Sicilian Slices Found in the East Bay

I've never really looked, but I don't think I recall seeing Sicilian (or Siggy, as they used to say at Prima's) pizza slices anywhere in the Bay Area. These were all but ubiquitous in my area of upstate New York. I remember that when you had a couple of extra quarters, you could upgrade from a regular slice to Sicilian and get way more food. This was only if you couldn't afford two slices.

Today we finally went to Arinell's in Berkeley. The goal was to stop there, have a slice, then proceed to Gioia for a mini taste test. While Aileen got a "regular" slice with pepperoni and mushrooms, I was tempted by a Sicilian slice. I annoyed the tattooed pizza chef by asking for a middle slice. Cmon, man. Don't you want me to care what I eat?

The siggi slice was right on. A thick shelf of cheese across the top and a dry-ish fat, white bread almost crouton of a crust, moistened with olive oil. It's a poor man's focaccia. The crust tasted bland, which was OK. It was the right texture and the cheese was just thick enough. Tomato sauce was fine. All was helped by a shake of parm cheese and oregano. All in all, a very nice surprise. I wonder who buys it and why they started serving it.

Aileen's slice looked good. Properly muddled orange and red cheese/sauce mixture. Very promising. But the crust, while thin and crisp, was just boring and kind of cardboardy. It's as if they forgot an ingrediant (salt?) It was better than most, but we were on our way to Gioia so the bar was raised pretty high.

At Gioia, Aileen opted for a mushroom slice and I went with straight formaggio. Both were excellent, excellent. We decided that the sauce and cheese just have more flavor. We knew that the sauce is organic and that Will Gioia chooses several kinds of cheese to combine into that perfect mix of stretchy, chewy wonderful goo. Gioia wins again. Big surprise. Not.