The Gust Gallucci Company - Euclid Avenue in Midtown

My post for today is about one of my favorite Cleveland food gems, not a restaurant!  The Gust Galluci Co. has been in Cleveland for over 100 years.  Located in a semi-rough neighborhood at Euclid Ave. and 66 Ave., its location does not exactly suggest the gourmet. However, visit Galluci’s during the week around lunch and it will be packed with employees from all over Cleveland grabbing some of its delicious hot lunchtime treats.  These offerings change daily, but include typical Italian favorites, such as lasagna, pizza, and spaghetti.  The store offers plenty of outdoor seating to accompany the lunchtime visitors.  Its popularity is directly attributable to its deliciousness, and you really get a lot of bang for your buck.  With a hearty Galluci’s lunch, you may not be too hungry come dinner time.

However, today’s visit was not for lunch, but rather for the store’s myriad market offerings, looking for a nice, yet affordable, birthday gift for Dan’s mother.  The store contains an extensive deli counter complete with the best array of Italian meats and cheeses and pre-made dishes such as pasta salads and antipasto.  A bakery counter provides an adequate selection of traditional Italian desserts, nothing compared to that which you would find in the bakeries of Little Italy.  However, my favorite items in the store include: the comprehensive collection of Italian spices, varieties of olive oil and balsamic vinegar including bulk purchase options, and the frozen foods.  The frozen food section provides many of Galluci’s homemade foods for you to easily take home and make yourself.  These include tortellini, manicotti, ravioli, meatballs, homemade pastas and sauces, and entire pan lasagnas (both meat and vegetable). The veal tortellini and roasted red pepper and goat cheese ravioli had me salivating. We wandered the store debating between upscale oils and vinegars, traditional Italian coffees, and the frozen foods.

Finally, Dan decided on a pizza theme.  He purchased a frozen pizza dough, pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, and Mama Galluci’s own pizza sauce, all coming in for around $11.00.  Dan’s mother was delighted to receive the gift and said she wanted to use it for pizza made on the grill…a wonderful idea!

As we reached the checkout Dan couldn’t leave without these items for himself, so he purchased the exact same items for himself.  Tonight we made the pizza.  Results? …. Two thumbs up!

Our ingredients:

We read up on the proper way to use a pizza stone.  First we placed the stone in the oven while it preheated.  When we were ready to build the pizza we pulled it out of the oven and liberally sprinkled cornmeal on the stone:

Then, we spread out the defrosted dough on the stone:

Next, we added the sauce (we both like saucy pizza):  The sauce was very good, while I typically like a spicy pizza sauce, this was definitely the best pre-made sauce I’ve ever had; I would eat this sauce from the jar with a spoon!

Next, the mozzarella (Galluci’s tall mozzarella container is the perfect amount for an average sized pizza):

Finally, we added our desired toppings: As the picture indicates, Dan the strict meat-eater opted for the pepperoni on his half of the pizza.  I went for my favorite, simple onions and green peppers.  Dan reported that the pepperoni was the best pepperoni he has ever had.  Coming from a person who spent a semester studying in Florence, Italy, I’d say that’s saying something!

The finished product: 

We cooked it at 400° for 15 minutes.  We found this left the dough slightly underdone and doughy.  We put it in for an additional 7 minutes after it cooled, and it was … delicious! … BUT, still a little too doughy.  When I’ve made pizza from scratch in the past I’ve cooked it for closer to 30-45 minutes, I think in the future I would adhere to a longer cooking time.  However, I will say this is the first time I have used the cornmeal underneath my pizza, and I will never fail to do so again.  There was no issue with the dough sticking to my pizza stone, and it has no effect on the flavor; although, it did turn my kitchen into a slight mess with cornmeal everywhere!

Of course, I'm always a fan of a little side of ranch dressing with my pizza.  If you've never tried it, try it! I promise you will not be disappointed!

No entry concerning Galluci’s could be complete without discussing its extensive wine selection; it takes up practically half of the store.  It’s a great place to pick up a nice Italian wine.  While we didn’t pick up any wine there, since we usually keep it pretty cheap with the wine, we did make sure to have a glass with our dinner.  As a tribute to my vivacious Grandma Mary: “the doctor said I should have a glass of wine every day…he never said how big of a glass.”