“Second Helpings” offers tasty, bite-sized restaurant listings compiled from new and previous reviews, guides, and poll results. This week’s entries were updated by Erin Mosow. For quick, reliable information about Austin eateries, check here.

Saccone’s

13812 Research, 257-1200

Monday-Saturday, 11am-10pm; Sunday, 3-9pm

2701 Hwy. 183, Leander, 259-1882

Monday-Saturday, 11am-9pm; Sunday, 3-9pm

Saccone’s motto is “Pizza With a Jersey Attitude.” While it’s hard to muster up Jersey attitude in a restaurant full of little leaguers screaming for more video-game quarters, Saccone’s many varieties of thin-crust pies (whole or by the slice) do a good job of putting you in the right frame of mind. Saccone’s also serves 1-inch-thick, Sicilian-style pizza cut into squares, and has added the classic Pizza Margherita to the menu. Pasta, calzones, stromboli, and subs round out the menu. Both locations serve beer and wine and will be introducing an expanded menu within a month.

Milto’s

2909 Guadalupe, 476-1021

Monday-Thursday, 11am-10:30pm; Friday-Saturday, 11am-11pm; Sunday, noon-10:30pm

Milto’s is a longtime UT-area institution serving both Italian and Greek specialties. The Greek salad with excellent house dressing comes with a chewy roll made out of pizza dough and coated with spices. It’s a wonderful prelude to their thick, chewy pizza with plenty of tomato sauce. Milto’s Alfredo Artichoke Pizza and lasagna are two of the restaurant’s standout Italian dishes.

Reale’s

13450 Research, 335-5115

Monday-Thursday, 11am-9:30pm; Friday, 11am-10pm; Saturday, noon-10pm

www.realespizzaandcafe.com

The drive up Research may be tedious, but Reale’s is much closer than the East Coast pizzerias that they accurately approximate. On the way, you can decide whether to go for the big, bubbly crusted 16-inch pie, which gets a little wet in the middle, or to stick with the 14-incher, which stays crisp all the way across. It’s a tough choice. You sacrifice the big bubbles with the 14-incher, but the crust stays perfect. Check out their daily lunch and dinner specials on the Web site.

Pizza Nizza

1608 Barton Springs Rd., 474-7470

Sunday-Thursday, 11am-10pm; Friday, 11am-11pm; Saturday, noon-11pm; Sunday, noon-10pm

Opened in 1990 by former Whole Foods Market partner Mark Stiles and his wife Sylvie, this restaurant near Zilker Park serves pastas, salads, and pizzas in an artfully funky décor that takes a lot more from Milan than Sicily. In addition to choosing from a wide variety of toppings, Pizza Nizza diners can choose from a range of pizza sauces as well. The pineapple pizza is a good bet on hot summer days after a dip in Barton Springs.

Marye’s Gourmet Pizza

3663 Bee Caves Rd., 327-5222

Monday-Friday, 11am-9pm; Saturday, noon-9pm

Marye’s does a brisk lunch business with a special that includes an 8-inch pizza of the day, choice of salad, and iced tea or soda. The pizza of the day might be a conventional Margherita pizza or something really wild like the Que, an olive-oil-glazed crust with barbecued chicken, red onions, cilantro, jalapeño, and smoked Gouda. Recent specialty additions include a pesto and sun-dried tomato pizza topped with feta, provolone, and mozzarella and the Diablo — a combination of Roma tomatoes, chipotle mayonnaise, red onions, smoked turkey, and jalapeño jack cheese. Each is prepared on a perforated, thin, crispy crust with abundant cornmeal dusted on the bottom. Marye’s also serves a wide selection of sandwiches and calzones.

This article appears in July 26 • 2002.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US