Repeats with a Twist - Ledo's, College Park, MD

Ledo's is one of those places that's been around forever.  The original location was about a 5-minute drive from the Maryland campus.  I lost count about 10 years ago of how many times I've eaten there, mainly carryout but also a few times in the main dining room.  The biggest problem about Ledo's was the cigarette smoke in the bar area.  The carryout waiting area separated the bar from the main dining room, and thankfully the smoke didn't leak into that waiting area.  You could literally see the smoke hanging in the air inside the bar, and within 2 minutes you would stink for the rest of the day.  A couple years ago Ledo's moved to the other side of campus, just off Route 1.  Definitely a good thing I wasn't still living in CP, or that could have been dangerous.  It's about 3 times the size of the original, with a large airy bar area and a good-sized main dining room.  The whole place is bright, there's TVs all throughout the restaurant, and they've got floor-to-ceiling glass on the street side.  Over the years a few other locations have opened throughout the state. I've never been anywhere but the original location, but friends have told me its the best one.

Ledo's is most known for pizza.  For a long time I didn't even know they had other kind of food.  I tried a couple other menu items over the years, but the pizza is hands down the best thing there. The crust is thin, and the slices are square.  It can sometimes be greasy, but it's still always really good.  One of my favorite toppings is the thick-cut pepperoni.  My other favorite is the pre-cooked bacon.  The mini pizza is round, but all the other sizes are square.  My parents often get Ledo's to go on their way home from Maryland basketball games.  For about 4 years while I worked at Maryland, one of our donors brought a dozen pizzas with all different kinds of toppings to the office every week during football season.  He did it for one game, and when we won he decided it was fate so it was a weekly treat.  I can promise you nobody in the office complained. And as time went on the coaches would ask weekly which day Joe was coming with the pizza.

I always have to go to Ledo's once whenever I go back to Maryland.  On this trip, it was the first night that I arrived.  My mom wasn't hungry that night, so it was just me and my dad.  We were seated in the bar area which I wasn't too fired up about because it's tables & chairs rather than a comfy booth, but the main dining room was very crowded. 

We started with calamari

It came with peppers and capers, which kind of reminded me of the appetizer at Perry's Steakhouse.  The calamari was perfectly cooked and super hot.   Have to admit it wasn't quite as good as Perry's, but not much calamari is.  I don't like capers, but the peppers were tender crisp and delicious.  My dad tasted the capers and wasn't really a fan either.

My dad got the veggie lovers pizza, and I got the mini spinach, green pepper, onion, and pre-cooked bacon. Its what I have ordered for years, so why mess with what works. I did notice that they have a butter garlic sauce as an option, and decided to try that instead of the red sauce.  

You can see my dad's pizza in the top left hand corner of the picture. He got the medium so he and my mom could have leftovers for a couple of days, which is what they usually do when they go. I never thought I would ever say this, but there was too much bacon for the little pizza.  I guess I shouldn't complain, because it could have been the other way around.  I ended up taking some off and having it the next morning for breakfast with my eggs.  The pizza was awesome though!  The server told me they just started offering the garlic butter sauce recently when they created the Pizza Bianco.  The sauce was absolutely delicious, and added a whole different flavor to the pizza. 

I can't wait to go back to Maryland to get my Ledo's fix!