Pizza Sola

Pizza Sola opened up in 2002 and now has four locations throughout the Pittsburgh area. Their latest pizza shop just opened up in Cranberry and I thought I would drive out there to try it out. The location in Cranberry is right along Rt 19 and is located in a new strip mall development. There is seating inside and some pizzas are already cooked and displayed for people who are on the go and want a slice heated up quickly.

New Cranberry Location

  My eating companions and I decided to try out two of there Solazones which are little mini calzones, and a Godfather Pizza.

Solazone

   The solazones were nice little hand sized calzones. At only $3.50 they are a pretty good value.

Bonnie and Clyde

  The Bonnie and Clyde was stuffed with white meat chicken, brocoli, mozzerella, and asiago cheese. It was a good combination of ingredients. The chicken was juicy and the asiago gave off a nice sharpness. Only wish I would have got some marinara on the side for dipping.

The Italian Stallion

     The Italian Stallion Solazone was filled with Italian sausage, cappicola, pepperoni, and mozzarella. Once again I wish I had got some marinara sauce to dip the Solazone in. Even without the sauce it was quite good. It was stuffed with a good amount of meat and at only $3.00 is a real bargain. My only complaint was that they could have left the Solazones in the oven a little longer in order to give them a little more crispness.

The Godfather

  The pizza at Pizza Sola is described as New York style with a thin crispy crust. We ordered the Godfather which has Italian sausage, monzerella and ricotta cheese as its toppings. Luckily I had checked inside the box before I had driven away from Pizza Sola as they had mistakenly gave me a plain cheese pie instead. After taking my pizza back inside the staff quickly cooked up the proper pizza. Still as an apology they should have gave me a discount or something for making me wait the extra 15 minutes. Anyhoot, the pizza itself when finally consumed was very good. The sausage was not overpowered with spice as you will find at a lot of pizza places where the sausage is just overloaded with fennel. The ricotta added a nice touch of creamy sweetness. The sauce was terrific, the use of San Marzano tomatoes from Naples really stands out with the sauce having a great tomato flavor. It was also nicely seasoned and not overly sweet. The crust was nice and thin yet not as crispy as I would have liked. All in all though a very good pie. 


  Pizza Sola is a welcome addition to the Cranberry dining scene. The Solazazones are tasty and a great value, and there pizza is one of the better pies that you can get in the Northern Pittsburgh area. If they could make their crust a little crispier this could be one of the best NY style pies in Pittsburgh . Stop by Pizza Sola and give it a try. Don't forget that they also have locations in Oakland, Southside, and the East End.


 RATING

Bonnie and Clyde: 7/10 
Italian Stallion: 6/10 
Godfather Pizza: 7/10

Overall: 7/10

Cafe Kolache

Cafe Kolache is a little coffee shop/ bakery located in downtown Beaver. They specialize in Kolache's . What is a Kolache? Well I am glad you asked. Its a sweet dough bun filled with various fillings. The recipe comes  from Czech immigrants who settled in the Houston Texas area and opened up their own kolache stores. The owners of  Cafe Kolache in Beaver are originally from Houston and thankfully have brought their delightful kolache recipe with them. The closest thing I can think of to a kolache would be the Kings Hawaiian bread or rolls that you can get at the grocery store. Only this is obviously much fresher and slightly sweeter. 

    Inside Cafe Kaloche are many tables where you can enjoy their gourmet coffee. The coffee comes from Prestogeorge in Pittsburghs Strip District, and is some of the best locally roasted coffee you will find.

As you can see the Coffee prices are a lot better then Starbucks with the bonus that you can get Kolaches while you are there.

  The Kolaches basically come in two types, sweet or savory. The sweet ones include cream cheese, apricot, prune and poppy seed. The savory includes my favorite which is ham with colby and jalepeno, little smoky sausages with cheese, and eggs and bacon. Also they have bigger lunch size kolaches with fillings such as ham and swiss and steak fajita.

 As you can see from the menu they have much more then just kolaches. Salads, soups, cinnamon roles, chili,scones, and bruschetta sticks are sold there as well
 So if your up in Beaver County stop by Cafe Kolache and try out these unique sweet dough pastries. So far I have not found anyone yet who does not enjoy a good kolache, and its a chance to try something that is pretty unique up here in the Pittsburgh area.