itinerant foodies

On any given Friday night, all across the United States, pizza places are packed with teenagers or families, all basking in the fluorescent glow of family-owned shops whose servers and pie-makers’ single short-term goal is to simply feed the masses and do it quickly.

Drink orders are placed and pizza toppings are decided upon and the waiting begins. Patrons subconsciously keep track of which tables were there first, and whether they’ve received their pies. As each pizza gets delivered from the oven to tabletop, those without get hungrier and hungrier. And the phone never ceases to ring with competing orders from folks at home.

Behind the scenes, a well-rehearsed team forms pizzas. Each person has a role in the play required to get the pizzas made and onto tables.

The menu is simple and the servers can repeat from memory every soft drink available, from Coke to lemonade. In this place, no glasses are offered. Just cans.

Ms. Pac-Man, a pinball machine and a (rarely used) pay phone are offered as entertainment for those who need to keep busy while waiting.

The pizza arrives with paper-thin crust and an extra helping of cheese, all topped with salty anchovies and crispy pepperonis that curl up in the oven, leaving a tiny bowl of grease. The wait is over.

Rubinos, in Bexley, gives the impression that for the 56 years they’ve been open, they’ve pretty much done things exactly this way. And from my point of view, there’s no reason to change.

Rubino’s Pizza
2643 East Main Street
Columbus, Ohio
614.235.0712

Tags: Bexley, pizza, Rubino's

This entry was posted on November 18, 2010 at 1:36 pm and is filed under Bargain Bin, Columbus, Ohio, In The Neighborhood, Table Service. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.