The Pie Pizzeria

Address: 273 S 1300 E, SLC, UT. 801.582.5700.

Review: The great thing about pizza is its versatility. It is, in essence, nothing more than a blank slate, a canvas as it were. Italian pizza artists are all about balance. The dough is the star, and the toppings are few. American pizza artists are more about toppings than dough. In fact, dough is usually a mere afterthought, a vehicle used to introduce toppings into one's pie hole. I'm not a terribly big fan of American pizza, but The Pie is an exception.

The Pie is about toppings, lots of them. For example, when you order any pizza with black olives, you are left wondering, "Is there some pizza with these olives"? Likewise, the meat pizza is about meat.

Thankfully, it's good meat. The salami is peppery and fatty. The canadian bacon is as good as you can realistically expect canadian bacon to be. The pepperoni is classic and quality. The sausage is uncomplicated and savory. Couple all this with good-but-nothing-special mozzarella and some savory sauce and you have a darn enjoyable pizza. (And a note on the crust. Many have said it's soggy and greasy. Hogwash. The crust is thick and crispy and works well with the exceedingly many toppings.)

My personal favorite The Pie pie is the stromboli. Peperoni, onions, green peppers, sausage. It's a good combination of meat and veggies that keeps the pizza from becoming too heavy in your stomach. The green peppers are fully cooked, but not bitter (a tricky feat). Anyway, it's good stuff, man.

Where the Pie falls down a bit is the plain cheese pizza.

There's lots of cheese. Lots of cheese. Unfortunately, as noted before, the cheese is so-so. Without any adornments, the cheese falls flat and the dough is too much.

In the end, the Pie is very good American pizza. In fact, it's probably my favorite non-New York American pizza. (Sorry Chicago, your butter-crusted-gut-busting-gargantuan-meat-pie-thingy-you-call-pizza ain't terribly tasty.)

Rating: 7.5/10 (5/10 is average)