A New Pizzeria and the Expectations Game

I had planned on returning to posting about food today with a cheesesteak report. But my wife mentioned an interest in pizza Saturday and there is a pizzeria near us I had been wanting to try since discovering them online a couple months ago. So the steak will hold until later in the week.

Hunnypie Smallbatch Pizza Pies is located in the western Philadelphia suburb of Springfield, PA. I don’t know exactly when they opened, but all of the online photos of their pizza were taken within the past few months, so they must be fairly new. 

“Small batch” is a term that has come into vogue in recent years. I’ve probably seen it used most often by ice cream companies and generally associate it with high quality ingredients and higher-than-average prices – quality ingredients not being cheap. 

Our visit to Hunnypie Saturday was the first time I’ve had any pizza with that tag, and I confess that played a role in raising my expectations to a level that was perhaps unreasonable going into the meal. 

It’s a charming little shop that appeared to primarily do takeout business, but they have a pleasant little dining area with a few tables and we grabbed one by the front window.

Hunnypie is truly a specialty shop. Their menu has no other food items beyond pizza. We decided in advance to sample both a House and a White House pie and kept the former plain while each picking a topping for our half of the white pizza. My wife opted for Kalamata olives, while I chose imported ham. 

We arrived early for dinner and were the only dine-in customers, although another party arrived before we left. They had Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” blasting on their stereo system while we waited for our pizzas to come out. While I respect Mr. Zimmerman, neither of us were thrilled with that as dinner conversation music. Thankfully, they moved on to Sinatra and a couple other crooners and any thoughts of changing our order to takeout were abandoned. 

(Put it this way – if George Thorogood had succeeded Dylan, we would have eaten the pizza at home.)

The wait for our two pizzas was thankfully not too long, as we were both more than ready to dig in to them. 

Although it wasn’t obvious at first sight, I quickly discovered how gooey the cheese on each pizza was when I picked up my first slice of the plain pie. The strands of cheese between the pizza tray and my plate must have stretched a couple feet. All of that excess cheese had to be rolled up and dropped onto the slice from which it came.

The crust for both pies had some crunch when bitten into, but they were also enjoyably chewy. What was on top of the crust was also very good. The sauce was flavorful and had a touch of sweetness, just the way I like it. The cheese and toppings were excellent as well.

We agreed that Hunnypie serves very good pizza. Yet we also concurred that our expectations – driven by the smallbatch label, the prices, and some of the online photos I had seen prior to our visit – were not quite met. 

Whether it was reasonable or not, I went into the meal thinking I might get to eat some of the best pizza in the Philadelphia region. When it was over, I wasn’t prepared to go quite that far. It probably would have taken less cheese and a harder – or at least more well-done – crust for me to think about placing this pie among my favorites.

I should know by now that playing the expectations game is always risky business.

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I’ve referred to John Tanner’s Barbecue Blog a few times. He just came out with his annual list of the ten best Eastern Carolina-style barbecue joints this morning. I highly recommend using it as a resource to anyone who will be in North Carolina at any point in the foreseeable future. You can access it here.

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The cheesesteak report I alluded to will likely be posted Friday. In the meantime, I intend to check out a new hot dog and burger stand that appears almost too good to be true. 

There go those expectations again.