{"id":251528,"date":"2017-04-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-04-21T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/meal-discoveries-inside-a-liquor-store\/"},"modified":"2017-04-21T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-04-21T07:00:00","slug":"meal-discoveries-inside-a-liquor-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/meal-discoveries-inside-a-liquor-store\/","title":{"rendered":"Meal discoveries inside a liquor store"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Frank Sabatini Jr.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Other than ducking into Fiori\u2019s Pizza & Deli for an occasional Lotto ticket and a fast slice of pizza, I never focused much on the menu board hanging over the food counter until recently.<\/p>\n

To my surprise, the nearly 40-year-old liquor store conceals a grill and deep-fryer in a room behind the pizza ovens, which means items such as burgers, Philly cheesesteaks, Buffalo chicken wings, fried shrimp and veal-lamb gyros are sold here.<\/p>\n

\"Meal
The store\u2019s menu goes beyond pizza and deli sandwiches (Fotograf\u00edas de Frank Sabatini Jr.)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are also several pasta dishes in the offing. Though listed on the board, the items are upstaged by copious options for traditional and specialty pizzas heading the menu.<\/p>\n

Fiori\u2019s has more or less passed my litmus test for pizza. The dough is made onsite and then stretched and tossed in plain view, resulting in a satisfactory crust that is neither insipid nor sensational. Sizes range from 14 inches to 20 inches at prices that fall comfortably below the local competition while slices cost $2 or $2.50, depending on their toppings.<\/p>\n

\"Meal
Fiori\u2019s blanco pizza<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The sauce is also house-made despite its restrained measures of oregano and spices. Yet while delving deeper into Fiori\u2019s menu over a few visits, the sauce-less Blanco pizza crowned with ricotta cheese, garlic and finely chopped broccoli has become one of my favorite vegetarian pies in town. The ingredients are tastefully balanced.<\/p>\n

A cheeseburger I ordered was mediocre in comparison \u2014 not quite the half-pounder stated on the menu. I\u2019d venture to guess the patty was pre-formed by a major supplier, given the perfectly shaped disk it was.<\/p>\n

\"Meal
Fries are included with the burgers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The saving graces were the freshly sliced red onions and crisp shredded lettuce inside the toasted bun, as well as the accompanying french fries served hot and golden brown.<\/p>\n

In that same visit, while seated at one of two tables inside the store, I tried the Greek salad, which was loaded into a large plastic container and filled deeply with fresh iceberg lettuce. Though generously adorned with creamy feta cheese, Kalamata olives, ripe tomatoes, cucumbers and onions, I was left with vast amounts of lettuce after the garnishments had run their course.<\/p>\n

\"Meal
Greek salad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some nights later I ventured into more daring territory by phoning in a pickup order for a Philly cheesesteak and chicken wings. I had never purchased either from anyplace other than an established eatery or restaurant, let alone a neighborhood liquor store where you can\u2019t see or smell food cooking except for the pizzas.<\/p>\n

The cheesesteak was actually very good with its tender, chipped beef strewn with grilled green bell peppers and onions. Topped with melted mozzarella and served in a fluffy torpedo roll sporting toasted edges, it\u2019s well worth the $6.99 price tag if you can live without Cheez Whiz and higher grades of meat used in establishments that specialize in the sandwich.<\/p>\n

\"Meal
The Philly steak sandwich<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I requested the chicken wings extra crispy and they were cooked as such. The menu states they\u2019re sold by the dozen. I only got 10, which was no big deal except for the fact they were over-sauced.<\/p>\n

\"Meal
Pizza dough is made and stretched onsite. (Photos by Frank Sabatini Jr.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Had they been shaken in the Buffalo-style sauce instead of doused and served with sturdier blue cheese dressing, I\u2019d have given them greater love.<\/p>\n

Other menu choices include jalapeno poppers, lasagna, ravioli, and assorted hot and cold sandwiches such as Italian sausage, eggplant Parmesan, meatball, roast beef, pastrami and more, all at impressively reasonable prices.<\/p>\n

Fiori\u2019s also delivers within a 3-mile or so radius throughout Uptown.<\/p>\n

And with valid ID, you can perk up your meal with booze brought right to your door from the store\u2019s vast selection of spirits, wine and craft beer.\"Meal<\/p>\n

\u2014Frank Sabatini Jr. is the author of \u201cSecret San Diego\u201d (ECW Press), and began his local writing career more than two decades ago as a staffer for the former San Diego Tribune. Reach him at <\/em>fsabatini@san.rr.com<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Por Frank Sabatini Jr.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":816,"featured_media":251529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Meal discoveries inside a liquor store","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11550,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-251528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/816"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}