You Won't Leave hungry

Illiano’s J&P Restaurant

490 Meadow Creek Rd., Westminster

http://www.illianojandppizza.com/ 

You won’t leave hungry

There are many Illiano Family restaurants in Carroll County although not all are under the same family ownership. The one thing they all have in common is their origins with the creation of these popular eateries by Francesco “Frank” Illiano who arrived in the US decades ago with a talent for pizza making and spirit of entrepreneurship. It’s been quite a while since Frank made a pizza for restaurant guests as his hard work has bloomed into a small empire of restaurants. Why some restaurants are owned by some family members and others now headed by Frank I can’t say; business is business and I’m not here to do a financial portrait of the pizza kingdom, just the food, which is remarkably similar and consistent no matter the sign over the front door.

My friend and I decided to visit the J&P newest location on the West side of Westminster in a new shopping center located across MD Rt. 140 from the Best Western Inn. This is a large, attractive, independent building in the center and the menu suggests that it is operated by Frank’s brother Augusto. We were there at lunch time but no matter the full menu of pizza’s subs and entrée’s is available for both lunch and dinner. The restaurant is spacious with comfortable booths and tables set comfortably apart from one another.

One thing I insist on having anytime I dine at a J&P is the zucchini sticks. There are ample “sticks” in an order to share as an appetizer; they are accompanied by tubs or marinara sauce and ranch dressing for dipping in. The lightly breaded zucchini makes a great alternative to the many other tasty appetizers on the menu. No doubt some folks are equally as big a fan of the French fries or breaded mushroom caps at J&P.

Ideally we would have ordered very different lunch selections but the subs at J&P are so good we couldn’t convince one another to order differently. My friend chose the Steak & Cheese sub with the works, a monster of a sub with plenty of grilled minute steak smothered in melted mozzarella cheese.  I chose a veal parmigiana sub with mozzarella, marinara sauce and fried onions. Again, the portion is very large and the breaded veal a very tasty option.

This restaurant has a full bar of liquors, wines and beers. Were it dinner time I would have had a glass or two of ice cold Pinot Grigio to go with the meal but I find any liquor at lunch times leads me to an urge for an afternoon siesta so I seldom imbibe at lunch. Notice I did say seldom. Our server was very attentive and the food came out from the kitchen promptly.

Admittedly, it’s difficult to write a restaurant review for what one may call a “pizza joint” but the vast majority of us in Carroll County eat far more often in places like this than we do in fine dining establishments. Our expectations for each are deservedly different; however, because of the frequency for our eating out in a Pizza Parlor the one thing we are entitled to is consistency. I find all of the J&P restaurants to serve up consistently good food at reasonable prices and I certainly can’t say that of many of the lunch establishments I visit. I certainly endorse this new location of the J&P family of restaurants. You’ll go home neither disappointed nor hungry if you go.