The Pizza Diaries: Vero Pizza

You guys should be proud of us because we (voluntarily) drove to the east side to try a new-to-us pizza place! Ok, full disclosure we over there because we had tickets for the Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirrors Exhibit at the Cleveland Art Museum (which was truly amazing). So we decided that since we were on that side of town we should venture to one of the many pizza places over there. We chose Vero Pizza.

For this pizza journey we asked our friends Wes and Heather to join us. How do we know them? Well, Wes is our jeweler! Is it weird that we hang out with our jeweler? We don’t think so, especially when they’re this awesome. Wes and his wife Heather own Wanderlust Jewelers in Cleveland Heights. In addition to designing Broad’s engagement ring and our wedding bands, he’s done some amazing redesigns for us with some old jewelry Broad had. He’s also done rings for a couple of our friends as well. Vero is right next to his shop, so of course we just had to ask him and his wife Heather to join us.

They both describe themselves as pizza experts, first time we’ve hung out with pros! Heather used to work at a pizza joint in high school and Wes worked at one while in college. They eat pizza one to two times a month. They have two kids and they told us that you’d think kids would want pizza all the time, but they don’t (well theirs don’t at least). Wes says they’re both pizza snobs (he studied in Italy for a bit) but they also eat cheap pizza. Heather would eat a standard, good cheese pizza forever and Wes would go for a ham and mushroom (the family pizza) or pepperoni pizza.

Vero Pizza
Vero is a small dine-in only (correct, no take out) walk in, first come, first serve style pizzeria. They have 12 tables and a small counter. There is usually a wait so they’ll take your name and number and call/text you as soon as your table is ready. Luckily, Parnell’s is next door so you can drink while you wait. They only make 100 dough balls per day prepared by a single pizzamaker and the pizzas are Neapolitan style. The toppings are sourced from local farmers and producers.

We waited for about 45 minutes to be seated, but we were no hurry and enjoyed our drinks at Parnell’s. The wait didn’t seem long at all. We obviously recommend getting to Vero early to put your name on the list though if you’re in a time crunch.

What We Ordered
We were all very hungry. We ordered the almonds and olives starter and cured meat plate. Wes and Heather told us we should each order a pizza since they are on the smaller side.

• Margherita DOP: tomato, buffalo mozzarella, basil.
• Milk ‘n Honey: garlic, mozzarella, farm egg, honey, basil.
• Piccante: tomato, mozzarella, calabrian chili, onion, pecorino.
• Amr: garlic, buffalo mozzarella, beef bresaola, arugula, parmigiano

Sauce
It’s hard to generalize the sauce with these pizzas because they are all so different, but that’s a good thing. We could all agree that the Margherita sauce was the best. It was tangy yet a little sweet, but not too sweet. It just tasted like fresh, ripe tomatoes. Wes said he could have a bowl of that sauce with a grilled cheese. The Milk ‘n Honey was interesting. It was very eggy, yet sweet because of the honey. We all know how Broad feels about honey.

Crust
The crust was good, it was thin but not too thin. The girls didn’t eat all of their crust because they didn’t want to fill up on bread. Wes said the crust provides a good visual presentation and you could make a meal out of it by adding a bit of olive oil or Papa John’s garlic sauce, and we have to agree. Heather enjoys dipping the crust in the milk ‘n honey sauce, it’s actually perfect for that. It seems to be softer and more pillowy than other Neapolitan pizzas, but it also seems like it can get more soggy.

Toppings
The toppings were fresh, crisp and tasty. The margherita pizza toppings were perfectly paired. They don’t overdue it on the amounts either, they had just the right amount of balance. The spicy pizza was almost too spicy, but one piece was just enough. Also, the onions on the spicy pizza were so crispy and tasty. We normally don’t want onions on pizza, but they just really worked.

Cheese
We all had different views on the cheese. Broad and Wes thought there could have been more cheese on all the pizzas but then again, they always want more cheese on all pizzas. Heather thought there was enough cheese on the pizzas and in fact, too much cheese on the margherita pizza (gasp!). Beard thought they hit the amounts just right, but he’d never turn away a pizza that had “too much cheese.”

Overall Experience
Heather and Wes gave us two words to describe Vero: quirky and ironic. We have to agree. We love the small, intimate vibe of the place. We honestly didn’t mind the 45 minute wait to be seated because we enjoyed our time at Parnell’s. The wait staff was friendly and knowledgeable, but the place did have its “rules” and just a kind of Portlandia-esque feel to it. But don’t get us wrong, that’s part of why we liked it so much.

Next Day Deliciousness
None of us can answer this one! Wes and Heather have never had leftovers and they’ve been here multiple times. We devoured our four pizzas on this visit. If we had to guess, we don’t think these pizzas would hold up the next day due to the sauces and thin crusts. We think they would get too soggy and wouldn’t crisp up.

Final Rating
4.5 hipster t-shirts. We enjoyed the pizza, loved the personal size of the pies, the fresh toppings and quaint environment. It’s a bit pricey and the wait can be annoying if you’re hungry, but it’s worth it. The starters were also delicious and the gelato we had for dessert was fabulous. The hipster t-shirt is because we loved the shirts the staff were wearing but they couldn’t (or wouldn’t) tell us the designer, only his first name and that he was local…kinda par for the course for this weird place with great pizza.

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave