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Review: Island Pizza

large building with a neon sign palm tree and the words "Island Pizza"

No one would ever confuse Berks County for the Caribbean.

Reading is a long way from Aruba. Birdsboro is very different from Barbados.

But there is a place in eastern Berks County that at least tries to make it feel a little more like the islands.

Island Pizza sits along Route 422, about 10 minutes east of the city. The building sits on an “island,” its neon palm tree shining bright atop a hill high above the highway.

With the divided highway, the only way to reach it from the west is through one of those jug handle turns that are a rarity in Berks County.

But there is more different about this place than turning right to go left.

mural with an iguana and parrot in an orange sky with the sun in the upper right

Inside, every square inch of the walls are covered in bright murals depicting parrots, flowers and iguanas. An underwater scene adorns the short wall at the kitchen counter, with crabs and clownfish and others brought to life in vivid color.

order counter with a painted mural of multi-colored fish

The menu is a lot larger than I would have thought. In addition to more than 20 specialty pizza options— most of them featuring island names like the Martinique (chicken, red onion, tomatoes, bell peppers and mozzarella) and the Bermuda (white pizza with fresh garlic, broccoli and spinach)—the restaurant features burgers, steak sandwiches and hoagies.

Island Pizza is also “crazy about fries” with 18 styles that range from Cajun and seasoned fries to ranch bacon cheese and pulled pork BBQ. We decided to go with something a little more Italian in nature with the Parmesan garlic fries.

basket of fries topped with parmesan and minced garlic

Too hungry to wait for our pizza, we asked to have our fries first. The crispy fries were dusted with in powdery Parmesan; a small pool of oil had gathered at the bottom of the basket. The fries at the bottom were too soggy to pick up without a fork, but using a fork was only a minor inconvenience.

The fries were greasy and good, and the garlicky sauce was doubly good, serving as a convenient dipping sauce for the pizza yet to come.

stuffed pizza with a cup of tomato sauce for dipping

For our pizza, we decided to go all-out with a gourmet stuffed pizza, the Aruba.

stuffed pizza with the top peeled back to show the sausage and cheese inside

Peeling back the doughy lid revealed a meat-lovers dream, filled with meatballs, sausage, pepperoni, ham, bacon and mozzarella.

Everything about it was excellent. All of the meats worked well together with the pepperoni adding just a hint of spice to the pie. The sauce, served in a bowl on the side, was thick marinara that added just a little sweetness. in the end though, I dipped more into the garlic sauce from the fries than I did in the marinara.

The pizza, which cost about $20, was enough to easily feed a family of four. After we each finished two of the oversized slices (mine were bigger than Julie’s, of course), we still had two slices left for lunch later in the week.

It may not be the Caribbean,  but Island Pizza is an oasis of sorts, a relaxing place friendly service.

And some darn good pizza.

BCE Rating
Food: Good
Service: Good
Ambiance: Good
Price: Reasonable

Island Pizza
3060 Limekiln Rd
Birdsboro, PA 19508

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West Lawn Wednesdays

west-lawn-united-methodist-church

Church dinners are a tradition in Berks County, just as they are across the country.

On any given weekend, you will find area churches serving up freshly prepared comfort foods like chicken pot pie, ham and beans, and pot roast.

Some church dinners have a loyal following, bringing in people from far and wide to enjoy a meal. Whether it’s once a year, or every month, the dinners become a true community event.

But the West Lawn United Methodist Church takes church dinners to a whole new level with West Lawn Wednesdays.

I first found out about West Lawn Wednesdays during the Wilson Iron Chef event in April. The church was set up in the expo space, handing out samples of their shepherd’s pie, which was one of the best items I tasted throughout the day.

Shepherd's Pie - West Lawn Methodist

The ladies running the stand handed us a brochure and two free meal vouchers, and after seeing that the meals only run September through May, I knew I only had a few weeks to  experience a West Lawn Wednesday.

And so it was that we found ourselves in the Community Center on the last Wednesday before the summer break.

According to the brochure, West Lawn Wednesdays began in 2001 with a dinner for about 40 congregation members. The event has clearly grown.

Inside, rows of tables were filled with patrons, with many more having already passed through the doors on this night.

The menu changes weekly with two entree options, starter salad, two sides and dessert. After being shown to our seats, a group of regulars sitting with us were more than happy to point us in the direction of the buffet line.

salad-west-lawn-wednesday

Our first stop was the salad bar, which was better than some restaurants I have a seen, with plenty of add-ins and not a speck of brown lettuce to be seen.

meatloaf-west-lawn-wednesday

Next we took our trays and headed to the hot bar where the night’s entrees were meatloaf and hot dogs with mashed potatoes, carrots and broccoli on the side.

I politely declined the hot dog, but was happy to have them fill up my plate with the rest of the options. Like any good church dinner, the food tasted like it came right out of a grandmother’s kitchen. The meatloaf, topped in brown gravy, had a nice flavor with just enough onions and spices mixed in. The potatoes were light and fluffy and the vegetables also came out beautifully.

The only disappointment was the announcement that the Rita’s Water Ice had not arrived as planned and there would be no dessert.

We all paused mid-meal as the pastor said a short prayer and invited everyone to the group study classes that would begin after the meal was finished at 7:30.

And though we received invitations from some of our neighboring diners, we never felt pressured to stay for anything beyond the meal.

While our coupons we picked up from the Iron Chef competition provided us with two free meals, we would have gladly paid the $7.50 per person that was being charged (for families of four or more, a $25 flat rate makes it even more reasonable).

Entering last year, the West Lawn Wednesday program had earned more than $60,000, all of which went to benefit the church’s various mission trips (from as close as New Jersey to as far as Tanzania) and to provide food for other outreach programs in Reading and Berks County.

And judging from the full dining area and delicious food, I suspect that number will continue to grow as a year of meals begins.

Check the schedule for West Lawn UMC dinners on their website.

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Unique Eats: Shoofly Whoopie Pie from Lil’s Bakery

Shoofly Whoopie Pie - Lil's Bakery

Berks County Eats leaves the restaurant behind in order to try some of the best desserts, snack foods and unique foods from Greater Reading’s best bakeries and food stands. These are Berks County’s Unique Eats.

In my review of The Whoopie Pie Company, I tasted the gourmet version of the Pennsylvania Dutch dessert. The normally simple cakes were given an upscale makeover with ganache filling and chocolate drizzle.

But while the Whoopie Pie Company continues to move the whoopie pie forward, other area bakeries are also putting their own spin on the traditional dish.

Inside the PA Dutch Farmer’s Market of Wyomissing, Lil’s Bakery offers just about every kind of baked good imaginable, from a variety of breads to pies and cupcakes. And like any good Pennsylvania Dutch bakery, Lil’s is putting their own twist on the whoopie pie.

The pies are not glamorous. Instead of an individual box, they come wrapped in saran, with filling bursting out from the sides. In addition to the standard chocolate with vanilla cream, Lil’s offers flavors like peanut butter and red velvet.

But their most unique version takes another Dutch dessert, replacing the chocolate cakes with shoofly for a doubly delicious dish.

The shoofly cakes are very moist, like a wet-bottom pie filling. And it’s just sticky enough to give you an excuse to lick your fingers clean when you’re finished.

The cream is simple, sweet enough that you taste it in every bite, but not too sweet to overpower the cakes. It’s a perfect balance of flavors that makes this a nearly perfect pie.

Another great thing about Lil’s whoopie pies in the price. At about $1.00 each, you can afford to spoil yourself every week. Just remember that the market is only open Thursdays through Saturdays so make sure you stock up to get yourself through the week.

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The Whoopie Pie Company – CLOSED

Whoopie-Pie-Company-1

Editor’s Note: The Whoopie Pie Company is closed. The bakery closed before the VF Outlet Center closed in 2018.

When you think of Pennsylvania Dutch desserts, whoopie pies have to be one of your first thoughts. A heap of vanilla cream sandwiched between a pair of chocolate cakes makes for a simple, perfect dessert.

But the culinary arts are all about innovation, and that is what the Whoopie Pie Company is doing with these Dutchy desserts.

The bakery is tucked in the back corner of the VF Outlet Center’s Blue Building, on the outer edge of what is an otherwise a drab, generic food court.

It’s a fitting setting for a company that takes a tired (yet delicious) food that has never really changed and jazzes it up in a fresh, new way.

Whoopie-Pie-Company-2

The Whoopie Pie Company offers seven everyday flavors that range from traditional (chocolate with buttercream) to unique (vanilla cakes with buttercream and raspberry drizzle).

Unfortunately I didn’t have enough stomach to try all seven so I decided that if I could only get one, The Classic was the obvious choice.

The Classic is the “traditional” chocolate cakes with cream filling. But this looked nothing like a traditional whoopie pie. First, there is the whipped buttercream filling, beautifully squeezed onto the bottom cake instead of slopped on. Then there is the chocolate drizzle crisscrossing the top cake.

It was almost a shame to take the first bite and ruin the beautiful dessert. The moist, dark chocolate cakes were perfectly balanced by the sweet cream filling.

And because you can’t eat just one, I also took a bite out of The Rebel, which isn’t very rebellious at all. The Rebel is the opposite of your traditional pie, with vanilla cakes and a chocolate ganache that gave it just enough chocolate flavor to remind you that it is still a whoopie pie.

Though the pies were both very good, you are paying for pretty. The pies cost $2.00 each, which is a lot for a pie that really isn’t very big.

And though I might have wanted a little more for my money, the whoopie pies would have left me wanting more no matter how big they were. They were just that good.

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