Michael H.
Yelp
My wife and I have been trying to visit this place for a year now after passing by on a trip. Unfortunately, our schedules just didn't work with theirs for a while. Looking through some of this place's reviews here on Yelp, I see that some of their non-Jewish customers would not understand why our schedule would not work with this place's considering some of the other reviewers do not understand why this place closes so early on Friday night through Saturday.
You see Jerusalem Pizza has Kosher certification. They post the certificate prominently on the wall for all to see. That means several things. It means that this place follows kashrut (Jewish culinary laws). The culinary law that meat and dairy is not to be mixed together is why the place is vegetarian. However, the part that some reviewers seem to not understand is that the laws of kashrut which Kosher restaurants like Jerusalem Pizza must follow in order to keep their certification requires that they not be open for Shabbot (Shabbos or Sabbath). Shabbot starts on Friday evening at sundown and goes until sundown on Saturday night. Places that have Kosher certification usually close a bit earlier than sundown in order to give their workers time to clean up the place, close, make it home in time to change their clothing and time to walk to Esnoga (Shul, Synagogue or Temple). This place cannot be open during Shabbot or Jewish holidays, or they will lose their Kosher certification. And considering how many of their customers are observant Jews, it is important for Jerusalem Pizza to retain its Kosher certification in order to be able to serve its predominant customer base. That being said, it took a year for my schedule to give me enough time off on the right days to be able to stop in here. Now that I am done preaching, I will get onto the review. I apologize for getting preachy.
Walking into the door, you see that the place is clean and organized. It is small, but it is a cozy kind of small. Despite how cozy, small it is, they have a few tables where you can eat inside. They have an extremely cheerful, friendly young woman at the counter politely greeting people as they come in and taking their orders. She is a jewel of an employee whom should be treasured by her employer as she is good at her job.
Their menu gives you a number of pizza menu options that you don't normally get at most pizza places. For those whom absolutely want to have meat on their pizza, they have vegetarian versions of meat ingredients that you can have put on your pizza. They have a wide variety of menu selections for vegetarians to chose from. And unlike some places which has "vegetarian" selections, they understand that vegetarian does not mean bland. Their vegetarian pizza has flavor. In fact, it has enough flavor that you really don't need the meat substitutes nor meat.
For our pizza selection, my wife and I chose their large Sephardic Pizza. It came with a thin crust that was perfect. It had the right crispness to the bottom that other pizza places get wrong. Some places get the thin crust so crisp that it is like having pizza sauce and toppings on a cracker, or they get the crust soggy and greasy. This place's oven uses flame to cook the pizza. They get the right crispness and texture combined with a lightness to the crust. The tomato sauce had just the right kind of spice and sweetness to it. It wasn't too sweet. It wasn't too spicy. It had a nice amount of cheese to it. Not too much, not too little. And the baked eggplant, tomato, cucumber, red onion, olive oil and Italian seasoning was just right. All of the vegetable toppings were chopped finely; so, everything was cooked and easily eaten. And the flavor was complex and good enough that we ended up eating the whole pizza before we knew it. We chose the Sephardic pizza due to my heritage, and I would say that this pizza did it justice. It was a great pizza. I highly recommend this place, if someone is vegetarian and looking for a great pizza. I recommend this place, if someone wants to keep Kosher. And I most especially recommend this place, If you want a really good pizza. Shalom, y'all.
