Tubby Tuesday: The Pie Pizzeria

Welcome to Tubby Tuesday where I introduce to you my favorite places to eat around the Wasatch Front.  Today marks the concluding entry in my best pizza trifecta.  As I have mentioned in other posts regarding pizza, I am always in the mood for pizza.  I love pizza and have immensely enjoyed eating pizza at different establishments around Utah.  Two weeks ago I wrote about ESTE Pizzeria which offers, in my opinion, the best New York style pizza around.  Last week I wrote about Sweet Home Chicago Pizzeria which has a wonderful stuffed pizza.  Today we are visiting the place I prefer above all others: The Pie Pizzeria.  

First of all, I'll admit that it's odd for me to love The Pie as much as I do.  Primarily because the original restaurant location is a mere number of steps away from the University of Utah campus.  Although my parents met as students at the U, I'm not the biggest Ute fan there is.  My first visit to The Pie was several years ago.  Located underground in a Cheers-like setting, it feels like stepping into another world.  The original location has brick walls that are covered in names, words, micro-graffiti and the effect is really awesome.  It's a decent sized restaurant and it's been pretty busy every time I have been there. 

The Wall at The Pie

A visit to The Pie at the wrong time can bring a long line to wait in, but they have always been fairly quick even when the crowd has been large.  The first recommendation I have is to order the cheese pull-aparts.  Filled to the gill inside with mozzarella cheese, there is ample stretching as you try to pull a piece off to devour.  Very simply made, they are the perfect appetizer to prepare you for some amazing pizza.  

Cheese Pull-a-parts...Delish

The pizza at The Pie is very filling.  I have never completed a pizza at the restaurant unless we were in a large party.  When Nellie and I go, we are lucky to finish four or five pieces between us.  This is because the pies are loaded with toppings, cheese, and are plenty greasy.  Although the load of grease might make you feel guilty, the pizzas taste wonderful.  

Their pepperoni pizza is simple: pepperoni hidden underneath ample cheese.  It is also one of my favorite pizzas around.  My favorite pizza at The Pie is the buffalo chicken pizza.  I have had buffalo chicken pizza from quite a few establishments and have never found one to rival The Pie's version.  Loaded with sliced chicken and buffalo sauce, covered in mozzarella cheese and topped with onions it's the perfect marriage of my two favorite football foods: pizza and wings.  I'm pretty sure I could eat this pizza all the time and never get tired of it.  

Buffalo Chicken Pizza.  You May Never Look at Pizza the Same Way Again

If you really want to have an adventure you have to try the ApocolyptDough for your pizza crust.  Mixed into the crust is a blend of hot spices that add wonderful flavor to your pie, I recommend it for the buffalo chicken pizza.  

The Pie serves Coke products, a plus for our family.  They also have some good salads and cinnamon dessert pies, if you have any room for them.  

While we were at Primary Childrens with Birdie, I went to pick up a pizza from their take out location, just around the corner from their original location.  The employee noticed my parents badge and told me that they could deliver to PCMC for free.  He asked how we were doing and really seemed to care.  In a hard time in our lives one guy who was very genuine really touched my heart.  It made me like The Pie that much more.  

The Pie has locations in Midvale, Ogden and South Jordan also.  I have not visited the Midvale or Ogden locations, but have been to the South Jordan location quite a few times and the pizza is of identical quality there.  

Don't go on a full stomach, don't go on anything but a completely empty stomach, but go.  You will love the pizza, and if you don't, you can always bring me a slice or two.  

I hope you've enjoyed my tour of pizza.  To me, The Pie, Este, and Sweet Home Chicago represent the best pizza that Utah has to offer.  If you have any suggestions that I have overlooked, feel free to comment below. 

Tubby Tuesday: ESTE Pizzeria

I told you I love pizza.  On last week's Tubby Tuesday I told you about Nicolitalias Pizzeria down in Provo.  Today we head back up north to one of my 3 favorite Utah pizza places.  For the next three Tubby Tuesdays I will be sharing my top 3 Utah pizza places.  It is difficult to choose which is the best simply because it depends on the style of pizza.  This week we visit ESTE pizzeria, which fits the bill as the "Best New York Style Pizza in Utah."

