Find a Tasty Stromboli Near You for Curbside Pickup & Delivery

Just by the name, one can quickly think of stromboli as an Italian invention. There is a volcano mountain in Italy with that name, so it must be Italiano, right?

Well, Americans should be proud since this mouth-watering bite is a local creation. The compliments go to the pizza chef Nazzareno Romano from Philadelphia. He made the first stromboli back in the 1950s while experimenting with pizza.

Nazzareno's grandchildren are still running Romano's Pizzeria and Italian Restaurant today. You can look up their menu and order now with the Slice app.

Nazzareno made it with simple ingredients like ham, cheese, and peppers.

Stromboli is a rolled sandwich made of pizza dough. It is an alternative to the classic pizza because it is mostly made with the same fillings and toppings. Local pizza chefs make Stromboli from scratch using:

•    Pizza dough

•    Pizza sauce

•    Cheese

•    Toppings (meat, veggies, or both)

•    Marinara sauce on the side, for dipping

After kneading, the dough is shaped into a rectangle. Tomato sauce, cheese, meat, and other toppings are put onto the dough.

The tomato sauce is an optional ingredient since not every restaurant uses it in their stromboli sandwiches. Lots of cheese is added, all over the dough.

Since stromboli is a kind of inside-out sandwich, all the good stuff is rolled inside the sandwich. Thus, the stromboli must be perfectly baked. That is why shredded, low-moisture mozzarella is the best cheese option for stromboli.

Cured meats or salami are the most popular meat types for stromboli, with pepperoni being the number one meat choice.

Well, that is another curiosity.

The legend says it's named after the notorious volcano primarily because of its shape. And because of the hot content hiding in both the volcano and the sandwich.

However, the more probable version is that stromboli shares its name with a now-classic black and white movie from 1950.

Ingrid Bergman, the leading female, and the writer and director Roberto Rossellini started a romantic relationship during the shooting. As you might suspect, it was a massive tittle-tattle since both of them were already married. This put them and the movie in the top gossip headlines, and everybody talked about "Stromboli."

Therefore, one of Nazzareno's in-law suggested naming the sandwich stromboli.

Despite being very similar, stromboli and calzone are different types of snacks. Many mistake one for the other or are unsure what to order.

While stromboli was invented in Philadelphia, the calzone originated in Naples, Italy, in the 18th century.

Although pizza dough is used for both calzone and stromboli, the dough's folding and shape are the main difference. Calzone is made from a round dough simply folded to a semicircle, sealed with fingers or fork at the ends.

Stromboli is made with a rectangle dough, rolled into a spiral with folded ends to keep the filling inside.

Both calzone and stromboli are brushed with egg wash before baking.

In Italy, the calzone is typically made with some sauce in the filling. However, this is not customary for US chefs. Although some American chefs put tomato sauce inside a calzone, it is usually a stromboli with tomato sauce inside.

Even though both strombolis and calzones can have mozzarella inside, calzones always have ricotta cheese as one of the ingredients. The stromboli sandwich is made without ricotta.

Usually, the calzone has more pizza-like toppings while the stromboli fillings are like those used for sandwiches.

The calzone is made as a single dish and is eaten individually. The stromboli, on the other hand, is cut to pieces and is shared as an appetizer.

This is the most popular choice when you have stromboli on your mind. Usually made with pepperoni, ham, cheese, and pepper with a side sauce.

If you are in Chicago, you can get your hands on a delicious stromboli in Dante's Pizzeria. You can either choose a classic stromboli with pepperoni, salami, prosciutto, provolone, mozzarella, or a spinach ricotta stromboli with fresh spinach, mushroom, ricotta, and mozzarella.

When in Boston, you can indulge yourself in more than 30 varieties in Gaya Pizzeria. In Los Angeles? Don't miss Tardino Bros' stromboli.