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.

Old and shitty looking as it is, one must assume MaMa DeMarinis’ is a place rich in history. Of course, I’m not going to actually look into its history because history is…
A.) Boring
B.) Subjective and constantly changing
C.) More like “her story.” Am I right, ladies? HAAAAAAY!
D.) All of the above
… but walking into the establishment, you can operate under the assumption that little, if anything, has changed since it opened nearly 6,000 years ago. The same dingy cast of ancient regulars seem to line the bar, the same kind-hearted waitresses (who started the job in the days when women’s rights was just a clever oxymoron used as means of humor in silent movies) still take your order, and subsequently bring out the same flavorful baking pan pizzas they used to feed to the dinosaurs that once roamed and ruled the land where Cafe Centraal now stands.

But with pizza so tasty, I’m personally glad nothing has seemed to change. MaMa’s homemade sausage is that of wet dreams, they basically douched our pizza in delicious and semi-spicy sauce, FRESH MUSHROOMS, and they had our Za to us pretty much immediately. Also, they are one of the few pizzeria’s I know of to offer vegan cheese, if you’re into that thing. 

To me, it tastes almost exactly like Dom and Phil DeMarinis’ pizza (her sons, which Sto Cazzo will eventually fill you in on). Regardless, on Za skills alone, I still wish MaMa DeMarinis was my mom — I mean, unless she’s totally hot or something. That could be weird thing for a son deal with.

Bay View, Mama DeMarini's, T. Mario, vegan