Heading To Doylestown, PA, for Steak and Pie

Many of the steaks I’ve posted about came to my attention via the cheesesteak groups on Facebook. There were also some that were either famous enough for me to already know of their existence or that happened to be close to where I live or in a spot I pass by regularly. But every once in a while, I get a good tip the old fashioned way – by word of mouth. 

That was the case with Lucatelli’s Pizzeria of Doylestown, PA, which is the seat of Bucks County and about an hour north of central Philadelphia. When my friend, Rob, who lives up in that direction, and I discussed getting together for lunch a few weeks back, he mentioned them as a possible destination. I looked the place up online and was impressed with the photos of their food – especially the pizza. Then I saw one of the Facebook regulars praise their cheesesteaks and started to feel a sense of urgency to get there. It happened Tuesday for lunch.

The restaurant sits in a shopping center just off Doylestown’s Main Street and has a modern-looking interior and a very attractive display of pizzas available by the slice at their front counter. 

Rob ordered a couple slices of the pepperoni, while I went for a single of Grandma pie, something that was unheard of on local menus for most of my life, but which has become increasingly popular at pizzerias in the Philly region over the past few years. It’s a rectangular or square pizza with sauce spooned on top of the cheese and a crust that isn’t as thick as Sicilian-style. 

I also ordered a cheesesteak with Cooper Sharp cheese and fried onions for Rob and me to split. Our friend, John, showed up after we had gotten started and opted for slices of cheesesteak and what we believed to be Buffalo chicken pizza. 

The pepperoni and grandma pie slices came out first after getting a few minutes in the oven. 

Although I’m not a pepperoni guy, Rob’s two slices looked like classics, and he appeared to be very pleased with them.

The grandma pie was thicker than expected based on the many online photos I’d seen. It’s possible they make it a little thicker than some other places at Lucatelli’s – or perhaps the photos were deceiving. In any event, the crust had a nice crispy quality without being too hard or heavy, while the sauce was flavorful and both it and the cheese were well proportioned. 

I certainly enjoyed the slice, but not as much as a well-made standard pizza. Grandma pie will likely be an occasional change of pace for me going forward, but I’ll stick with the regular stuff most of the time. 

John spoke very highly of his slice of cheesesteak pizza, which came without sauce. But it filled him up and he took the other slice home to his son. We were sure the second one had chicken on it. From the color of the sauce, we guessed Buffalo chicken, but it wasn’t clear-cut based on appearance. 

Rob and I were extremely eager to dig into the cheesesteak when it was brought out to us. It came by default on a Liscio’s seeded roll that was fairly soft, but plenty firm enough to hold a good amount of meat and cheese without wilting. It was also extremely fresh.

There appeared to be in the neighborhood of 12 ounces of chopped ribeye on there with close to an ideal amount of Cooper Sharp nicely blended in with it. I felt and tasted the cheese, but it didn’t overwhelm the meat.

This was a very well-made cheesesteak. Perhaps just a smidgeon more seasoning would have put it in the stratosphere, but it was outstanding nonetheless – and certainly not lacking in flavor.

Lucatelli’s will unquestionably get consideration when I put together my revised top 20 cheesesteaks list this coming fall. I’ll have to get back there to try a slice of regular pizza at some point – hopefully with a friend so I can split another of their steaks. 

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I’ve got another cheesesteak outing of some significance on tap for Friday – likely at one of last year’s top ten. I’ll post about it either later that day or Saturday.