Sal's Pizza Brings Boston's Best to California

Is there a place you drive by everyday and never go inside? I bet you even think about going in all the time but never seem to get around to it. I drive a lot and as a result I have many of those places. What’s really cool is when you finally go inside and the place rock’s the menu! That’s exactly what happened when I wandered into Sal’s Pizza in Morgan Hill, California.

Upon entering Sal’s we were greeted by a very enthusiastic manager named Tito. He was thrilled that we had wandered in for the first time. It was like he knew something and he was going to share it with us. We were having a hard time deciding what kind of pizza to order because Sal’s Pizza has many signature flavors to distract you from your regular choices. They have flavors like Bacon Cheeseburger, Chicken Fradiavolo, and Steak Bomb! How can you order your standard pepperoni pie with flavors like Magic Mushroom and Eggplant Parmesan? This is where Tito steps in and say’s “We can make any pizza in up to four flavors”. So I was pretty sure we could narrow it down to four or as it turned out three on a nineteen inch pie.

For half the pizza we decided to do a regular choice that we like to eat so that we could compare it to other pizzas that we have had. On one quarter we opted for the Margharita; loaded with Pomadoro sauce, olive oil, buffalo mozzarella, and fresh basil. The final quarter was a contrast to the previous lighter choice, Bacon Cheeseburger; Sal’s Pizza sauce, mozzarella, American cheese, hamburger, bacon, tomato and onion.

Tito gets to work on our pizza, starting with fresh dough, and I mean fresh on the counter, rising right now, fresh dough. He is a master, working the dough into a circle, tossing and spinning it in the air. It was like being at one of those Food TV challenges where they spin the dough with one hand, across their shoulders and beat records for height. You can tell this guy loves everything about making pizzas.

So we sit at our table watching the Strongman competition on the plasma TV overhead. A lot of the customers that come in are there for the pizza by the slice; a quarter of one of those monstrous nineteen inch pies. You had better be hungry to get a slice at Sal’s. We listen to the customers’ remark about how awesome the pizza is as we anxiously await our custom made, three flavored pie. I glace over to the kitchen to see how it’s going and Tito tosses up his foam rubber practice dough and motions to me that it will be merely minutes until our lunch is ready.

It’s pizza time! I gotta say the size of this pie is impressive in itself. It is a lot bigger on the table than it looks in the display! Now that we admired it for oh ten seconds, it’s time to put the pizza to the test! First the Margharita; this slice was fantastic! The Pomadoro sauce is light and fragrant with a touch of garlic. The fresh mozzarella was perfectly melted into the sauce and the whole thing was dotted with hand torn fresh basil. Me being carnivore supreme I usually shy away from this type of a pizza but I would gladly eat a pie of this quality anytime! Next the Bacon Cheeseburger; I had my doubts about this but we ordered it out of curiosity. I was really surprised by how great this was. The burger pieces tasted as if they had been grilled, there were slivers of red onion, and crispy bacon in overload amounts. The big hit here was the American cheese. You couldn’t really see it under the toppings but when you bit into the slice it was like a creamy cheesy accent; a real pleaser for any burger/pizza lover. Finally, our choice; bacon, spinach and mushrooms, this was our litmus test. While it’s not a typical pizza, it is a combination we are used to eating so we would defiantly be able to tell if something went awry. It was fantastic and our regular pizza place pales in comparison. Here’s the clincher; it’s the dough. The crust is the best I’ve had in California. They use an east coast style thin crust. It has the perfect amount of crunch and the right amount of chew. You can eat your slice straight or do the fold thing. I happen to be a folder and my companion is defiantly not a folder. At Sal’s it’s your choice to fold or not to fold.

If you love this style of pizza you have to try this place out. It certainly has ruined me for the pizza in my neighborhood. It’s a good thing I drive by Sal’s on the way home from work.

In the Bay area you can find them at:

Morgan Hill, CA | 301 Vineyard Town Center 408-778-2162

Campbell, CA | 533 E. Campbell Ave 408-376-0553