Riding the Tour de Pizza

This week the nice folks at tbt* have put together a list of 10 of the best unsung pizza places. Included was St. Petersburg's Tour de Pizza. Owner and bike enthusiast Matthew McClellan, 32, took over the spot of former Nick-N-Willy's in the Northeast shopping plaza (near Publix) three months ago.

Inside you'll find tons of cycling gear and memorabilia on the walls, including jerseys, vintage posters and even a couple complete bikes. You can get pizza by the slice or nosh on some salad, stromboli, calzones or subs if pizza's not your thing.

The pies sport loads of cheese that can get a little chewy once it coagulates (not a bad thing); not much sauce. The crust is thin but not crunchy — a chewy center wrapped in pleasant crispness. The 24 toppings are abundantly applied, including interesting toppers like Mandarin oranges, feta cheese and artichoke hearts.

There are 13 specialty pies, from the Salad Pizza (basil pesto topped with a fresh garden salad) to the MAClellan (white garlic sauce, mozzarella, spinach, roma tomatoes, mushrooms, spicy sausage and fresh basil). Pies run $6.99 to $15.99; slices $2.50 and up. 

They also deliver, with no set delivery radius, and offer you-bake, take-home pies.

The 411: Northeast Shopping Center, 212 37th Ave. N, St. Petersburg; (727) 898-5555; tourdepizzaonline.com. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. 

Comments

[Mel]

The owner seems like a genuine nice guy. I wish him the best of luck. The pizza there isn't too bad. However, I like & prefer the taste of traditional pizza from Philly or N.Y. which he does not have there. I'll patronize him on occasion because he's a nice guy and because I like the theme of his place.

[Kimberly]

I've eaten there. The owner is a nice guy and aims to please.

Give him a recipe you like. He can test run it to see how the sales go and have people vote on what they like.

[Mel]

I don't have a recipe for N.Y style pizza. I don't think one exists...it's just something that's made with a certain kind of dough and sauce.

[Bill Cotney]

Sounds like a good place to patronize, so ..... hows about all you "ride 25 miles and I'm done" cyclists from St. Pete pick out a date and time for all of us antagonists to get together and eat pizza?

(Oh, don't even try to deny it! We saw you putting your bikes back on your Beemers by 11 AM as we passed the Northshore pool on our 200k ride Sunday. We were on our red Trek tandem)

Anyway, somebody down there pick a date and time, and Maggi and I will show up! It'd be fun to meet all the commenters on this blog face-to-face.

So who's in?

[Kerstin Upmeyer]

Looks like a neat place! I'll have to try it sometime!

[Kimberly]

We'll have to choose a time other than Saturday morning. We're all creatures of habit. After Saturday morning, we go for a late breakfast in downtown St. Petersburg.

The Gib's Ride Group (12 mph and less), with a sweep for the "less") meet around 10:00 AM at Central Coffee Shop, 530 Central Ave. Some people from the faster rides also join us.

In fact, why don't you and Maggi come ride with the Gib's Ride Group. If we're too slow for you, we can pass you on to the next up group. That would be the Casual 16s (14-16 mph).

18 mph and above tend to meet across the road at the The Dome Restaurant. You'll have to ask Mel and everyone else where they eat.

Now...about Tour de Pizza. How about 6 pm on a Saturday? My calendar is open for the next two months.

[Kimberly]

The Gib's Ride Group meets at North Shore Pool parking lot. It's the parking lot between the pool and the baseball field.

Must have: bicycle helmet, water bottle, and spare inner tube. Bring whatever bicycle, tandem, handcycle, or recumbent you have. Minors must bring an adult to supervise them and bring written permission from a parent/guardian.

When you show up, we will be at the western end of the parking lot. Just keep asking everyone where the Gib's Ride Group is until you find us. There will probably 200 to 300 bicyclists showing up with 8 or 9 ride groups. So, you'll get lost in the shuffle if you don't ask.

We take off sharp at 8:30 AM.

[Bill Cotney]

Saturday at 6PM is the pefect pizza time for us! You pick the Saturday, but I'd suggest not making it the 30th since that's Labor Day weekend and some will probably be out of town.

As for riding with Gib, I haven't done that since the early 80's, I think! I ought to do exactly that.

[Kimberly]

Ok. Let's get pizza done as soon as possible so we don't all forget.

How about Tour de Pizza, Saturday, August 23rd, 6:00 PM?

If that doesn't work we can figure out a better Saturday.

