Return to Tribecca Allie

We drove to Sardis a few weekends ago just to eat pizza at Tribecca Allie again. I figured that the last time we were there was back in 2015, so that’s a nine-year gap. I wrote about Tribecca Allie a while back in a post about my approach to eating pizza., and I claimed that it was the best pizza I’d ever had. Back then, the place was hopping during the weekends. They had a wait staff and things were a bit on the fancy side. They served only 10-inch pies, and you could order them with one or two toppings or they’d warn you that it wouldn’t be good with too much on it, that the crust couldn’t support a load of toppings. I remember they even for a time didn’t have the parm sprinkles and the red pepper, and those items have become expected at pizza joints in the U.S., like asking for ketchup packets at the McBurger. They were kind of saying, we’re not your typical pizza place. And that was fine, but it was a bit froufrou, especially for Sardis, Mississippi. Sardis is a literal one-redlight town sitting right on the edge of the Mississippi Delta. Honestly, a froufrou brick-oven pizzeria has no business existing there. Tribecca was always a touch out of place.

Well, it has changed. A lot. The core, that wonderful neapolitan-style crust, and the owners, a true Mom-and-pop combo, remains the same, but pretty much everything else has changed. The froufrou is gone. Erased from history. 2024 Tribecca Allie exists as a working-class no-frills pizzeria. I much prefer that, if I’m being honest. The only people working were mom and pop. No wait staff at all. The upstairs dining area was closed, and the only place to sit down and eat were just a handful of tables and a bar surrounding the oven. The pizzas were now 12-inch, and they even had a meat-lovers on the menu. Parm and red pepper were readily available.

Me and the daughter slideled up and ordered one of their speciality pies and a sausage and onion.

Was it as good as I remembered?

Yes. It’s stellar. It’s that neapolitan-style crust combined with the wood-fired brick oven that puts the nicest trace of char on the crust. Just look at the picture. That crust isn’t doughy or bready at all, but light. It’s crisp on the outside and soft and tender on the inside, and it has this creamy sensation as you chew on it. Man, it’s good. Yes, I would rather have this than anything, and if Tribecca existed in my town that’s all I would ever order.