food & drink
Filled with Love Tortugas’ pies pack a tasty punch WRITTEN BY AMY JONES | PHOTOS BY DAWN HARRISON
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f you’re looking for all-you-caneat pizza, check out Tortugas Homemade Pizza. No, it’s not a buffet — but you don’t need one when their pizzas can weigh as much as four or five pounds apiece. Tortugas serves true deep-dish Chicagostyle stuffed pizza, with homemade dough, homemade sauces and fresh ingredients, says Matt Vizcaino, whose parents started the business in 1999. “We chop all of our produce, shred and blend our cheese, make two delicious dressings,” he says. “In general, pepperoni is just pepperoni. But when it’s combined 50
• Hoover’s Magazine | May 2016
with our homemade dough and sauces, it is exceptional. We have put together several combinations of ingredients that our customers truly love.” Vizcaino was 7 when his parents, Carlos and Carol, moved from Chicago to Hoover and opened the restaurant. He said he serves as a sort of general manager but has been part of every facet of the business — dishwashing, waiting tables, working in the kitchen and managing. Tortugas has served as his culinary education, he adds. “I don’t have any formal background besides messing around in my kitchen