Cheese. More cheese please!

The single ingredient that makes or breaks the entire aspect of a slice of pizza. Of course, the other ingredients complement the cheese like tomato and bread but it always comes down to the cheese.

If this wasn’t true we would call it Chuck-E-Cheese. But today we’re not talking about the big brands like our friend Chuck or Papa John.

When it comes to good pizza, you can’t get anything better than your hometown local pizza. Luckily for citizens of Bel Air, there is a surplus of local pizza shops opening their doors every day to hungry customers. Buontempo Brothers, Gus’ Deli, and Italian Sensation are only a few of the many.

Gus’ Deli, although just opened, already has a sign claiming they have the best pizza in town. It is certainly worthy of praise with its rich texture and large slices, but the cheese is relatively thin and tended to slide off the crust in one big bite. Regardless, even though Gus’ Deli isn’t the best in town, it is worth the money.

Just down the road lies Buontempo Brothers. Having been in the business on Main Street for years, the brothers have got the pizza trade “down to a t.”

Famous and loved by thousands, the shop is rarely empty and pizza is always on the stove. And although they have a great reputation and many loyal customers, their pizza was only a bit better than Gus’ Deli.

At Buontempo Brothers, the cheese was strong and there was a perfect amount of tomato sauce. The slice was reasonable for the price, and they brought it to the table but the cheese fell off on the first bite and the bread was rather flat.

Still worth the money though.

Just a little over a mile away, however, lies a little shop called Italian Sensation. With food like theirs, they certainly live up to their name.

By far, Italian Sensations is the best pizza anyone can have in Bel Air. The perfect amount of cheese, right amount of crust, exquisite tomato sauce, and the slice size so big it doesn’t fit on the plate.

Italian Sensation’s should charge an arm and a leg for their slices of heaven. It is a shock that this shop has not franchised over the nation.

Local pizza is one of the best delicacies of a home town. Italian Sensation makes eating local pizza something to look forward to. It brings the same excitement as a little kid would have to go to a soccer game.

Ryan Selvy can be reached for comment at [email protected]