by Terrance Mc Arthur

When it comes to Italian food, spaghetti may be the first thing that comes to mind, but the American Queen of Italian Cuisine is the beloved pizza pie.

Pizza. Za. Slice. Frisbee Dinner. Feed a family, satisfy a squad, or cater a crowd, pizza is a favorite food. The Great Food Search has traversed Fresno County, searching for the perfect pizza, testing and tasting independent pizzerias. Here we go!

Shaver Lake Pizza—41820 Tollhouse Rd., Shaver Lake—Drive up Highway 168 into the mountains, past acres of fire-blackened forests, and you’ll make it to Shaver Lake and its clusters of shops and places to eat. That’s where you’ll find Shaver Lake Pizza. Picnic style tables (and a café table resting on a grove’s worth of intertwined branches and limbs) jam the small eating area of a room that’s designed for order-and-take customers. We dined with another couple who drove us. For fun, we ordered a half-and-half pizza, combining two varieties in one: the Shaver Combo and the Hot Hawaiian. The combo included red sauce, Canadian bacon, pepperoni, Italian sausage, fresh mushrooms, red onion, green bell peppers, and black olives in glorious profusion. The Hawaiian side sported a Garlic Alfredo base, Canadian bacon, pineapple, bacon, jalapeños, and a BBQ sauce drizzle. Both halves were tasty, with a nice spice to them. I think the altitude and the presence of friends added to the flavor.

Red Caboose Café—5054 N. Academy, Clovis—this is one of my go-to, not-too-far eateries, even better because a model train chugs by on an overhead track. It’s on the boundary of Sanger and Clovis, but Clovis claimed it for address rights. As much as we love the place, we had never tried their pizza. A little spoiled by the success of our 50/50 experiment in Shaver Lake, we double-dipped the Train Wreck with the Garlic Chicken on one dish. The Train Wreck lived up to its name, with Canadian bacon, Italian sausage, pepperoni, bacon, Roma tomatoes, artichoke hearts, red onion, fresh mushrooms, black olives, and chopped garlic, all on one side of the pizza. Wild and crazy! The other half started with a creamy garlic Alfredo sauce, with chicken, mushrooms, green onions, Parmesan cheese, and Roma tomatoes. Smoooothness!

Valentino’s Pizzeria & Italian Restaurant—1043 G St., Reedley—Across the street from Reedley’s Main Street Café, Valentino’s has been one of my places for a dinner before River City Theatre Company shows at the Reedley Opera House. I get good, friendly treatment, chat with the owners, settle down for a restful hour. The little loaf of house-made bread is made of the same dough as the pizza, and it boded well for the meal. Since this Great Food Search is pizza-centric, we looked at a different section of the menu, and noticed the Gourmet Chicken Pizza. Artichokes, black olives, and chicken, with a choice of Alfredo or Pesto sauces. We were in an adventurous mood, so I asked for both sauces, and it was wonderful. The olive oil in the Pesto added a tang to the Alfredo, and the crust gave a satisfying flavor. News Flash! Valentino’s has expanded their hours, adding lunch service!

DiCicco’s Italian Restaurant of Sanger—267 Academy Ave., Sanger—DiCicco’s Sanger branch is only half a mile from our home, so we are frequent flyers there, but we’d never ordered pizza (All four of this month’s restaurants were new-to-us pizza experiences, even though we’d eaten at three of them in the past.). The Combo pizza was served on a metal platform that elevated the meal in more than one way. Lots of meats (pepperoni, sausage, meatball, salami), mushrooms, bell peppers, and onion garnish the round. It’s quite a display.

THE VERDICT—All four of these pizzas were praiseworthy, and I would recommend them all. If I have to choose one (and I do), I’ll go with Red Caboose.

These are not the only pizzerias we have gone to this month, and there are many pizza places out there. Next month, will there be a “Pizza 2!” installment of The Great Food Search? Who knows?
Happy eating!

Check out more food articles and more of Terrance’s Great Food Search column in our Food Fun section. And check out a KRL staff profile this week on Terrance!

Terrance V. Mc Arthur worked for the Fresno County Public Library for three decades. He is retired, but not retiring. A storyteller, puppeteer, writer, actor, magician, basketmaker, and all-around interesting person, his goal is to make life more unusual for everyone he meets.