Tulsa World Food Review
April 21, 2008
Dining Out: Riveting sandwich
by: SCOTT CHERRY World Staff Writer
7/1/2005 12:00 AM
Bellacino’s Pizza & Grinders brings flavors, legacy of shipyard fare to Tulsa
Back in the day, I would have thought a “grinder” might have had something to do with the mysterious ladies behind the tent flaps at the state fair.
But then, I’m not Italian, and I did not grow up near the Eastern seaboard shipyards in the first half of the 20th century.
If either were true, I probably would know a grinder is a large Italian sandwich, in the family of heros, hoagies, subs, po’ boys, etc.
As the story goes, the sandwiches got their name from Italian immigrants who worked in the shipyards, grinding off rivets on metal warships. The men were called grinders, and ultimately, so too were the sandwiches they brought to work.
Cheri and Chris Robinette brought grinders to Tulsa last November when they opened Bellacino’s Pizza & Grinders in the busy 96th Street and Riverside Drive corridor.
Bellacino’s is a franchise headed by Joe Mancino in Portage, Mich. His father founded Mancino’s Grinders & Pizza, restaurants still operating in the Midwest, about a quarter century ago.
Joe’s grandfather was a baker in Detroit at the turn of the last century, and the grandfather’s breadmaking recipes have endured for both Mancino’s and Bellacino’s.
Bellacino’s version of grinders includes a wide combination of meats, cheeses, vegetables and sauces that are placed inside a long, wide piece of sliced Italian bread and baked in a hot oven.
We sampled a couple of the grinders on a recent visit, and both were outstanding. The bread, hand-rolled and baked daily, is approximately 4 inches wide and either 9 or 18 inches long. When coupled with a side dish, the longer one is plenty for two people.
My favorite, and which I learned later is one of the most popular selections, was the Chicago steak grinder. It included thinly sliced, tender ribeye steak with mushrooms, onions, cheese and a tasty garlic spread.
The baking process partially caramelized the onions, giving them a sweet flavor. This method also gives all the sandwiches marvelous texture.
The roast beef combo featured sliced roast beef, ham and turkey mixed with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and mayonnaise.
Some of the remaining 21 choices include crab-and-seafood, Reuben, barbecue pork, stromboli, meatball and taco.
“We can prepare the sandwiches cold, but we don’t recommend it,” said Chris Robinette. “They just aren’t the same.”
Pizza prices depend on the size of the pizza and number of toppings ordered. A 12-inch pizza with mushrooms, tomatoes and Italian sausage was $11.29.
The fennel in the sausage imparted a mild licorice flavor and was a great partner to the other ingredients, blended together on a hand-rolled, medium crust.
Among the specialty pizzas, bargains because of the multiple toppings, is the best-selling Bellacino’s Pride with pepperoni, ham, sausage, mushrooms, green peppers, onions, black olives and mozzarella cheese.
The pizza was good but did not approach the “wow” factor of the grinders.
Bellacino’s also offers salads, nachos and chicken wings, and, as of this writing, was adding lasagna and some pasta dishes.
Ages 10 and under may order off the children’s menu, which includes an 8-inch cheese pizza, grilled cheese sandwich, peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich and ham-and-cheese or turkey grinder, each with a kid-size drink.
Bellacino’s offers no alcoholic beverages but does have sweet tea in addition to regular tea. Brownies and cookies are available for dessert.
The dining room looks like a pizza parlor, with dark green-and-black laminate tables, including some at bistro height, along with cafe chairs, teal walls above beadboard half walls and Coca Cola light fixtures. It seats 68.
Although it has a fast-casual, breezy atmosphere, Bellacino’s is not a fast-food restaurant. Each item is prepared after it is ordered, so allow time for the cooking process.
Diners order at the counter, in front of an open kitchen, and retrieve their drinks at a self-serve station. The really tall man in the kitchen is manager Keith Chambers.
Robinette said Bellacino’s takes catering jobs and is available for special functions at the restaurant. This is the first Bellacino’s in Oklahoma and the farthest west of the 85-restaurant chain.
Robinette said the St. Louis restaurant caters to the St. Louis Cardinals locker room, a fact that earned Bellacino’s lots of style points from this corner.
