Bruno's

Bruno's has a long history on the Levee in West Lafayette and is famous for "Bruno Dough," deep fried pizza dough covered with garlic butter and parmesan. I've been working my way through the sandwich menu recently, and have found several highlights. I've tried the sub, stromboli, chicken breast, and Texas bbq and all are excellent. The chicken sandwish is grilled and is a nice healthy alternative. There is also a ham and cheese wrapped in pastry dough, and that is next on my list to try. Of course, this is a pizza place and it is excellent. Everything is made fresh on site. But it's not just about pizza. Bruno's is nearly as famous for their wienerschnitzel and other German dishes like knackwurst and geschnetzles. The menu includes many pasta dishes and salads, and a full bar. Bruno's is a local institution and has been owned by the same family for its entire existence. The dining area is casually decorated, and a sports room is packed with memoribilia. Many famous people have dined at Bruno's, including Bill Cosby who is a notable fan of the place and stops here whenever he's in the vicinity.

Oh Bruno's, I loved you as a kid growing up in WL, and everyone there is super nice, BUT, note to self and all others:  stick with the pizza at Bruno's, or go for the catfish.  Wienerschnitzel was greasy and over salted, and I am a confirmed salt whore.  The seafood chowder was rather bad, and remarkably devoid of seafood.  It seemed an amalgam of a corn and seafood "flavor" chowder, and was hugely heavy.  Potato dumplings with meat sauce were fine if unimaginative.  Knackwurst was quite good, with a very meaty flavor, although was also overly salted, battling with the beef for flavor profile dominance, and the accompanying sauerkraut was food service.  Home made kraut would have been a nice touch, which is such a treat:  less vinegary and overpowering, more redolent of cabbage and fermentation.  Oh well, you can't have it all.  Veggie sandwich was mostly an overlarge bread loaf, with cold mushrooms and onions, mozz and a bit of the tomato sauce.  Not very appetizing at all, but food.  The pizza?  I will always love Bruno's pizza, a unique style, heavily cheesed and sauced with a sharp tangy  pizza sauce, rather undercooked flaccid crust which asks for using cutlery, but somehow the damn thing works and is just damn good.  This would never fly at any true pizza aficionado gathering, but this is West Lafayette's Pizza, and I will always love it.  Very tasty, and they also have anchovies.    I will say it again then sing it:  when at Bruno's, stick to pizza!

I found Bruno's to be exceptionally bad.

While service and decor were fine, their take on some Italian staples was lackluster.  

Their veal parm may be the worst I've ever had.  A very southern take on it where it was just strips of beef layered in cheese and piping hot sauce. Most customers in America expect veal parmigiana to be tenderized, breaded and pan fried.

Ok, so veal parm didn't work out, try the pizza. The product used in the pizza was lackluster at best. Cheap sausage devoid of flavor.  You know the canned little sausage bits.

Bruno's dough may be their only saving grace, otherwise a general disappointment.

The place had lots of space and enough tables for big groups. Our server was friendly and didn't skimp on refills. Splitting bills was a challenge. They had no way to issue separate checks for shared pizza and it was up to the customers to split it evenly. They offered no parmigiana sandwiches and now I see why.  If I had ordered a chicken parm sandwich it would have ended up as grilled chicken with sauce and cheese tossed on top.