Louie and Ernie's

Louie & Ernie's Exterior

I recently set out on a mission, a Bronx mission. For me, the Bronx is ripe with tradition - baseball and hip-hop come to mind. And the list of legends from both areas that were "born in the Bronx" are the who's who in baseball and hip-hop lore, respectively. The Bronx is also often unnoticed in the NY food scene, specifically pizza, but there are neighborhoods that were flooded with Italian immigrants and the food and culture still thrives.

I went to the Bronx, searching for some GOOD pizza and my research yielded a few spots, traffic only allowed me to hit up one. That one, had the fate of the Bronx on its shoulders. Could it deliver?

I have heard the name so often. Louie and Ernie. Louie and Ernie. This is your neighborhood pizzeria just maybe not in your neighborhood. Word on the street is that the calzone at Louie and Ernie's is a must have, especially if you get the calzone with prosciuttini. A slice and a calzone, why not? I'm a growing boy.

I started with the slice and I thought it was average. I've been to a multitude of neighborhood pizza joints in a number of neighborhoods across NYC, and rarely are those neighborhood joints so stand out that they are elevated to the top of the pizza chart. Louie and Ernie is really no exception. The pizza was average, just average.

Turning my sights to the calzone it was interesting. And not a good interesting. The dough on the exterior was deep fried having a similar taste and texture to a zeppole. The filling would have been relatively flavorless if not loaded up with black pepper. The prosciuttini had no flavor and this thing was just a major, major disappointment for me.

Rating - 2.25/5 - the pizza was average. Nothing really was outstanding. The sauce was bland. The cheese, bland. The dough/crust was good but lacking that crunch I crave. If I did a rating for L&E with the calzone included, it would have been brought down to a 1.5

Their site - doesn't exist but they're located at 1300 Crosby Ave.

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