Alex Pizza and More - Coming Soon

[ron_newman]

I have no idea what "Alex Pizza and More" is, but according to the sign, that's what will replace Out of the Blue at the corner of Highland and Cutter avenues. (Out of the Blue recently moved to Elm Street, next to the Rosebud.)

Comments

[magpie-leah.livejournal.com]

I hope this place is a cut above the average pizza joint! It seems a bit strange to me to open another pizza place since there's one a couple minutes down the road on Highland Ave and then in the square there's Mike's and Christo's and maybe others that I'm forgetting.

[ron_newman]

the one you're forgetting is Domino's. Which is easy to forget, given how unnecessary it is here.

(Still wish Bertucci's hadn't closed.)

[mrcairo.livejournal.com]

Sadly, Domino's seems to have the best pizza in the square. I hate having to say that, but all of the
other pizza places have been totally mediocre. Christo's is greasy cardboard. Mike's is pretty tasteless.
Davis Square Pizza is inconsistent and only unpredictably interesting.

I won't say that Domino's is great, but it's the best we have around. I hope Alex's is better.

[magpie-leah.livejournal.com]

It is sad that Bertucci's is gone. I heard that location was the first Bertucci's ever. Anyone know if that's true?

[chumbolly.livejournal.com]

What is now the Subway sandwich place on Elm was the first Bertucci's. And it was amazing when it first opened back in maybe 1992 or '93. Way, way better than the chain restaurant it became.

[chumbolly.livejournal.com]

And come to think of it, I think the investors that started and grew Bertucci's were the same people that bought Steve's Ice Cream (which was around the corner from Bertucci's) from Steve Herrill and grew that into a chain.

The story of Steve and Joey

[ron_newman]

Once upon a time, there was Steve's Ice Cream, owned by Steve Herrell. There was just one Steve's, and it was where O'Naturals is now.

Steve had a rival named Joey Crugnale, who owned Joey's Ice Cream in Teele Square. At some point, Joey bought Steve's, and began growing it from a small local chain to a big national one. He later sold it to some other company, which apparently didn't run it well and squandered all of the considerable brand equity. Now there is once again only one Steve's, but this time it's at Quincy Market.

Steve got back into the business and opened 'Steve Herrell's Ice Cream'. The new owners of Steve's didn't like that, and either sued or threatened to, so he changed the name to just Herrell's Ice Cream. Joey, meanwhile, opened the first Bertucci's, next door to the first Steve's.

Joey then bought Bailey's Ice Cream, an old–line Boston chain that served ice cream in wonderful deep metal cups. That acquisition didn't work out very well, and all of them eventually closed. Some of them, such as the Harvard Square location, became new locations for Bertucci's.

Bertucci's got bigger, and Joey eventually sold it as well. He then started Naked Fish, which I think he still owns.

Re: The story of Steve and Joey

[yangelina.livejournal.com]

Do you konw who "Bertucci" is, or why Joey Crugnale chose the name instead of, say, "Crugnale's"? I didn't realize that Bertucci was an independently own business once upon a time. Kind of scary to think how many of these excellent mom/pop places will become lower quality chain places in the future.

Re: The story of Steve and Joey

[ron_newman]

From a Boston Globe article dated October 28, 1982:

"As for Bertucci, he was the Italian who built the pizzeria's brick oven."

I've found several web pages explaining that Joey opened the first Bertucci's so that he, rather than some other restaurant owner, would benefit from the long lines outside Steve's Ice Cream.

Joey in particular wanted to prevent the storefront from falling into the hands of a Chinese restaurant, whose fumes he felt would damage the Steve's experience.

[ron_newman]

Must have been much earlier than that. I remember going to Bertucci's in Kendall Square in the 1980s, and that opened later than Davis. It too had a bocce court.

[chumbolly.livejournal.com]

Ron, I'm sure you're right. I remember eating at Bertucci's in Davis back in about '92, and I thought it was new then, but I was new to town then myself, so that was just a guess. You have an encyclopedic knowledge of Camberville and Boston!

[ron_newman]

Not really, just been here longer than most of you. (Came to MIT as a student in 1975, graduated and left for LA in 1979, returned in '84 and have been here ever since.)

[yangelina.livejournal.com]

They could try "Alex and More Pizza" instead. :) Really, far too many pizza options around here.