Babbo Panzeratti from Massa
Item Purchased: Babbo Panzerotti from Massa
Location Purchased: Massa Italian Cafe / 807 W. Roosevelt Rd. / Chicago, IL
Price: $5.59 + tax
Review: Okay, I really need to do the riced and beans thing again this Sunday. I can’t afford to eat out every work day. I really can’t afford the allure of Massa’s Panzerottis.
Back in Milwaukee, I used to live off of Panzerottis. A few times a week, the guys on my press crew would make a run to the neighborhood Italian cafe and order a couple of bags full of these things. The next half hour would consist of cheese and sausage grease dripping down our ink-covered chins while we philosophized about ‘chicks,’ football and armchair politics. Of course, I was working twelve hour days of manual labor, so I could get away with eating 3-4 panzerottis a week. If I start up that old habit, I’d surely reach 300lbs again in no time.
For those who don’t know what a panzerotti is, the easiest way to describe it is as a pizza the size of your head. If the purchase is made from a sub-par Italian restaurant, that analogy is more than apt. If, however, you purchase a panzerotti from Massa, I have failed you miserably.
Massa’s panzerottis are fried pockets of dough the size of your head, but unlike a Hot Pocket, the dough is flakey, not soggy. Inside, the melted cheese and tomato sauce has a flavor both savory and sweet instead of the frozen ketchup flavor of the panzerotti’s unkempt cousin. Finally, Massa’s fresh Italian sausage (only inside of the Babbo panzerotti)) is so carefully spiced that you will wonder how they can price this lunch item so reasonably.
Despite the reasonable price for this tasty and filling lunch-stand dish, I don’t make the money or burn the calories I once did. Like a Jim’s Original Polish sausage, this is a heartstopping lunch I must save for the occasional grease craving.
Rating: 4 / 5
March 8th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
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