Roman Style Pizza at Scissors and Pie

Not so long ago… OH MY GOD THAT WAS ALMOST A DECADE AGO.

Erm. Sorry.

At an earlier time in our lives, my fiancée and I spent some months apart for the very charming reason that she was studying for a semester abroad in Rome, Italy.

I made a lot of long distance international phone calls. When we talked, we talked on opposite halves of the day due to the time difference – I was usually on the PM side of things and she was early AM. To this day, I still wonder what the concierge thought of me calling at one or two in the morning local time, asking to speak with her. Oh, and we did not text. No, no. We used that archaic technology known as AOL Instant Messenger and letters (real mail!). In case you forgot (or never knew), AOL stands for America On-Line. Those were the days of the bitter end of dial up internet. And film. I’d share some of my fiancée’s pictures with you, but, you know… they actually had to be developed.

During her time in the city, however, she often raved about her incredible and inexpensive lunches. 

The way I heard it, Rome was a magical place where wine was cheaper than water, where the statues of the ancients would loiter everyday near modern café-goers, and where pizza was always fresh and purchased by weight. For reference, I was eating chicken patties.

Two of these are true of Boston, too. The Commonwealth Mall and the Common surround Bostonians with their ancestors, but did you know that there is Roman-style pizza – fresh and sold by weight – to be found in Beantown, as well?

Recently written up in the Globe, Scissors and Pie is one of Back Bay’s newest eateries [225 Newbury Street]. Stumbling upon it one day on a walk, we decided to stop in. Even before the first bite, I knew I would like it. The toppings were clearly fresh, the crust had the right (and visible) balance of crisp and poof, and the smell was just perfect. The true test, of course, was to come. What would my fiancée – so experienced in the art of Roman-style pizza – think of our slices? 

In short, she loved it.

Scissors and Pie is not a restaurant, it is a portal across the Atlantic. It is Star Trek teleportation and Harry Potter wizardry made real. Its doorway doesn’t take you to “another pizza joint,” it takes you to Rome. To me, that is priceless. Finally, we are able to share at least this small piece of that ancient city. For that reason, thank you Scissors and Pie.

Mangia.

Til next time!