Guido's

The cure for boring take-out

by Jessika Bella Mura

on the cheap

Tacos Lupita, February 3 Pini's Pizzeria, January 27 New England Soup Factory, January 20

When a hospital cafeteria is your closest competition, you don't have to be this good. For the past two and a half years, Guido's -- in the shadow of St. Elizabeth's Medical Center -- has been popular with the local stethoscope crowd and has been doing a lively take-out business in Allston, Brighton, and the Boston College area.

What makes Guido's more than your average neighborhood deli/pizza joint is an unusual dedication to ingredients, whether it be the Boar's Head cold cuts or the focaccia sandwich bread that's made on the premises. That, and some combos that make the most of said ingredients: the Florentine pizza (grilled chicken, spinach, and three cheeses, $13.25) and the pungent #2 sandwich, stuffed with prosciutto, sun-dried tomatoes, and muenster, then pressed ($6.50). And if that's too fussy, there's always the retrograde thrill of the Bomb ($6.75 for a large steak-and-cheese sandwich with peppers, onions, mushrooms, and salami) or the Artery Clogger pizza (pepperoni, hamburger, sausage, and extra cheese, $13.25). All this in a small corner spot with a few seats and a chain-link-fence view.

Guido's, located at 256 Washington Street, in Brighton, is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight, and Sunday from noon to 10 p.m. Call (617) 254-8436.

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