This is not a title that I give out lightly, nor without many visits to this wonderful pizza joint.  I have to thank my friend Garrett (who is a bit of a pizza savant) for turning me on to ESTE.  Located at 156 E and 200 South in Salt Lake City, the restaurant is underwhelming from the curb.  On my first visit I drove past it twice before I saw it:

Like Many Great Food Places Este Doesn't Appear Too Exciting From Outside

When we walked inside it had a great vibe.  The walls are tastefully decorated with pop-art concert posters and materials like corrugated steel.  The menu is simple, yet caters to many different tastes.  ESTE is a Coke establishment which always matters to me for some reason.  For starters we'll usually get the breaded cheese ravioli (third time in Tubby Tuesday that I have mentioned some type fried/baked ravioli as an appetizer) which is the best I have tried.  When it comes piping hot to the table filled with molten-cheese goodness it is hard to resist eating the entire portion by oneself.  The mozzarella sticks are also fantastic here, if I've had better ones I can't remember.  We keep making the mistake of ordering the garlic knots, which sound much better than they actually are.  They are just small lumps of cooked dough with an abundance of fresh garlic on top of them.  Every time I have ordered them there was FAR TOO MUCH garlic on them.  If you find you must order them, I would recommend removing about half of the garlic, adding an abundance of parmesan cheese, and then add the green tabasco sauce to them.  This is the best way I have found to cope with the only sub-par item I have discovered on their menu.

One Of the Wonderful Pizzas of ESTE Pizzeria (photo courtesy of TripAdvisor)

Now for the pizza!  The pizza at ESTE does not disappoint.   Large slices that are thin and perfect for folding come out on huge pizza pans that sit on top of stands in the center of the tables.  My favorite pizzas are The Clay which is their version of a meat lovers pizza, and The Pink with pepperoni added.  The Clay comes with pepperoni, ham, sausage and thin sliced meatball.  The meatball really sends The Clay to the tip-top of the list.  It is the best meatball I have ever had on a pizza!  It is unbeatable.  The Pink is ricotta cheese mixed with marinara sauce topped in mozzarella cheese.  I have had it on its own and it is good, if pepperoni is added the pie sings.  I'm getting terribly hungry just writing about it!

While the temptation may be too great to resist, try not too eat too much pizza too quickly.  On my third or fourth visit I realized that if allowed to cool for ten or fifteen minutes, ESTE pizzas actually have more flavor.  This is probably a result from being able to taste the oils from the meat and cheese, but I recommend you try to have a room temperature slice.  You will probably never eat pizza the same way again.

ESTE pizza is also thin enough that it is easy to eat more than you were intending.  A large or extra large pizza can be downed with little challenge.  Of course, leftover pizza is fantastic as well.  I urge you to visit ESTE--you will be glad you did!

Do you have a pizza place that rivals ESTE? Leave a comment below and I'll check it out!

Tubby Tuesday: Nicolitalia Pizzeria

Who doesn't love a great slice of pizza?  Seriously.  My daughter Birdie, I suppose, but other than that.... Michael Scott once taught me that pizza is the great equalizer.  Just about everyone likes it.

I'm not like most people.  I LOVE pizza.  I crave pizza often.  Even when I don't crave pizza I'm still willing to eat it.  My friend and I once tried to eat a pizza THIS BIG:

Big Pizza (not from Nicolitalia's)

I didn't want to eat pizza again for about 17 hours or so.  As a pizza lover, I have some places that are very special to me which I plan on featuring on Tubby Tuesday in the future.  Today, I wanted to feature Nicolitalia Pizzeria--mainly because I have heard so much about it and finally got to try it.

Nicolitalia Pizzeria is authentic Boston pizza (sorry Boston, but I didn't know you had your own pizza style...is that just because NY and Chicago had theirs so you had to have your own?) and they make of point of highlighting anything on their menu they can add an "ah" to  ie: appetizahs, gahden salad etc.  I guess that's to help those of us who can't speak with a Boston accent (which of course we all can because we saw Goodwill Hunting on tv at least once and....I digress).  It is located at 2295 N University Parkway in Provo, which is in the shopping center south of Movies 8.  When we pulled up I knew their food had to be decent at least to still be in business because most of my life it's seemed that this is a location that restaurants go to die.

Nellie and I walked in and immediately felt like this was a hole in the wall feel.  That was the first thing I liked about it.  We decided to order the baked ravioli and the Nicolitalia's Special pizza, deep dish style because one of us doesn't like thin crust pizza (and it's not me).  The pizza came with sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, onions and peppahs (incredibly kind of Nellie because she isn't a fan of mushrooms and I love them--isn't she great?).

The eating area has a slight cafeteria feel to it, almost as though the ambience doesn't matter much at all--you're there for great pizza.  There were some fun hand drawn signs on the wall that made me smile.  My favorite is the one on the bottom right of this photo that says "Sure, you can find a cheaper pizza. But then you have to eat it."