[Mondo]

And if you want to meet the rest of the gang - Bald Guy on the Yellow Colnago, Nancy Tight Black Fish net stockings, Red Light Runna and Mel, You can usually find them at First Friday which is that big block party that occurs on the first Friday of each month. They're always somewhere nearby and usually within a few feet of each other. I've found them up near the beer truck most of the times I've gone there. If you ask for Mel or Todd you're sure to find everyone. Those are the two "Moles" of the group...

[The REAL Mondo]

Stop posting under my name jerky!

[The Real Mondo]

We all know i can not spell to save my life, and that my sentance structur is
very bad, so you will never be able to post like me!

[Bill Cotney]

Next Saturday, 8/23 at 6PM works for us! So who's in? Chip? Mel? RLR? Bald Guy?

And hows about Adam Newman? Shouldn't HE be there? ;-)

[Adam Newman - Spoke N Word Editor]

Sounds like fun. I'll be there!

[Chip Haynes]

Ok: Tour de Pizza, next Saturday, 6 pm?

Yeah, I should be able to make that.

Do we want to warn the owner??

[Chip Haynes]

Hey, Kerstin- can you make this?

[Mel]

OK, what EXACTLY do you mean by "Mole" Mondo? Or should I say, FAKE Mondo???

[Kimberly]

I stopped at Tour de Pizza on my way home from work tonight. I told the owner about the blog and about us planning to be at Tour de Pizza Saturday.

At that time, I knew of only four people going.

He had two employees there today. Please be patient with him and his staff if we swamp him with customers on Saturday. He'll try to do the best he can to give us the best service possible given the situation.

On Friday, someone should call him to let him know how many people plan to be there.

[Bill Cotney]

I doubt we'll swamp him, but it would be fun if that many showed!

Calling the owner on Friday sounds like a good idea, though. You got it covered, Kimberly?

Personally, I'm all for cyclists getting together for any reason, and as opinionated and/or politically active as this bunch is, there's no telling what kind of mischief we can cook up! Maybe it'll be the beginning of something interesting!

[Mel]

I like the idea of a quasi-treasure hunt for the cyclists on this board! Besides, wouldn't that be alot more adventurous and in line with the spirit of cycling if we all had to search and find each other somewhere...It'd be worth a few laughs to hear someone show up at the USF 4 way stop sign and ask for Bald Guy on the Yellow Colnago or Red Light Runna!!

I think that Fake Mondo sort of had a good idea...If you don't like huge block parties then just show up at either the USF 4 way stop sign on a Saturday morning at 8:30 or at Northshore Pool at 8:30 on Saturday mornings. Just make sure to eat your Wheaties and bring your aero-helmet!!

[Chip Haynes]

Whoever's doing the head count for Tour de Pizza Saturday night, put me down for two: I will be there with The Lovely JoAnn.

[Tour De Pizza]

Hello to all...This is Matthew from Tour De Pizza and I would be honored to host your Pizza party on Saturday. We also have a bike rack so you can lock up your bike and feel safe about eating your Pizza. I look forward to seeing everyone on Saturday and hope all is well.

PS. Mel come see me anytime and I will create your dream pizza. I cook for the masses but also customize pizza for my NEW YORKERS!

[Adam Newman - Spoke N Word Editor]

Thanks everyone for coming out on a rainy day. It was great meeting you all and putting faces to the names I see here. Hope we can do it again soon. Stay tuned for details.

[Kimberly]

Adam, thank you for the tampabay.com hats and pens!

It was great seeing people and really interesting learning what other people have done and are going to promote bicycling in our area! I counted 17 for Bike Night. To make sure I didn't have to bicycle there in the rain, I bicycled over between rain storms and arrived about 1 1/2 hours early. I always bring something to read so I never sit twiddling my thumbs waiting.

It was agreed that we want to do more Bike Nights at Tour de Pizza. Give us your suggested days and times when you are available.

Re: Mel's suggestion of a treasure hunt. As the owner of 66 Fixed to put you in touch with the fixie riders so the riders can give you tips on how to put it together. I've seen them doing treasure hunts as groups.

[Bill Cotney]

Just wanted to say that Maggi and I had a great time. The food was good, and the company even better!

We would love to see this become a regular thing, but I tend to think a weekday night might be better for most as well as the restaurant.

Someone suggested making it an after-ride thing, like on a Saturday. Sounded like a good idea at the time, but then I got to talking to Senor Sinibaldi about the problems associated with after-ride business meetings of the bike club, i.e., all the rides going different distances at different speeds meant they all ended at different times. That left some standing around for an hour or more waiting for everyone to show!

So, sounds like we'll need to talk about this a little to come up with a plan that will accomodate the majority. But I believe it will be well worth the effort!

Thanks to everyone that showed! We had a ball!