Santarpio’s Pizza in east Boston is in a corner building that was a bakery in 1903.  In the 30’s the Santarpio family began selling New York style pizza from there and they still are along with barbecued lamb, beef and sausage.  It is open daily and accepts only cash.  Walls are adorned with boxing paraphernalia and posters.  There are 2 main rooms filled with booths and tables along with a long bar divided from the rooms by a partition.  The grill area is at one end of the bar whereas the pizza oven is in the back of the two dining rooms.  The bar sells beer and wine, which is also available by carafe.  The lighting is lowered and no music is in the background.  Staff was friendly and helpful.

 

Food and Wine

We got a carafe of house red burgundy wine which was acceptable and a good deal.

 

The pizzas are one size and come with pecorino cheese.  We added pepperoni, mushrooms and garlic.   It was a thin crust pizza with a good puff on the edge and the sauce on top of the ingredients.  On top, toward the center were a lot of herbs.  It was a good sauce but the center does get a bit limp after it sits for a bit.  It was well seasoned and really tasty.

 

The single skewer of choice lamb was the real surprise.  It was grilly tasting and a little chewy but wonderfully flavorful.  Along with the nice chunks of meat are two peppers and some bread made from pizza dough.   This was very tasty and I could see ordering a couple skewers and making that a fine dinner.