Review: Big Apple Pizza's ingredients key

Co-owners Todd and Jeanine Morgan work with ingredients made in-house at their popular Big Apple Pizza restaurant in Sparks. (Credit: Tim Dunn)

Some cities have signature styles of pizza — Chicago serves deep-dish pie, New York does by-the-slice -- but what about Reno?
Reno might not have a signature pie, but thank goodness it does have Big Apple Pizza & Catering.

This Sparks restaurant proffers pies built with housemade ingredients — from pizza dough to marinara sauce to cheeses. Big Apple's delicious pizza is, appropriately, New-York style, with thin, pliable, fold-in-half crust.

If you're not in the mood for pizza, try housemade pasta, Sicilian rice balls (called arancini), a Philly-style cheese steak sandwich, or salads or calzones.

The restaurant occupies a small storefront space on Baring Boulevard. It has a cozy, hometown feel, with posters of New York City (including one "I heart NY") on the walls. From behind a counter, employees take orders and pour beer.

Garlic bread with cheese comprises crusty bread, garlic pesto and gooey mozzarella cheese. The bread gives way between my teeth, and the pungent flavor of the liberally applied pesto is tamed by mild cheese.

A large house salad is enough for at least four people. Romaine lettuce and spring mix are topped with fresh tomatoes, red and white onion slices, kalamata olives, croutons, capers and green bell pepper. The salad is tossed with a creamy, kicky gorgonzola dressing.

Traditional cheese pie is the most popular pizza, according to a Big Apple employee. However, my party opts for a few more ingredients and tries the New Yorker, a specimen lightly sauced with marinara, mozzarella, red onions and house-cured sausage.

The peppery sausage complements and draws out the sweetness of the red onions. And the marinara, made from San Marzano tomatoes — they're the absolute best, straight from the plains south of Mount Vesuvius — is delicious.

The authentic pizza Margherita — named for Italian queen Margherita — is adorned with its traditional accoutrements: fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella. Pizza Margherita is one of my favorites, and Big Apple's version delights.

The New York white pie is slathered with mozzarella, onions, garlic, Roma tomatoes, velvety ricotta cheese and sautéed baby spinach. This pizza is a must-try for garlic lovers because garlic on the pizza — plus green splotches of spinach sautéed in plenty of garlic — make the pizza pop.

The meatball parmesan sub features a huge hunk of bread cut in half and stuffed with four baseball-sized meatballs, marinara sauce and melted mozzarella.

The sandwich — try to look elegant taking a bite of this sammie, just try — is enormous and almost big enough for two, but the classic pairing of meat, marinara and cheese lures me for a return bite even when I think I couldn't possibly.

Service is friendly and efficient. The staff does everything from pouring beers and cashing out checks to putting up chairs at the end of the night. But don't visit too late — although there's no official closing time listed on the menu, the staff starts to get antsy around 9 p.m.

Big Apple can be a bit pricey if you order more than just a pie, but the restaurant's use of housemade ingredients warrants the price. I'll pay more for housemade ricotta any day.

Big Apple Pizza is quickly becoming one of my favorite pizza parlors in town. I can't wait to go back and try the pasta. Or the stromboli. Or the cheese steak sandwich. With so many delicious options, it's hard to choose.

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