By Staff Writer Jack Kelly
As this hot, wet summer winds down into my personal favorite season, autumn, why not beat the heat with a pizza pie by Marc Roppolo at Roppolo’s Pizzeria (Guadalupe location)? The Roppolo family established their Sixth Street location in 1989 and has been serving Austin’s finest ever since. The Roppolo’s come from a hard working Sicilian family, and it shows in the pizza. It’s been praised by CBS’s Gayle King and many others — I will not be an exception. The restaurant has options to order by the pie or by the slice, drawing from the family’s roots in New York. The slice also has evident New York roots in its appearance, as well as discernible Sicilian origin in the flavor and texture; however, it is the Texas flare that knocks this pie out of the park. Texas pizza is generally not mentioned on the global stage — it’s more common to hear about New York, Chicago, Rome or even Connecticut pies — but Texas has carved its own eclectic niche that impressed both Gayle and yours truly. I would classify this ‘za as an Americana Napoletana slice — a pizza genre unique to the Roppolo’s family history. Many Austinites and pizzaheads were worried about the Roppolo’s spreading themselves too thin by opening a new location in West Campus. However, the Roppolo family has proven their ability to spread the joy of pizza with their pizza on wheels locations. This new location maintains the Sicilian quality of the original Roppolo’s restaurant and I highly recommend it to any pizza lover or average schmuck looking for some top flight Americana Napoletana ‘za.