Years ago, when someone in Milwaukee wanted De Marinis pizza, they simply went to the one location. Now they get an unwanted debate.

Rumor (Willis) has it that somewhere along the line, the DeMarinis family was split by a dispute powerful enough to cause the DeMarinis sons — Dom and Phil — to branch out and open their own DeMarinis pizza parlor not but two blocks away from MaMa DeMarinis’. I like to think it was all Jenga-related.

Though family feuds are never a good thing, especially when talking about the TV game show Family Feud, we thought it only fair to give both DeMarinis a try to see if one family’s heart-wrenching rift delivered us the sweet fruits of another bomb-ass Bay View pizza joint. Spoiler: It did.
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Based on a friend’s recommendation, T. Mario and I checked out Tenuta’s Italian Restuarant recently. This Bay View establishment stood out from your standard pizza joint in a lot of ways. For one, they had a full menu of Italian dishes; I would go so far as to say that the pizza isn’t their focus. Another huge difference is the atmosphere. When you first walk in you’ll immediately notice that the lighting is much dimmer than your average restaurant. There are candles lighting every table and the lights were turned down to the point that someone with shitty night vision would be in total hell, crashing into tables and whatnot. While this would be hilarious for me to watch, I can’t imagine the poor bastard who couldn’t see would be enjoying it very much.

Not that there’s anything wrong with dim lighting. There are plenty of times when a more intimate setting would be appropriate. Like if I was having dinner with a nice lady instead of a dude friend. Anyway, T. Mar and I got a table and commenced with the romancing.
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I wonder if they're Italian.

As Ronnie, a DoZ reader named Brad and I came to know, the tucked away throwback that is MaMa DeMarinis’ is the kind of place you go when you initially  attempted to go to a different pizza place because it had a funny TV ad a few years back, you witness a drug deal outside of that (now closed) restaurant, and you drive around aimlessly until someone eventually remember it exists. That’s a story for another day… but that’s how we finally happened upon the elder most of the Bay View restaurants bearing the DeMarinis’ name last week.

Nearly dying on 27th Street after witnessing a felony aside, I’m glad for the night’s events, if only because they led us to one of the better and more unique pizzerias the Milwaukee area has to offer. Read on as I tell you why this run down neighborhood restaurant isn’t nearly as getting-AIDS-worthy as our own Sto Cazzo insists it is.
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There aren’t many things I look forward to anymore.

Beyond baseball’s opening day, open bars at weddings, and things I’ve put off until my thirties like marriage and kids (rhythm method forbid), nothing I do really evokes that sense of passion, longing and anticipation I routinely felt when I was younger. Maybe I’ve learned not to expect much from the world, or maybe I’m just a realist.

I’m not sure exactly why, but I looked forward to eating at Classic Slice.

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