In Celebration of National Pizza Month

A taste of some of the local flavors of Lorain

Selenti's Pizza—808 Oberlin Ave.

photo by Jason Shaffer

Pizza! Lorain! It's kinda our thing! No, really, it's honestly no secret that the people of Lorain are mega passionate about pizza. But how did an international city that's a melting pot of different cultures end up being such an intense pizza location? It's totally weird, and we may never know the answer. If you want to bring some pizza over and speculate ideas with me that would be super cool! And since I don't know the answers, I need to warn you that this article is a totally random stream of consciousness, not a review of our local pizza shops.

Though let's face it. I could be sitting here typing about quadratic formulas, the space/time continuum, or explaining why the Empire Strikes Back is one of the best Star Wars films—and you'd probably not even notice. Are you even reading this? Or are you drooling over these ridiculously tasty-looking photos that we took for this article?

Rosie's Pizza—3113 Broadway

photo by Jason Shaffer

When I think of pizza, it's not just tasty, circular comfort food. Pizza is nostalgia. Pizza was there for so many of life's happy moments, and in a way, pizza is like an old friend. If I think about a specific pie, my brain lights up with old memories. And I can even remember the taste, texture, and smell. Does that mean that pizza is like a time machine of sorts? For me, it totally is. But if the time machine metaphor is a little weird for you, there's actually a scientific explanation for this phenomenon: the Proustian moment—a sensory experience that triggers a rush of memories often long past or even seemingly forgotten. And to me, this moment is like a food time machine.

Going back to my childhood, I'll never forget pizza nights at our house. The brown parquet floor of my mom's kitchen, the old cabinets housing white plates with blue floral designs, and mom walking in the back door with a stack of pizza boxes in her arms—with the mounting anticipation of flipping the boxes open and catching that first glimpse of melted cheese goodness, grabbing the lava-hot slices, devouring them like a wild animal and totally scorching the roof of my mouth.

On birthdays, my mom would always make her famous homemade pizza, which is my absolute favorite pizza in the world—I could eat like 5,000 pieces. But if you have siblings, quickness becomes the key if you want more than just a few slices! Once my sisters walked downstairs with their sky-high mall bangs, it was a wild grab for the remaining slices of pie.

Mama Shaffer's homemade recipe

photo by Jason Shaffer

Also, from back in the day, I think it's important to mention the rectangular pizza served in the school cafeteria. Wading through the swamps of math class, Shakespeare, and memorizing vocabulary words was like a quest to reach the Friday lunch period. Friday meant school pizza, and school pizza meant bliss. Kids in the lunchroom would do anything for an extra slice of that Friday pizza. They'd be like, "I'll give you my Storm Shadow G.I. Joe for your pizza!" No, dude, I'm good. I'm eating every crumb of this rectangle!

And lest we forget, Book IT!, the program that bribes kids into reading five books in trade for a personal pan pizza voucher from Pizza Hut! Pretty sure I would have eaten five grasshoppers in trade for a personal pan pizza back in the day.

Giovanni's Pizza—2936 Grove Ave.

photo by Jason Shaffer

Further school/pizza nostalgia: There was this girl in my sister's grade that I had a total crush on. I tried talking to her all the time, but I was such an awkward spazz. One day I got the courage and asked her out on a pizza date, and she shockingly said yes! So I took her to this "awesome new pizza place" by my dad's house (which turned out to be a gigantic chain restaurant).

SMASH Pizza—1143 West Erie Ave.

photo by Jason Shaffer

This was obviously way before I was an elitist food snob. I'm sure I talked a lot about Slayer, guitars, and absolute randomness while we waited for the pizzas to come out. But the best best part of the date? After pizza, I took her fishing at one of my favorite spots, and I ended up hooking her in the leg. Her leg started to bleed, and it was embarrassingly tragic. When she's eating pizza now, I wonder if she ever looks down at the scar on her leg and thinks about that day.

The Boiler Room—500 Shipyard Way

photo by Jason Shaffer

I have learned in life that through the good times, the bad, the weird—a hot pizza is always going to make things better, even if only a little bit. If you ever see me picking up a large pepperoni pizza somewhere and I'm still in my pajamas, it's probably been a really tough week, but don't judge! We've all been there, right? My favorite thing to do when I've got the feelies is to drive to the beach with a piping hot double cheese pizza and sit with my feet in the sand, listening to the waves crash as I completely zone out and smash the entire pizza. Sometimes it's better than therapy.

Soul on Fire Pizza—3819 Oberlin Ave.

photo by Jason Shaffer

I have an endless stream of memories that have some sort of connection to pizza. Special dates, concerts, accomplishments, failures, life, death—for all of these moments, pizza was there in one way or another. Earlier this summer, I hiked to the top of a mountain with leftover Yala's in my backpack and ate it at the summit. It was a totally unreal experience and a very awesome memory!

And remember moving into your first apartment and staying the night for the first time? Sitting on the floor and eating pizza with your friends, the lingering smell of fresh paint, boxes stacked everywhere, and that ultimate feeling of freedom—your first meal as an independent person, like a rite of passage into adulthood. On the flipside, sometimes I just want to hide under a pile of blankets and crush some pizza while watching my favorite tv shows and turn my brain off completely. Pizza is awesome, no matter the circumstances.

Dodie's Dockside—301 Broadway

photo by Jason Shaffer

My goal for this random jumble of words was to evoke memories and emotions and try to link them to something as simple as eating pizza. I knew I wanted to steer clear of reviewing each of these restaurants because people can get a little a little crazy when discussing their favorite pizza joint. Our city is so loyal to their favorite pizza parlors that I've literally seen people storm out of rooms and get angry while arguing about the best pizza places in town. I'm not even joking. Criticizing someone's favorite pizza in Lorain can be seen as fighting words. Each restaurant has very loyal fans who root for them like it's a full-blown sporting event. Many of these places are long-standing pillars of the community, and their pizzas are like an extended member of the family.

Campana's Café—208 West 8th St.

photo by Jason Shaffer

There are thousands upon thousands of memories attached to pizza from Yala's, Rosie's, Giovanni's, Eliseo's, and Selenti's. There's a major emotional investment that some families have linked to these pizza places. Just imagine how many celebrations, milestones, birthday parties, weddings, and even tragedies these pizzas have been around for—decades of comforting the people of the city like a warm blanket. And to the new generation of pizza makers in our community, we welcome you and cannot wait to forge longlasting memories with all of you! For all those about to make pizza, we salute you!

Lenoci’s Spaghetti House—5520 Oberlin

photo by Jason Shaffer

I challenge everyone reading this story to try all of the pizzas included on these pages! And as always, thank you for supporting local Lorain families and businesses!

The word pizza was used "51" times in this article.