AMOT: The Pizza Grille

A Matter of Taste

The Pizza Grille
901 State Street, Lemoyne PA
731-6717

by Sue Barry

There is a pizza for everyone at the Pizza Grille in Lemoyne. From behind the front stainless steel counter comes spicy shrimp, grilled vegetables, and cheese steak pizzas. Even if it’s just the standard tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese pizza you want, you can get it at this state-of-the-art BYOB pizza place.

As this little gem of a restaurant packs a ton of flavor into its unconventional pizzas, people started packing the place for more than one slice of a pie. Not looking like much from the outside, once inside you’ll find it cute and modern as stainless steel expands beyond the counter to the tables and chairs in the light and airy dining room. Paper plates are not standard issue and wait staff is eager to please.

Owners, Doug and Deborah Barry (no relation to this reviewer) put their all into creating the unexpected pizzas. A great way to experience their mastery is to go with a few people, order a few different pizzas on either white or wheat crusts — crusts that support their toppings — and share and share and share. The personal sized pizzas (8 inch or 10 inch) are perfect sizes for this type of pizza party.

We tried a couple of outstanding pizzas. One, the Hawaiian Bar-B-Que Chicken Pizza ($5.75/$8.75), combined the sweetness of grilled pineapple and the Pizza Grille’s own bar-b-que sauce on tender chicken slices with red onions that is blanketed with melted mozzarella cheese, melding it all together. Another, the Cheese Steak Pizza ($5.75/$8.75), had all the makings of a typical cheese steak — sliced steak, sauteed mushrooms, onions, peppers and provolone cheese. This pizza tasted like the best cheese steak you may have ever had, served open face. Many times I’ve tried cheese steak alternatives, typically at pizza joints, the likes of a cheese steak calzone. Never have they stood up to a good cheese steak. But, I have found the perfect alternative with Pizza Grille’s Cheese Steak Pizza.

Grilled zucchini, yellow squash, and roasted red peppers are brushed with a moderately deep flavored roasted garlic olive oil and topped with fresh basil to form a top notch Grilled Vegetable Pizza ($4.50/$7.50). Mushroom lovers in our group united to try the Three Mushroom Pizza ($5.50/$8.50), consisting of Portobello, Shiitake and white mushrooms with Monterey Jack cheese. Mushroom puree tops this pie, too, sending it over the top in mushroom headiness. It is not for the faint.

The Traditional Pizza ($3.00/$6.00), with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese incredibly held our interest and may be the best bet when children are along. A sausage pizza ($5.75/$8.75) takes on a twist and is surprisingly piquant as the sausage is sweet and spicy turkey sausage arranged with roasted red peppers on tomato sauce covered with mozzarella cheese. You could try the Pizza Margherita ($5.00/$8.00). Named for the first Italian queen and consisting of fresh mozzarella, fresh basil and tomatoes, it’s colors represent the colors of the Italian flag.

Watch out for the Spicy Shrimp Pizza ($8.50/$9.50), as a good showing of marinated shrimp join caramelized red onions with a spicy tomato sauce. The sauce was spicy. Too spicy as it hid the succulent flavor of the shrimp. The Pizza Grille’s signature pizza — the Pizza Salad ($5.00/$8.00) — is just that — salad on top of pizza crust. However, the crust is first treated with virgin olive oil and parmesan cheese and then heaped with cold crisp mixed greens tossed with Dijon vinaigrette. If the salad tries to fall off, just fold the sides of the thin crust up like you’ve done many times trying to keep cheese from sliding off your basic pizza slice.

Salads are offered as whole or half portions. A half size of a standard Caesar Salad ($4.50/$6.75) is quite good and more than enough to accompany pizza. Grilled pork tenderloin sliced and drizzled with honey, vanilla, and balsamic vinegar glaze turned into a salad when served over a bed of mixed greens in a champagne vinaigrette ($5.75/$8.75). It sounded more flavorful than it turned out to be.

Sandwiches are offered at Pizza Grille with many fillings the same as the pizza toppings. I will be sure to come back to try their Cheese Steak Sandwich ($5.50) on a baguette and their Grilled Vegetable Salad Sandwich ($6.25) on foccacia bread.

Nightly specials include a feature pizza, soup, an appetizer and pasta entrée. Mussels Marinara ($4.95) was a special appetizer we tried, but I found the tomato sauce much too thick for the delicate mussels as it drowned out the many briny beauties.

Dessert choices are plentiful and the price is right. At $2.50, you will find a slice of key lime pie tart yet refreshing and rum torte dense yet subtle.
The Pizza Grille may appear insipid from the outside, but step inside and you’ll find exciting alternatives to the typical pizzeria of Main Street USA.