As I said in an earlier post on Quad City area pizza places, the really good ones around here are few and far between. And when you find one that's really good, it's a real treat. And we recently found one at Stashu and Son's Deli off of John Deere Road in Moline (see map).
Stanley "Stash" Krol and his sons, John and Ken opened up Stashu and Sons Sausage Shoppe in Moline in 1978 (see map). They struggled at first, but kept their head above water and over the years have expanded their business to include a delicatessen at their location.
In the 90's, they opened up a second location in a strip mall on the south side of Moline. They began to make pizzas and had a full deli at that location, as well. I'd heard their pizzas were good, but didn't really know much about them until Cindy and I went to the Taste of the Quad Cities a couple of weeks ago.
There, we met John Krol who gave us a run-down on his business and I tried one of their Italian sausages on a bun. He was impressed that I didn't immediately put any condiment on the sausage. "That's the way a sausage is supposed to be eaten," he said. And I agree.
He told us that Stashu and Sons Pizza and Deli was famous for their calzones. So one evening about a week or so ago, Cindy and I went over to Stashu and Sons and had dinner. It's located in a small strip mall just south of John Deere Road on 44th Street.
It's not much on ambiance - you walk into the deli area, then take a quick left to go into the pizza place dining room. It's counter service, so you order before you sit down.
I think I mentioned in my post about the Taste of the Quad Cities that John Krol told me they didn't serve beer, but said that the wouldn't have a problem bringing some in. We didn't that night - I didn't want to push my luck the first night in case he wasn't there. And John wasn't there - his brother, Ken, was working that night.
Cindy and I both ordered calzones. Cindy ordered The Original - ricotta and mozzarella cheese with their homemade Italian sausage (finely ground) and slices of ham. I went with their spicy Italian sausage - basically, it's a sliced up Italian sausage dog - with pepperoni and mushroom. Cindy got a mini size, I got the regular.
Cindy also ordered some of their garlic pillows - they're puffed pieces of dough rolled in garlic butter and oregano, cooked in an oven then topped with parmesan cheese. We had a sample at The Taste of the Quad Cities and I thought they were better there, actually.
In short, both calzones were very good. Cindy was glad she got a mini because hers filled her up (well, that and the garlic pillows). I couldn't finish all of mine and ended up just picking the innards out of the calzone shell at the end. The sauce was tangy and sweet, the spicy sausage was good, although I like the ground sausage chunks for pizza or calzones. It was a thumbs up winner.
A couple nights ago, Cindy and I didn't want to cook, so I went over and picked up one of Stashu and Sons pizzas - their ground Italian sausage, pepperoni and jalapeno. The crust was thin in the middle, but thicker and more bubbly toward the outside. They cut their pizza Quad City style - long thin pieces cut down the middle. But for the Quad City it was very good. Not the best I've ever had, but worth the drive to get it.
Stashu and Sons also has gluten-free pizza for people who can't have wheat products in their diet. They also serve sandwiches including their house Italian sandwich that sounded pretty damn good, sausage sandwiches, deli sub sandwiches and other hot sandwiches.
Stashu and Sons has a freezer area where you can buy their sausages and their half-baked pizzas to take home.
It may not be the best pizza in the Quad Cities, but it's definitely in our top three at this point.
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