3742 W. Lambright StreetOur trip was coming to end. We had just a couple more days in Tampa and finding someplace to eat was getting exhausting. I’m not one to give up and just start hitting drive-thrus so I told my co-worker I had a few more tricks up my sleeve.
We were in Tampa the week leading up to Super Bowl LV….and our remote workspace was pretty close to Raymond James Stadium. I knew Saturday night before the game was going to be difficult to get around so I suggested we grab a pizza on our way to the jobsite and get enough that we could make both lunch and dinner out of it.
The night before, our colleagues in town from Indianapolis took their evening break and went to a pizzeria not too far from the job site. They just did slices but came back and kind of raved about it. That was a good enough endorsement for me.
We picked Westshore Pizzeria on Lambright Street just east of Dale Mabry Highway in the unincorporated area of Egypt Lake-Leto. The stand alone pizza place sits off the road in a commercialized area near a busy intersection.
Westshore Pizzeria has several locations throughout the Tampa Bay area and is open to franchising. They sell themselves on a pretty large menu featuring things like pizza and cheesesteaks but they also do big New York style slices….which again, seems to be really popular in the Tampa area.
I put in an order online for two pizzas. I got the same two pizzas I got from New York New York Pizza when we first got to town. I was really excited I was able to do 1/2 and 1/2 on a gourmet pizza…that’s not something you see being done very often in Michigan.
It took a little longer than expected to get to the shop due to traffic around the football stadium. People had shown up and just started parking alongside the road to take pictures of the stadium all decked out for the Super Bowl. It was odd police were just letting them park in the ditch along a very busy Dale Mabry Highway but that’s what was happening.
I left co-worker in the car and headed in to pick up our two pizzas and a two liter of Pepsi. The restaurant is about what you expect of a pizza place. There’s a walk up order counter off to the side and tables with a couple of TV’s strategically placed in the dining room. Next to the order counter, thre’s a big glass case of pizzas that are used for slices so you can just walk in and quickly get something to eat.
I had already paid the tab of just over $25 so it was just a matter of grabbing the boxes and heading back to the worksite to eat.
I was really pumped to dive in to my 14″ 1/2 Meat Eaters, 1/2 Buffalo Chicken pizza. The pizza was exactly what I was expecting and what I was hoping for. It’s a New York style crust that’s crispy but still somehow soft and chewy all the way through. One half of the pizza was overflowing with fried chicken tenders, hot sauce, and cheese. The other half was just as fantastic with pepperoni, Italian sausage, bacon, and ham on top of a fresh made dough bed. I couldn’t decide which side I wanted to eat first. The Buffalo Chicken side gave off the heat in the form of Buffalo sauce while the meat side gave off some spiciness with the Italian sausage and pepperoni. The plan was get two meals out of these pizzas for both of us but to be honest, I wanted to eat the whole thing in one sitting…it took some real self control to save some for later.
My colleague didn’t really give me an answer when I asked him what he wanted so I ordered him the same thing I did when we got to town. He got a 14″ pepperoni and sausage pizza. The sausage is what really stood out to me on this pizza. It was ground stuff and but sliced circles that were almost as big as the pepperoni. Co-worker has much more self restraint than I do and he easily saved pizza for not just one but two more meals.
Westshore Pizza served it’s purpose and did so deliciously. I always say this when I have pizza like this but I’m not an expert on New York Style like I claim to be on Chicago style….but I really liked this pizza. How authentic is it? I have no clue…but it doesn’t matter. The crust on this pizza is what makes this pizza. It’s so delicious on it’s own and only gets incredibly better with the diverse, fresh toppings that complete it.