Entry No. 66 — the Pittsburgh file — filed under: cold-cheese
Beto's Pizza
Open on Banksville Road since 1953 and billing itself as the oldest pizza restaurant in the city, Beto's bakes a square tray naked — hot crust, hot sauce, no cheese — then buries each cut under a cold heap of provolone shredded that morning, so the cheese sags and half-melts on your tray while you eat it. It is a regional idiom, not a stunt: the Ohio Valley style does the same thing, adding cold cheese and often raw peppers or pepperoni after the bake, and Wikipedia notes the method "is polarizing," which is putting it gently. You buy by the cut, roughly four-inch squares off a tray of twenty-eight, built one at a time as you call your toppings, so a couple can eat well for pocket money. Regulars swear the to-go box is the superior delivery system, because the trapped heat melts the pile on the drive home. If you cannot commit, they will bake yours the normal way, but that rather defeats the exercise.
→ Three more weird eats & drinks in Pittsburgh — never the same twice
The story
Beto's has been on Banksville Road since 1953, which is the basis of the sign's claim to be the oldest pizza restaurant in Pittsburgh. The method has not softened with age. A square tray goes into the oven wearing nothing but dough and sauce; it comes out with the crust bubbling; and only then does a cut get buried under a cold heap of provolone that was shredded that morning. Most of the other toppings go on cold too. Sausage is cooked, but the peppers, mushrooms and onions arrive raw and stay that way, sliding around on top while the residual heat works from underneath.
This is not a gag invented on Banksville Road. It is Ohio Valley-style pizza, traced to Primo DiCarlo, who came home from the war having eaten pizza in Italy and opened the Original DiCarlo's in Steubenville, Ohio in 1945 with his parents, Michael and Caroline, immigrant bakers — the first licensed pizza restaurant in the state. The dough bakes in rectangular sheet pans at around 550 degrees, long enough that anything delicate laid on beforehand would scorch, so the cold-topping habit reads less like a stunt than like a solution. Locals in the 1940s called it the poor man's cheesecake. Wikipedia's entry on the style records that the approach is polarizing, and Beto's is named there as the Pittsburgh example.
What is physically there is a plain storefront out Route 19 in the Beechview stretch, near the foot of Canton Avenue, with its own lot and a counter you order from. Nothing is sold as a whole pie. You buy roughly four-inch squares off a tray of twenty-eight, built one at a time as you name toppings from a list of about eleven, each one adding to the tab. There are hoagies, salads, sides, a kids' menu, and Glen's custard ice cream sandwiches in the case.
What it's like
You order at the counter and carry your own tray; there is no table service and no waiting to be seated. Ordering takes longer than you expect, because pricing runs per cut and per topping and the person ahead of you is doing arithmetic out loud. Then the cuts come across the counter looking wrong — a hot square under a cold white drift of provolone that has barely begun to slump. Eat one fast and the cheese is still cool and squeaky against a crust hot enough to steam; wait five minutes and it goes ropey. Regulars solve this by ordering to go, because a closed box traps the heat and the whole pile melts on the drive. Two cuts a person is the house recommendation and it is honest advice; these are dense, and a third is usually a mistake you make once.
The move: Call ahead to confirm they're open, drive out Banksville, and order four cuts between you — two plain to taste the cold-cheese thing honestly, two loaded with mushroom and pepper — then argue it out over the tray in the dining room before deciding whether the second round goes in a box to melt on the way home.
📍 Before you go Posted hours are 11am–11pm seven days, but the restaurant warns that staffing has made hours variable and asks you to call for the day's times — phone 412-561-0121 before you leave. Cash and all major cards. Dine-in and takeout, no table service: you order at the counter by the cut and carry the tray. It's on Banksville Road in the Beechview stretch with its own lot; the Parkway West exit puts you nearly at the door. Order fewer cuts than you think — they are dense.
- 📍 Pittsburgh
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 1473 Banksville Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15216
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- Pitaland — Two miles east on Brookline Boulevard, another family counter operation running on unchanged recipes — get there before noon to watch the bread oven, then come back out to Banksville for the cold cheese.
- The Crow's Nest — A ten-minute drive into Dormont for crystals, bones and a class schedule that includes dumb suppers, which pairs neatly with a lunch that most of Pittsburgh argues about.
- GALIMARD Pittsburgh — The sharpest contrast in the South Hills: a six-dollar tray of squares eaten standing up, then an appointment with a certified Nose and an organ of 127 scent notes twenty minutes away on West Liberty.
More weird in Pittsburgh
Good to know
How do I get there, and is there parking?
It's at 1473 Banksville Road, on the Route 19 stretch in Beechview roughly ten minutes southwest of downtown, near the bottom of Canton Avenue. The Parkway West exit drops you almost at the door and there's a lot on site, which matters — Banksville is not a street you park on casually.
What does it cost?
Not much. Pricing is per cut plus per topping: a plain cut ran just under $2 with toppings around 60 cents each when a 2022 accounting was done, so a loaded cut lands near $3 and a full meal in the high single digits. Cash and all major cards.
Do I need to book, and can I trust the hours?
No bookings — it's counter service, dine-in or takeout. Hours are posted as 11am to 11pm seven days, but the restaurant itself warns that staffing has made them variable and asks you to call for the day's times. Ring 412-561-0121 before you drive out.
Can I just have it baked like normal pizza?
Yes. Ask and they'll melt the cheese in the oven for you. It rather defeats the point of the trip, though — the better compromise is ordering to go and letting the box do the melting on the way home.
Is there anything to eat besides the pizza?
Hoagies have their own partisans, plus salads, sides and a kids' menu with smaller portions. Glen's custard ice cream sandwiches handle dessert.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · discovertheburgh.com · Wikipedia
last checked: 2026-08-26