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Welcome back to Food Crawls, a series in which Eater Boston staffers guide you (virtually) on various food (and booze) crawls in the Boston area.
When we go out, we often find ourselves wanting to try more than one restaurant or bar at a time — a drink and a snack here, another drink and perhaps a dessert there — and want to share our favorite multi-stop combinations with you. These crawls are meant to be relatively walkable, and the amount of food and drink is meant to correspond roughly to a couple of average appetites (so bring a friend), although your mileage may vary. Email us if there’s a particular theme, specific dish or drink, or neighborhood you’d like to see covered in a future installment.
Pizza and Somerville’s Davis Square weren’t always synonymous; there’ve always been a couple options, but the neighborhood didn’t become a multi-stop pizza destination until recently. Newish additions like Dragon Pizza and Mortadella Head are leading the charge alongside some older, equally worthy contenders.
On this four-stop, cheese-filled crawl, come hungry and swing through several of the neighborhood’s best pizza options, new and old, from Neapolitan to New York and beyond.
Neapolitan-Style Pizza at Posto
187 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville
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Begin at the beginning. Posto, open for nearly a decade, is slinging an exceptional version of Neapolitan-style pizza. Naples is, of course, where it all began, and so Posto is where this crawl should begin. Keep it simple (and highly traditional): Get a margherita.
(Perhaps it’s unwise to fill up too much at this stage of the crawl, but Posto’s bread — prepared simply with rosemary and sea salt — is also worth ordering before heading to the next stop.)
New York-Style Pizza at Dragon Pizza
233 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville
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Posto is a full-service, somewhat upscale dining choice; the next stop, Dragon Pizza, is decidedly more casual. Customers can eat in the small, bright shop, but it’s more of a takeout and delivery joint.
Dragon’s pizzas are more in the style of pizza’s second home (New York City) than its first. And unlike a traditional Neapolitan pizzeria, Dragon is constantly testing new combinations on its specials menu. Bratwurst, radicchio, potato, and balsamic, anyone?
Got extra room? Dragon’s gelato, made in-house, is worth trying.
Flatbread Pizza and a Gigantic Beer at Mike’s
9 Davis Sq., Davis Square, Somerville
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The menu at Mike’s has, like, seventy thousand options from which to choose. At this lively late-night hangout, get the flatbread pizza, which leans in the Roman-style direction, and get a massive (and cheap) domestic lager to pair with it.
Roman-Style Pizza at Mortadella Head
20 College Ave., Davis Square, Somerville
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Mortadella Head has the best restaurant name in the game. It also has some very good Roman-style pizza. There are lots of options, but it’s best to go the simple route and get the Grandma, which is topped with red sauce, mozzarella, pecorino, basil, and extra-virgin olive oil.