rollin’ deep @ Pie

When Pie first opened its doors in the old Si Tapas building a couple years ago we hit it hard.  Pamparius gave that place so many chances that I can’t even count em.  First, the pizza sucked and service sucked.  Then the service got a little better.  Then the pizza got a little better.  Then they started doing $3 PBR and a slice.  Then it got so bad that it wasn’t even worth the money anymore.

Too many chances for that place.  Nothing ever came together here.  You’ll find a great building with a great bar and a cozy design but you won’t find any cohesive ideas.  Is it an artisan pizza place?  An Italian restaurant?  A sports bar?  Hopefully all of these things will change because the pizza sure has.

You’ll be able to order several signature deep-dish pies here in addition to creating your own.  This monster, loaded with bacon, sausage, pepp, mozzarella, ricotta, basil flakes and probably a ton of other shit I couldn’t see, will run you about $14.  It is huge and will definitely fill up three hungry dudes.

At first glance you’ll see the high edges typical of a deep dish pie but the center is not nearly as deep and heavy as a typical Chicago style deep dish.  I think I like this better.  The pizza IS thicker but you won’t get an overwhelming casserole of a pizza here.  Thicker than normal but not fat boy thick.

The flavors here are what you’d expect from such a meaty pie.  Definitely not what you’d want to eat every day but the combination of all these savory meats certainly pleases a meat eater’s palette.  Simple, right?  The addition of ricotta cheese really sets this one off though.  I wonder how much I would have liked it sans ricotta.

The sauce is a more typical marinara that we’ve probably all had before, and the crust was tasty enough at the tall edges to enjoy by itself.  This stuff is pretty messy so you’ll have plenty of loose toppings to pair up with the cornicione, or pizza bones.  My only point of advice would be to keep working with the dough to get it just right.  It could use a little more pockets of “airiness” to make it more edible on its own.

Pie has been undergoing a bit of a change of guard lately and hopefully they get things straightened out.  The menu has changed compliments of their new chef Francis Dalton, above.  Things are starting to make more sense here and a late-night jumbo slice may be in the works for all the hungry souls pouring out of Balliceaux on the weekends.  I hope it works out because this is one of my new favorite pies in the city.

Oh yeah, wash yer fucking glasses!  Yeungling isn’t that great of a beer and certainly doens’t taste any better out of a poorly washed mug.

Pie, Lombardy

Finally!  This joint has been on my mind for several months and they’re finally opening their doors to us.  It’s a “soft opening” so there are still a lot of kinks to work out and the new wait staff could definitely use more training but it could turn in to a pretty chill place to get  a decent pie and some brews.

Pie is a two story restaurant.  The first floor is a small dining area with seating for around thirty people.  Looks pretty quaint.  The upstairs is a pub, with around 15 beers on tap, a lot of wine and two TV screens.  The whole place is decorated very nicely, but I don’t care about that.  Lets get to the pizza.

Pie has your normal list of red and white pizzas with toppings like fresh basil, fresh mozzarella, sausage and more exotic toppings like prosciutto and squash.  We got the sausage.

As far as the toppings go, the sausage is some of the best shit I’ve ever had on any pizza in my life.  These weren’t sausage pebbles that you find on pretty much every cheap pizza and they weren’t little pepperoni sausages either.  What you get are long, thick, juicy sausages with so much funkin’ flavor in them you’ll definitely finish them off even if you don’t finish the slices.  The cheese was your usual fresh mozzarella that most gourmet places around here carry accompanied by fresh tomatoes and basil.  Nice blend of flavors.

The crust?  Well, it certainly looks good.  Tons of crust bubbles all around the cornicione and a stiff under-crust that holds the weight of the toppings without cracking under pressure, but the stuff is dry as can be.  It has all the makings of a great crust but just has nothing on the inside to light your taste buds.

Hopefully this stuff can be worked out but either way you can get a great pizza that will easily fill up two people for $9-$11 while you sip on a selection of beers and wines.  I’m sure by the time they’re ready for a grand opening, the staff and cooks will have everything ironed out for a tight experience in the fan.

I went back the next day with some friends who were kind enough to offer me slices of their own.  The white squash pizza was an interesting take and something fresh, while the red pepperoni had me stoked on coming in again and getting my own.  Thanks Jake and Ryan.

Great location, great prices, decent pizza with lots of potential.  I’m stoked on this place.

Oh ya, they’ll turn on the hockey games for you too…