One thing that I had to suspend when that rotten pandemic sailed into town last year was the MBIP Food Tours. We had just started a Mexican Food Tour and one of the last times I went out for a meal was back in March with MBIP Pal and Wheelman, Scott Turley.
Well, I’m happy to announce the start of a brand new food tour here on MBIP and it’s going to be a cheesy and saucy adventure because my goal for this food tour is to eat all of the pizza in Peoria. I want to sample pizza from anyplace that makes fresh pizza in their establishment.
I will be following some rules for this pizza journey and here they are:
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The Peoria Pizza Pie Tour Rules
1. I’ll only be eating cheese pizza. My favorite pizza is cheese pizza and I think it’s the truest form of pizza that there is.
2. We won’t be eating deep dish pizza because that shit isn’t really pizza. It’s a casserole inside of dough. For further information about this, please listen to Jon Stewart on the subject.
3. We won’t be seasoning the pizza with any condiments like salt, pepper or hot sauce. I want to try the pizza on it’s own merit so there will be no seasoning of the pie.
4. We’ll be rating the pizzas from 0 to 10 and I’ll explain more about the rating when we get to it.
Okay, time to start sampling Pizza in Peoria! It’s pizza pie time in P-Town!
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Eating All Of the Pizza In Peoria - Week Number One: Agatucci’s
Agatucci’s is my favorite pizza parlor in Peoria. It’s the oldest family-owned Italian restaurant in Peoria and I’ve spent many nights blogging here since I moved back to this city.
I’ve gotten take-out meals from here in the past year but I haven’t been inside of Agatucci’s since Covid 19 happened.
I’m really excited about eating one of their legendary pizza pies inside again, so let’s go in and begin this saucy journey!
There’s a sight for sore eyes, the Agatucci’s bar!
I like to sit down at the far end of it, so let’s go down and get settled in. I think I see a couple of familiar faces down there…
It’s Danny and Tony Agatucci, they’re the fourth generation of Agatucci owners of this Italian restaurant that has been standing in the same location since 1926.
They’re two of the nicest guys in Peoria and it’s always a pleasure to see them. It was nice to catch up on what we’ve been doing for the last year and a half. Then I ordered an appetizer to start this pizza pie meal off.
I’m fully vaccinated, so I took off my mask and they brought me an ice-cold bottle of Budweiser. I’m partying like it’s the pre-pandemic times of 2019!
I thought for this tour, in addition to pizza, I’ll also be sampling chicken wings or an appetizer before the pizza pie.
Agatucci’s serves up delicious Buffalo chicken wings, but sadly, due to the Coronavirus, the price of wings has sky-rocketed, so for now they’re off the menu.
Instead I got a small order of fried ravioli and these are so delicious! They come with a tub of savory meat sauce to dip them in and this was a fabulous start to our pizza pie dinner!
I ordered our cheese pizza and now let’s take a look around in here while it’s being prepared. It’s been over a year since I’ve been inside of here, so I’m anxious to have a look around in here again!
Everything looks just the same in here and that’s a good thing!
There’s the classic wine chandeliers over the booths and the Cardinal Budweiser neon on the paneled walls in here.
They have four beers on tap behind the bar.
Here’s my three favorite things in Agatucci’s besides the pizza: 1. The Michelob Lamp that hangs over the bar that reminds us all that the night belongs to Michelob. 2. The vintage Hamm’s beer waterfall sign behind the bar. 3. The legendary backwards Agatucci’s clock!
This photo has a funny story behind it.
A few years ago Jay Leno came to Peoria when Bradley University opened up a new building. Jay was the guest of honor at the opening of the building and after the ceremony, he was going to fly back to Los Angeles on that Saturday night.
After the ceremony Leno asked if there was anywhere he could get a pizza pie to eat on his flight back to L.A.
The organizers called Agatucci’s and even though they were getting ready to close, they said they’d make him a cheese and sausage pizza pie and stay open until he got there.
And so he arrived, posed for the above photo, thanked Tony and Danny and left with the pizza pie and never offered to pay for it!
About a week later, they did receive a box containing some Tonight Show t-shirts and merch, but it astounded me that Jay Leno would keep a place open after-hours and then just waltz out with a pizza and not even offer to pay for it!
I guess that was his Peoria version of Jay-Walking.
Meanwhile, back at the bar, it looks like it’s just about time for the very first pizza pie of this Slices of Peoria Pizza Tour!
There it is, the very first pizza pie of this Peoria Pizza Tour!
It looks delicious, but it’s an Agatucci’s pizza, so that’s no surprise!
It’s been over a year since I ate one of their pizzas at the bar, fresh out of the oven and this is a heavenly moment on earth!
Agatucci’s pizza has a crisp, cracker-thin crust and just the right amount of fresh cheese and savory tasty sauce on it!
It’s a pizza pie that has been satisfying Peorians for over ten decades. These are delicious slices of history that’s served in this iconic Peoria Pizzaria!
There was even enough left over for a tasty lunch the next day! I love their doggy bags that they have in here!
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The Rating
We’re going to be rating all of the Pizzas of Peoria on a scale from 0 to 10.
Any rating from 0 to 5.9 is a substandard pizza that you should definitely avoid.
A rating from 6 to 8.5 is a good pizza and gets the MBIP pizza pie recommendation.
A rating from 8.6 to 9.4 means the pizza is very high quality and you need to try it out as soon as you can.
Ratings from 9.5 to 10 represent the best pizzas in Peoria.
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This Week’s Rating: 9.6.
Agatucci’s is my favorite Peoria pizza. Will anyone be able to top this pizza rating? Well, stay tuned as every Tuesday we continue to eat every single pizza in Peoria!
Cheese you next week!
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22607 N. University Street
Peoria
309-688-8200
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Related Post: My Favorite Food Tour: Twelve Weeks Of Wings.