(FORTUNE Small Business) – --Stuck at Logan for a few hours? Hungry? Looking for the real thing? No, not Cheers, you idiot! Listen, here's what you do. Take the shuttle bus to the airport subway stop (the No. 22 or the No. 33 bus--it's a five-minute ride). Walk through the station to Porter Street, turn right, go one block to Chelsea and you're there. Kind of a gloomy-looking joint, brown paint, not a lot of windows. Sign says Santarpio's. By now you might be having doubts, but trust me. You're about to enter pizza heaven.

You did want pizza, right? Current proprietor Frank Santarpio ("I'm gonna be 62") says his grandfather used to offer beef stew and plate lunches along with pizza. But over the years Santarp's (as it's known locally) has settled into its doughy essence. The pies are one size only, with your choice of toppings, as long as your choices make sense in East Boston. Garlic, mushrooms, pepperoni? Absolutely. Broccoli, chicken, pineapple? Please. No salad either, in case you were wondering. (Do people ever ask for the wrong stuff? "Yeah," Frank says. "We tell 'em to go elsewhere.") There's only one other menu item: grilled meat, either lamb or Santarpio's own sausage, served naked with a hunk of homemade bread and cherry peppers on the side. Beer and wine if you're so inclined.

The atmosphere is...authentic. Formica tabletops, beer clocks, Tony Bennett on the jukebox, fight posters covering the history of boxing from Rocky Marciano to Mike Tyson (Frank's dad was a part-time ring judge), sassy waitresses, and way too much cigarette smoke, if that bothers you. Coming from downtown Boston? Parking is scarce, so take a taxi or hop on the T, Boston's subway.

111 Chelsea Street; 617-567-9871. Cash only; open every day, 11:30 A.M. to midnight.

--DAVID WHITFORD