gets lots of regulars. Which is expected I guess in a small town. And sort of charming.

The snack pack came out in only 10 or 15 minutes. It included zucchini planks, fried cheddar balls, onion rings, fried mushrooms, chicken nuggets, and fried cauliflower. Oh, and side of ketchup. (Ketchup?!) It's a ton of food for only $12.

We each tried one of everything (well, and two cheese balls). The batter seemed to be the same on everything except the chicken nuggets, which had a Wendy's nuggets sort of vibe and were serviceable but nothing to write home about. The onion rings paled in comparison to the onion rings we'd had at recent fish fries; the batter was sweet but the onions were actually kind of bitey. 

The zucchini was really good, as were the mushrooms and cauliflower. And the cheddar balls - mwah! Chef's kiss! We hadn't ever had fried cheddar before...pepper jack, provolone, mozzarella, sure...but the cheddar was an interesting and very tasty twist.

We were close to finishing our beers before the pizza arrived at the table. I did a quick glance to assess whether they really went light on sauce, and to be honest it looked a bit inconsistent. So I grabbed a saucier piece and Chip grabbed a lighter one, and we dug in.

Let's start with the good: the crust was EXCELLENT. You know how Sicilian pizza has that browned bottom with a thick, spongy layer above? Imagine a crust like that, only quite a bit thinner. So you still got the crusty, chewy experience without feeling like you were eating a giant piece of bread. And the flavor was exceptional. I've read that some crust styles use malt in the dough. I have no idea if that's what gave this crust its delicious toasty smell, but something about it was very unique and very yummy.

The toppings, on the other hand, were just sort of...meh. The sauce was a bit bland, the sausage wasn't super flavorful, the mushrooms were canned, and the cheese was good but I don't think there was quite enough of it. Chip disagreed - he though the cheese was perfect and the sausage was good. Huh. We've said all along that pizza preferences are very personal. This is clear evidence of that fact.

The crust definitely elevated this pizza to a higher level. And as I looked around the room, I saw at least one white pizza and it looked good enough to bring me back for another try. And our leftover slices reheated very well for lunch the next day - always a plus! 

Overall I'd say that The Village was a successful pizza outing and one we'd be happy to try again. Maybe by then we'll have figured out who the naked lady is.