Gabe's Pizza, Incorporated

The lifeblood of a pizza joint--perhaps more than any other type or "genre" of restaurant--is its loyal customer base. Most Americans will eat a hamburger from any old sports bar. They'll unflinchingly order their lunch combination from "La Familia" or "La Fiesta," so long as the free chips and salsa are coming fast and furiously. 

But most of us have one pizza joint. It's the place we call on Christmas Eve. The pizza that gets us through yet another Bengals playoff loss. The pizza you pick up to celebrate your new job. The pizza for when you've just lost your job. 

Sifting through a handful of online reviews it quickly becomes apparent that for a lot of folks in Kokomo, that pizza joint is Gabe's.

In another reality, Gabe's might have been our pizza joint. Way back in 2012, we very nearly moved into Park Place Apartments, a mere 2 blocks from the overly-officious sounding Gabe's Pizza, Incorporated. We lucked up with a rental house at the last minute, and we had yet to visit this sweet little pizzeria until a very cold, blustery day last week. 

Gabe's is located on West Boulevard (there's also a location on Center Road and one in Sharpsville), in the Jackson Square shopping center, between a tanning salon and a cafe that that the internet tells us also sells used furniture.

Founded in 1969 by Eugene Gabriel, Gabe's has been run by one member of the Gabriel family or another over the last 40-some years. The interior of the Boulevard store is sparse, save for a covered-up mural of "Mr. Gabe" and some framed newspaper clippings that detail Tony Gabriel's illustrious racquetball career. Three-time state champion!

Something to know: there is no "medium" at Gabe's, only small and large. The small is 10", the large is 14". Gabe's offers a "Chicago Style" crust that can only be ordered in the 14" size. (More on the need for quotations later.) 

We ordered a small thin crust with olives, onions, and mushrooms, and a large Chicago-Style cheese. Ashley picked up the pizza and was seriously impressed by the good service. They were apologetic about a five-minute wait, and one of the employees--without any prompting--helped carry the pizza to her car. (The only downside of bagged pizza? You can't stack 'em.)

Side-note: these bags kept the pizza pretty dang warm during a 10-minute ride home in 16-year-old car on a zero-degree night. And for rabid recyclers who lack curbside pick-up, less cardboard is a good thing. 

We'll start with the bad news. Unsurprisingly, the Chicago-Style pie resembles nothing that has ever come from the Windy City. Basically, Chicago-Style means that your crust will be a few millimeters thicker than the tried-and-true thin crust. And alas, both of these crusts come straight from the walk-in cooler. 

But all is not lost. Gabe's pizza has the best sauce that we've tried so far (or so says Ash). It's hard to put our finger on just what makes this stuff special, but it's got a texture and a seasoning that's oddly reminiscent of pizza-at-home kits. The toppings are jam-up, too; especially the onions. After much consideration, we're pretty sure they are dehydrated onions, like the ones you find in a Lipton's soup mix. This innovation is both brilliant and wildly delicious. The cheese is gooey and plentiful (of course); it was layered so heavily on the Chicago-Style that eating it seemed as decadent as one of those cheeseburgers that has donuts for buns. 

This pizza is as reasonable as it is beloved. These two pizzas lasted us through 3 solid days of leftovers and cost us less than 20 dollars. 

Good value, stellar service, and incredible onions. Some aspects of Gabe's could be improved, but they're doing the important things right. So, Gabe's might not be our pizza joint, but we can definitely understand why for some people, it is.