With nothing catching my eye on the Caf menu and looking for an excuse to enjoy the warm weather, I decided to go to the Quarry last Saturday. Feeling ambitious and given the low amount of sushi on the weekends, I ordered a Pepperoni Pita. I’ve never indulged in this dish before considering I’m not a huge fan of deli meats; however, the Pepperoni Pita is my friend’s go-to order, so I had mixed feelings going into this experience. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised with my meal’s outcome. 

Consisting of a pita, provolone cheese, marinara sauce and pepperoni, the only ingredient I foresaw as a potential problem was the pepperoni. If that’s the case, this could be a recipe for disaster given pepperoni as the main ingredient. Opening my wrapped sandwich, I instantly regretted not bringing a fork and knife with me outside to eat this meal. The sandwich didn’t look bad but marinara sauce seeped to the outside of the pita and onto the wrapper, making it a mess to pick up and eat with my hands. Once I made a game plan to pick up the pita, the rest of my experience eating this dish was pretty positive. 

In terms of balance, the pepperoni definitely settled to the bottom of the pita. Normally I prefer my food to have an equal integration of tastes and flavors with every bite, but in this case,  I actually preferred this preparation. With pepperoni at the bottom and cheese at the top, I got to cleanse my palate from the salty pepperoni with the creamy cheese between bites. The pepperoni had a great flavor. Not one for spicy foods, I feared the pepperoni would have overpowered the dish in this aspect. However, the pepperoni was salty versus spicy and didn’t leave an aftertaste in my mouth as I anticipated. This salt paired nicely with the smooth marinara sauce that was seasoned nicely with Italian herbs. 

Despite the evident panini press marks, I wish the pita was crisper. Unfortunately, there were holes in the bottom of my pita, causing sauce to escape from inside and make the pita soggy. Nevertheless, the cheese made up for this aspect of my eating experience. It was consistently stringy and oftentimes extra crispy towards the top of the pita. The charred cheese was the best part of this dish as it added a crunch.

Would I order the Quarry’s Pepperoni Pita again? Absolutely! My one complaint, which is aimed more at the Quarry than this particular pita, is I wish the sandwich was bigger. I brought along a bag of pretzels from my dorm whose salt complemented the dish and helped with making this meal feel filling. 

While I picked up a banana included with my meal exchange, I ended up saving the fruit for later because I thought the mushy sweet banana conflicted with the savory taste of the pita. With that said, the Pepperoni Pita is definitely worth giving a try. I was pleasantly surprised and considered going back to order another.