3:00 PM – Santarpio’s Pizza

And this place wins by a nose. The best pizza in Boston. Also on the Richman list, this pizza is on a different level. The only thing keeping this pie from being in my lifetime top two is the scarcity of the toppings on the pizza. I finally realized why the cornmeal on the bottom of the pizza makes such a difference. Number one, everyone knows and understands; the crunch of the baked cornmeal. Number two takes a little thinking; the cornmeal acts like the sands on a shuffleboard table, holding it just above the floor of the oven, letting air circulate ever so slightly to crisp the crust on the bottom of the pizza more thoroughly.

We make friends with a pretty racist biker at the bar who loves giving the finger for whatever reason. But really, it was just impossible to tell why the guy was going to give the finger for something. You are madly in love with your girlfriend – his response: “I’ll tell you what she needs!” (gives the finger) or you just had some amazing sushi in Brookline – his response: “Know what those Japs can do with my fish?” (gives the finger) Just an astounding gentleman, to say the least. He and two of his Harley-riding friends have plates of lamb, but don’t share a pizza (WTF). We leave at the same time and he makes a crack, something about me having a driver and not being man enough to ride a motorcycle. I leave him with a link to my Central American photoblog, he’s left speechless, and we’ve left for the 4:00 stop of 24 in 24: Boston . . .

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