Crossroads Hotel
1443 Main Street |
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Well, Lehigh, this time we ventured beyond the boundaries of Bethlehem in search of the perfect pizza. Our sojourn to the Land of the Midnight Mozzarella stopped abruptly on Route 412 (a.k.a Main Street) in Hellertown at a sign that read:"Crossroads Hotel -- Famous for Pizza."
Our expectations were heightened with the "Cheese Louise" pitch (known in France as "Le High") by the message on their paper placemats: "Best Pizza in the Lehigh Valley."
Let us fly off with a digression here to introduce a new feature to this review's methodology. In an effort to move from a sample to the population, we replaced our primordial design of two student guests, one undergraduate and one graduate, with no fewer than eight assorted students.
Returning to the dissection of the intersection known as the Crossroads, Ron and Sharon performed the drip and droop tests with aplomb. The drip test revealed a noticeable GQ (Grease Quotient) of 2.7 on a 1 (low) to 5 (Elvis) Likert-type scale.
The results of the droop test were less consistent. Ron obtained an impressive 93 percent FF (Full and Firm) rating with the regular pizza and an even more impressive 96 percent FF rating with the sausage pizza. Laurie attempted a demi-replication with a mushroom slice but the result was a disastrous 23 percent FF, meaning a virtually empty octant of dough and a lap full of Mozzarella and toppings.
The menu contained this caveat: "Sorry...to insure proper baking, toppings are limited to two." Now that kind of care is promising.
The promise was fulfilled in large part. The sausage pizza was particularly noteworthy, since the sausage is specially made by a local butcher. Emi deemed it tasty and Ron estimated its GQ to be an amazingly arid 1.4. The quantity even exceeded the quality. It was piled in ridges and mounds. The mushrooms, Laurie explained, were fresh and thinly sliced, allowing them to be properly cooked and pungently imbued with sauce. The pepperoni was also fresh and savory.
Kathy, our waitress, explained the owners, the Matey family, have been operating the Crossroads for 40 years. Reflecting their origins, they specialize in Hungarian pizza. The hallmark, she asserted, is the sourdough crust.
In any event, the perspectives varied in relation to the crust,and the sauce too. We all agreed the crust was thin and at least semi-crisp. But, while Ron (a la New York) and I (a la New Haven) view that combined characteristic as a desideratum, Kevin and Kristin countered that thick is the way to go. Similarly, Emi articulated our collective sense that the sauce was salty.
The pizza was not cheap. A large plain pie is $8.75, and is only 14 rather than 16 inches. The antipasto was Anglo rather than Italiano, having titanic mounds of iceberg lettuce but a minor Mediterranean fare. The garden salad, however, was fresh and inexpensive. The soft drinks came in pitchers, but the diet and regular Coke were flat and almost indistinguishable.
Everyone agreed there was a friendly, comfortable atmosphere. The posting of the Lehigh lacrosse schedule on the wall and along with the certification on the porch that the premises meet the standards of the Pennsylvania Tavern Association contributed to the group's sense of comfort.
Using Olympic ice-skating scoring, the group of eight produced a mean pizza rating of 5.0 slices.
The Crossroads' pizza may not be the best in the endless world of the Lehigh Valley, but five slices from Ron & Perry is, unlike a kicking kangaroo, no mean feat. If you have a humongous hunkering hunger for Hungarian pizza, the Crossroads delivers.
Reviewed by:
Ron Yoshida, Dean of the College of Education
Perry Zirkel, Iacocca Professor of Education
Emi Takeshita, '01
Andy Mouratis,'98, in mechanical engineering
Merry Abrams, '98, in political science and psychology
Kristin Riddle, master's student in special education
Kevin Kelly, doctoral student in school psychology
Laurie Gray, doctoral student in counseling psychology
Kathleen Sullivan, postgraduate student in culinary mooching
and Sharon Yoshida, ubiquitous student of the world.
Crossroads Hotel, 1443 Main Street, Hellertown (610) 838-8278.
Open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m.
to 1:30 a.m.; closed Sunday.
This review originally appeared in The Brown and White at Lehigh University.