Who Has The Best Cheese Slice On Cross Creek Boulevard?

It might be said that, for most Americans, the quintessential Italian food is pizza. It is the go-to choice for family meals, football games, and get-togethers of all sorts. Sure we can get our pizzas with any number of common or exotic toppings, in various sizes, and many different crust styles. Even so, the most iconic offering of this beloved food remains the simple and accessible cheese slice. We all know about it, we all have eaten it at one time or another and many of us have our favorite places to grab a slice and go. For this review, two such neighborhood restaurants will be competing (unbeknownst to them) for the title of “Best Cheese Slice on Cross Creek Boulevard” according to the tastes and whims of your humble blogger. The order at both restaurants was the same: two cheese slices and a soft drink and no additional seasonings were added.

The mission statement on the take-out menu of Hawkeye’s Authentic New York Style Pizza (10865 Cross Creek Blvd., Tampa (813) 982-1905) is “New York Flavor For Our New Tampa Neighbors”. Frankly, being from the New York metropolitan area myself, that is a claim made by many pizza parlors and delivered upon by few. Thankfully, Hawkeye’s comes very close to this ideal. A word of warning…only order two slices if you haven’t eaten in a few days as they are cut from a 28 inch pie whereas standard slices are usually cut from a 16 inch or 18 inch pie. In a word, the slices are HUGE! The slices themselves are served at an appropriately mouth-scorching temperature right out of the oven. Visually they appear as any slice would coming from a standard gas-powered pizza oven…browned crust and melted cheese with a bit of sauce peeking through and a good amount of residual olive oil coating the slice. This is in opposition to what one would expect from pizza cooked in a wood-burning or coal-fired oven where some char would be seen on the crust. Notably missing was the presence of herbs. The slice passes the “droop test”, that is to say when folded in half lengthwise and held at the crust end the inner third of the slice droops to allow some olive oil run off.  The crust was thin and nicely crispy at the outer edge and through most of the slice except at the very middle. The proportions of crust to sauce to cheese were balanced. The pizza was satisfying and generally good if a bit bland. Some salt or a pre-bake sprinkling of parmesan would have gone a long way.

Biagio’s II Pizza and Pasta (10359 Cross Creek Blvd., Tampa (813) 973-4343) promises “Gourmet Food at Pizzeria Prices”. They claim to have originated in New Jersey, a place where you will absolutely not survive in the Italian food business if your pizza isn’t good. New Jersey style pizza is what Biagio’s delivers and they deliver it well. The slices were served at a good eating temperature but could have used a few more seconds in the oven as the second slice was only lukewarm upon consumption. They looked good with slightly less olive oil coating the slices. Again, a conspicuous lack of herbage was a bit worrisome. The slices passed the droop test with flying colors. The sauce to cheese to crust ratios were proper. The crust was crispy from outer edge to middle and appropriately thin. The pizza was tasty and the sauce was nice with a deep, slow-cooked flavor. Overall, a good pizza slice experience.

So who can lay claim to the best thin crust slice on Cross Creek? For value, the slices and drink were roughly the same price at both places but Hawkeye’s slices were at least twice the size of Biagio’s. The edge here goes to Hawkeye’s. On visual appeal, both restaurants serve good looking slices that make you want to dive in and get your hands dirty. This is a push. Construction and cooking of the pizza to appropriate doneness were accomplished successfully at both establishments. Another tie. On the subject of taste, both sets of slices were delicious but the level of seasoning on Biagio’s pizza was better. There was a level of slow-cooked flavor and an herbaceous quality to the sauce that simply wasn’t present in Hawkeye’s pizza. The edge here goes to Biagio’s.

Based primarily on taste, the unofficial title of “Best Pizza on Cross Creek” goes to Biagio’s by a narrow margin. However, Hawkeye’s pizza did not disappoint and your humble reviewer will continue to patronize both establishments happily. Two good pizza joints within easy biking distance from my apartment? Heaven on earth!