Pizza is pizza. It is impossible for me to put what I truly feel about it into words. There were times when I was a huge sucker for ramen, or for lahmacun. Those all came and went. I am not saying that I do not enjoy them anymore, it is just that the “craze” or “hype” for them could only really last for a while for me. However, no matter when or where and regardless of my current mood shifts vis-à-vis food, I tend to opt for a slice of pizza (figuratively speaking, generally the whole pie is hardly enough for me) if I am dining outside. I suppose, the inability to really cook one myself at home is one of the main reasons that really creates this love of mine, but there is certainly more to it than just that. Given this situation, and my not so stellar experience with pizzerias in St. Petersburg, I was quite upset whenever I thought about finding some decent slices in Nizhny Novgorod when I decided to come here to learn Russian for a year. After all, tomatoes travel a long way to this country, they are often quite expensive, and are hardly a part of the cuisine here. A tomato-based dish such as a pizza truly suffers a lot from all these predicaments. Now, after a few months of testing the pizza game of Nizhny, I can gladly say that I was stressed for nothing. There are some gems in this city that rival pizzas that I ate in any country I have been to so far, even including Italy and Albania. Let us now go over a few of them one by one, with the two best coming up first!
Yula Pizza – https://yandex.com/maps/-/CCUCuXeAcB
There is too much to say about Yula Pizza. Nestled right in the heart of the city, staffed with some of the friendliest people in town, and armed with a stone oven that can dish out amazing pizzas at a rapid pace, Yula Pizza is the go-to place for this Italian delicacy if you are living on the upper side. It has everything you can ask from a pizzeria, lovely and fast service, just the right amount of burnt bits on your crust, an enormous menu coupled with a generous wine list, and a much welcome complimentary water for those times you want to save up as much cash as you can. Oh, did I also mention the incredible prices, with some pizzas costing as little as 220 roubles, which is cheaper than eating out at almost any fast-food place out there, with the exception of a handful of shawarma spots? Yes, on top of all this, it is actually genuinely (and shockingly) very well priced. A pizza with similar qualities costs around three times in Turkey. Truthfully, it makes me feel dumb thinking that I would be left without any decent pizza for a year… Come here, taste it, enjoy it, and thank me later.
Pech – https://yandex.com/maps/-/CCUCuXq8cC
Pech is the lower Nizhny’s answer to Yula, being quite close to the city’s stadium. I would not say that it is hard to reach it, but I am quite certain that for the majority of my readers, it will be somewhat out of their ways unless they decide to stay on that side of Oka. A visit to this fine establishment can be coupled with a much-needed tour of Strelka, where one can see the finest cathedral in the city, named after Alexander Nevsky. Their tomato sauce is certainly a bit on the sweeter side, which is not something I am against in principle mind you. Their dough was decent, but I would prefer that of Yula by a small margin. That being said, the crust to pie ratio was much better at Pech, and their pies are certainly cheesier. Both places are amazing and well worth a visit, and I for one am extremely glad that they are both operating here, serving some excellent Neapolitan pizzas to their patrons every day.
Dodo Pizza – https://yandex.com/maps/-/CCUCuXavpD
You cannot really make a short list of pizzerias in any Russian city without at least mentioning Dodo Pizza. Unfortunately, my own experience with them has been quite subpar. Their pies do well in the taste department, for a chain restaurant that is, but their pricing makes it obsolete to ever step inside a Dodo Pizza again when the alternatives are much better tasting and are in fact cheaper. The pie below came to around 600 roubles with a small garlic sauce on the side, one of the worst sauces I have ever had in my life mind you. For that price, you can buy some of the most expensive pizzas in Yula and Pech, or just buy two basic pizzas. To reiterate, Dodo’s pizza was not bad, a decent cheese pull was there, and tomatoes tasted alright. However, I do not understand why anyone would prefer ordering an expensive yet mediocre pizza to a cashier and then serving themselves whilst there are alternatives that offer much better pizza for half the price and takes care of the service themselves.
Ustreet Pizza – https://yandex.com/maps/-/CCUCuXQP-C
To conclude this week’s article, I wanted to share a rather experimental place with my dear readers. I like my pizza how I like my video games, traditional and to the point. Therefore, I am not a huge fan of these “other” places but one that came up a few times during my research was Ustreet Pizza, which is a joint that sells pizzas and noodles, a very interesting duo to say the least. Then again, Russia is home to many restaurants that “specialize” in pizza and sushi so who am I to judge? Ustreet works fast, has a unique menu, and was on the cheaper side of the scale. Unfortunately, their pizza sauce was more ketchup-like than tomatoey, which is never a good sign. Due to the aforementioned priciness of tomatoes in the country, it is not difficult to find many spots that cut some corners by using certain alternative products. This is likely one of them. Again, overall, it was not a bad experience. If you are getting a haircut at what I believe is the cheapest place in town, Superman, you might as well drop by here to see if you find anything you fancy. I would not necessarily classify it as pizza, home-style pizza could be a good way to put it, but nevertheless, it is not something that tastes off-putting.