Since Nicolitalia's is a Pepsi place, I may or may-not have traipsed across University Parkway to the Jimmy John's and purchased a Diet Coke.  Our food was ready pretty quickly.  First the ravioli came out.

Nicolitalia Pizzeria Baked Ravioli

They looked a little well done, but they tasted just fine.  They weren't my favorite of all time, but they were pretty delicious still.  Not long after our pizza was ready.  

The pizza was a thing of beauty.  The first thing I noticed was they used authentic, fresh mozzarella cheese, so there were globs in some areas and less or none in other areas.  I love fresh mozzarella because it adds so much extra flavor and dimension to the pizza.  The toppings were plentiful and fresh.  My first bite was perfect!  The crust was bready, but had a nice crunch to it that is rare in pizza.   Each subsequent bite was delicious.  

Fresh Mozzarella in all its glory

Part way through our meal the couple at the table next to us had their pizza slide off the table and end up on the floor.  We thought about offering them half of our pizza, but before we could the owners of the restaurant came out, cleaned it up, and offered to make them a new one!  I was impressed by the quick attention and their desire to make it a good dining experience for this couple.  I already enjoyed their pizza, but watching that made me want to support their restaurant even more.  

Overall, I really enjoyed Nicolitalia Pizzeria, and would give it solid endorsement.  It's certainly my favorite pizza place in Utah county that I have tried.  There are some pizza places that I will review in future Tubby Tuesday's that I like better, but they are all further north.  We will definitely be back and will be anxious to try more pizza, because I like pizza, and I love a good pizza.  

Tubby Tuesday: Rocky Mountain Wingshak

After last weeks visit up north to Moochies, we're staying home in Happy Valley for this weeks installment of Tubby Tuesday.  Today I plan on letting you in on one of my little secrets.  When the calendar turns to fall, men think about football.  Here in Utah we love our college football.  What goes better with football than wings?  Nothing.  Unfortunately many people are misguided in what they should look for in wings.  There are people who get so desperate that they visit Buffalo Wild Wings and lose their hearing while eating sub-par wings.  Don't do this!  BWW is terrible compared to Rocky Mountain Wingshak!  

Rocky Mountain Wingshak (hereafter RMWS) was first introduced to me about five or six years ago.  A buddy visited my house for the BYU game and brought about 30 wings with him.  I can't remember the outcome of the game, but I do remember how great those wings were.  Located on 5th East and State Street in American Fork it isn't much to look at from the outside.  Flanked in a strip mall by Coldstone/RockyMtnChocolateFactory (it just dawned on me as I was writing this how odd it is there are two Rocky Mountain named places side by side--why can't Rocky Mountain Power open up an office on the other side? A Rocky Mountain trifecta!) and 7-11 it would be easy to miss if you didn't know it was there.

I'm a lunch regular and will warn that it's typically packed at lunch.  I have actually never been there outside of normal lunch hours, so I can't tell you what it's like at dinner, sorry (this isn't really a food blog after all).  The best value on the menu is the lunch special.  It's 8 wings (half stick, half flats), tater tots or fries, with either blue cheese or ranch, and they also have a great fry sauce.  All this food is just over $10 after tax.  

They have a great variety of wing flavors, but I prefer the traditional hot buffalo (available in hot, medium, or mild) wings with the tots and fry sauce.  They also have great garlic parmesan, pineapple barbecue and lemon pepper. RMWS is also a Pepsi outlet, good news for those who love Mtn Dew, bad news if you love Diet Coke.  

According to their menu they also offer things like salads, wraps, and sandwiches, though I've never seen one ordered.  I don't have any desire to deviate from the 

The walls on both sides are filled with pictures of people who were demented enough to do the RMWS challenge: eat 12 wings with their XXX hot sauce on it in 30 minutes or less with no sauce or water.  I've never attempted, nor will I ever attempt this challenge, but it's a great look.  There are many people  pictured who seem to have realized they made a huge mistake but carried on, probably because they had brought others to witness the debacle.  

What makes RMWS great?  The wings!  They are the most consistently meaty wings I have found.  The sauces are excellent and consistent, and the tater tots and fries are spot-on.  The restaurant itself lacks some charm, but you can have a good conversation and leave with the hearing in both of your ears.  I'm hesitant to write about RMWS because it's fairly small, and I don't want to create extra lines to deal with.  If you like wings, I highly recommend RMWS.  Try it, you'll thank me later!