Dining Out:

Eureka! I’ve found it! I have found the best pizza in Glendale, and it comes from a little shop near Glendale Avenue and Colorado Street. Co-owner Gianluca Marcon hails from Italy and puts obvious pride into each one of his pies. I use the word pie literally here because these pizzas are more like multilayered culinary objets d’art than slabs of dough with stuff thrown on top.

Any good pizza, of course, starts with good crust. And the crust at Rocky’s is no exception. They talked me into the deep-dish crust for $1 extra and, admittedly, it was outstanding. Its 2-inch-deep crust allowed for the layers mentioned above and had a nice, chewy texture. However, I actually preferred the regular crust. They call it thin crust, but it’s only thin under the toppings, and even there it maintains a stable, delicious base. Around the edge is a puffy ring with a golden brown finish and beautiful air pockets within. Not too sweet and very aromatic.

Their selection of toppings is pretty standard, with a few unusual ones thrown in like jalapeno and broccoli. But all are good quality and freshly cut. I wanted to try the chef’s creations, so we ordered from their fairly priced Classics ($8.75, $10 and $14 for small, medium and large) and Ultra Classics menu ($9.50, $12 and $15.55).

Our favorite, hands-down, was the Margarita pizza on the Classics menu. It rivals any we had in Italy. The first thing to hit you is the spicy garlic aroma and taste. Then comes the tang of the mozzarella. Hidden between the cheese and the perfect crust, which has been brushed lightly with an excellent olive oil and a little bit of sauce, are leaves of fresh basil and paper-thin tomato slices.

On the top is an artistic sprinkling of some kind of pepper. In fact, when picking up my pizzas in a bit of a rush, Gianluca made me wait until this pizza was cooked to perfection and then sprinkled with the topping before he’d hand it over. I respected that a lot. I also respected the fact that I was steered away from ordering an item called “Turn Up the Heat” because the recipe wasn’t quite perfect yet.

The same “hidden treasure” quality comes up in other pizzas. The bacon cheeseburger pizza looks simply like a crust with chopped, cold iceberg lettuce on top. But when you bite into it, you see and taste the secret strata within. There’s mustard, mayo, ground beef, cheese and bacon. Sounds weird, but it’s a tasty adventure. Kids will love this one. If you’re not into yellow mustard, though, ask for a little less.

I was told their BBQ chicken pizza is the best I’ll ever have. While it’s darn good, it’s not the best. A little too much barbecue sauce and not enough cilantro (actually, none) for my taste. Another point of contention I have is with their pizza called Rocky’s Best. It isn’t. It is their version of the everything pizza with pepperoni, ham, mushrooms, green peppers and onions. The rich tomato sauce stands out on this one, and the ingredients are fresher than on most everything pizzas. But in trying to please everyone, it pleased few at our table.

The Italian meats found a much happier home in Rocky’s antipasto salad ($4.49, $6.49 and $8.49 for individual, small and large). The salad also has shredded romaine and iceberg, along with flavorful grape tomatoes, olives, croutons, mozzarella, and pepperoncini’s. The homemade dressing is simply good olive oil, a bit of vinegar, sea salt and pepper, and is wonderful with the salad.

Rocky’s Gourmet Pizza is so named for filmdom’s greatest prizefighter and Gianluca’s hero. In fact, there’s a sign on the counter challenging customers to “do a push-up and receive one free topping.” They seem devoted to good, healthy food here and, to this end, offer quite a few vegetarian choices, including veggie sausage, chicken and bacon. With or without meat, Rocky’s pizza is some of the tastiest, most authentic in town.

Get in touch LISA DUPUY is a La Crescenta resident and lover of good food. She can be reached at ldupuy@aol.com.