Pizza Patrol: Ciro's (Downtown/Gaslamp) Review + Viva Pops

Pizza! Foodgirl's family likes pizza. And we do have quite a few respectable NY pizza places in SD (and by respectable I mean they'll rival our fave places in NY/NJ). Readers of this blog know that our favorite are Bongiorno's Miramar and Sicilian Thing.

We also are known to happily get a slice at Bongiorno's Solana Beach. Carmine's in Oceanside is worth returning to; Bronx in Hillcrest is fine but not worth driving to from chez us; and we'd eat at Basic Urban downtown if it were more kid-friendly and had slices. Blue Ribbon is also super-yummy though not NY style. And Regents Pizzeria is not really authentic but it is tasty.

And we did not like Luigi's the one time we tried it: the Ca.-style white pizza was yummy, but the basic cheese slice was a tomato sauce abomination.

Today we hit Ciro's downtown for the first time. Verdict: not super-authentic, but definitely pretty yummy. The tomato sauce was a little sweet for me, and the sicilian pizza was too spongy to have any credibility East of the Mississippi (though it was tasty in a roll-with-cheese kind of way). However, the crust on the thin-crust pizza was perfect, and I loved my white slice. Would happily return when we are downtown.

In fact, it made for a perfect day with Super-Toddler, who had filled up his reward chart from sleeping all night long several weeks in a row. We took Amtrak to downtown and met CH there (the times between return trains were not convenient today so we made it a one-way trip). CH drove us to Ciro's; then we went to the train museum; then we hit Viva Pops. (hehehe - any day is a great day for Viva Pops - but especially a hot day!!).

I tried, at long last, the famed Salted Caramel. I enjoyed it but it wasn't the best pop I've had there, and I wouldn't get it again. ST branched out, with the experience of the cooks confab making him realize it's fun to experiment with flavors instead of always getting the same thing. He got "Strawberry Lemonade" instead of just strawberry. Then we were still hot and still hungry. So I got a blood orange, which we had enjoyed in mini size at the CC party - but which I found too tart to eat in a whole portion. He got another Strawberry Lemonade. I'm still considering the Mango Chili and the Avocado Lime for next visit.

Good eatin' today with ST!