The Pizza Is Strong With This One

Yes, another pizza concept in Tucson. Yes.

All we can say about that is...yes!

We've said it before and we will continue to say it: We are totally fine with pizza places opening up here. How can you go wrong with another pizza joint? Oh wait, yeah, there are actually a LOT of spots that serve "whatever" slices and pies so when one pops up that entices, delights and even surprises, all we can say about that is...

"Whew!"

But what we are talking about here is not exactly a spot, or a joint, nor brick n' mortar, or...

We'll stop there.

No, what we got here is a completely mobile pizza station and all we can say about it is a resounding:

Yes.

The maestro, Luke Smith

Luke's Neapolitan Pizza and Catering is new to the pizza block but the chef and owner is far from being green around the ears, or crust. Luke Smith was once involved, and helped get off the ground, a popular and successful "food truck" business, Fiamme, which is now a standalone at the corner of Swan and Sunrise and is doing very well.

Luke and his former business partner did not see things the way that two should when pushing a concept into the tasty stratosphere, attempting to bring them to glorious heights, so Luke split and actually left the pizza biz for quite some time to rethink what he wanted to do with his young life.

After a bit of knocking around here and there and even taking some bland job in order to pay the bills, Luke realized that he had a talent and passion for all things savory and wood fired and made a very important decision. So with a bit of luck along with some financial negotiations, he got back on the pizza wagon and began to build, well...a pizza wagon.

And all anyone can say about this is: You made the right choice.

Hand made deliciousness

Now that his former partner is nestled into a cozy spot, Luke knew that operating a mobile pizzaria would be something special here in Tucson, especially the style that he is most accustomed to making. Neapolitan pizza is essentially what pizza really is, how it got started, from a region of Italy usually associated with gangsters.

It is a thin crust made from simple dough ingredients and topped with a minimal of sauce, sprinkling of cheese and perhaps a cured meat or roasted vegetable here and there. Thrown into a well heated wood fired oven that can reach temperatures of 800 degrees, these magnificent discs of supple flavor are meant to be enjoyed for the quality of ingredients and not the sheer amount of salty messes and glop that seem to permeate so many "pizzas" that we have grown comfortable with.

Sure Luke can make you a pizza with extra sausage, extra cheese and extra sauce, but it wont be the same as his other perfected creations and just might fall off the finely charred crust and fall into your lap and your date will be all "Dude, you got pizza crotch" before taking off and leaving you there with hot drippy (yet delicious) chaos starting to seep into your underwear.

Trust the maestro here. Luke's pizzas are fantastic so leave the heavy handed muck to the corporate chains that insert hot dogs into their crust.

We know what we are talking about here.

Blorp.

Locally sourced wood makes for a perfect cook and char

It's hard work, like really hard work, and sometimes frustrating, but Luke Smith is tenacious and hungry so when you see his set up anywhere across southern Arizona, usually at breweries, sporting events and the occasional neighborhood bar, slam on them breaks and get you some.

His dough? Handmade. The mozzerella? Does it himself. That tangy yet subtly sweet sauce? Fresh made every day. What about the sausage? Yep, he makes it. Yeah, but how...

Just...chill.

In our fair city of noted gastronomy, a guy like Luke isn't going to just set up a cheap oven, slap some crud he bought at the grocery store on dough that came from a can that pops loud when you twist it open then charge you like $15 for it because, you know, overhead and supply and demand and all of those buzzwords associated with lackluster products. No. This is a guy, a kid really, that wants you to walk away knowing that you just ate something special from a business that was built from literally nothing by someone with experience and a love of all things authentic and delicious.

Honestly, we just can't get enough of him and his pizza.

His ratio of toppings to dough is absolutely perfect

But it just doesn't stop or start at pizzas. He can also fix you up a calzone, which is basically a pizza gone Hot Pocket yet far more scrumptious and less frozen aisle sadness. Stuffed with pepperoni, mozzarella and ricotta cheese, he then tops it with his signature red sauce, more mozzarella and finishes it with fresh locally grown basil. It is a beast. A tasty tasty beast.

Luke's margherita (c'mon, if you're going to make Neapolitan pizza, you have to have a margherita pizza on the menu) is delicate and full of fresh flavor. One of the best made in town, flour dusted hands down.

We personally love his pizza bianca, or white pizza. A dance of choice ingredients; his homemade mozzarella, locally bottled olive oil then completed with basil and grana cheese, which is an Italian hard cheese that is very mature and has less of a sharp flavor than parmesan but still has a bold bite. You seriously need to try this one.

Okay, lets get down to the nitty gritty here. Our go-to bit of decadence has got to be Luke's bacon and egg creation. Oh...dear...jeebus. So freaking good. This monolith served atop hand tossed dough is a white pizza but covered in wood roasted bacon and a perfectly cooked over easy egg (which is anything but easy to cook, especially outdoors among the elements). Luke then takes the egg, carefully breaks open the yolk and drizzles it all over the pie like the deviant fiend that he is. This pizza is not just for breakfast anymore. Oh no. This one covers all the meals then goes into a late night snack then somehow vortexes itself into a whole new dimension.

What comes between lunch, dinner and beer?

Not too sure, but this pizza is it.

Yep, that would be a perfectly cooked egg right there

Outside of serving up amazing pizzas and calzones, Luke is also available for catering. His prices are totally reasonable for parties up to 20 people. We've considered throwing a "party" just so he would show up and serve us.

Fine, maybe is was just Metal Mark.

To get what we are talking about and to see where Luke will be set up next, you can follow him on Facebook HERE.

Oops, forgot to mention that Luke can also make you a Nutella pizza topped with ice cream for about $4. That is if he has the stuff with him which isn't always the case. So fingers crossed when you cross paths with him.

If not, he has plenty of other fantastic options to fill you up and keep you pizza motivated.

Believe us.

For that, all we can say again is...

Yes!

Cheers Luke!

Camera, Typing and Eating
"Metal" Mark Whittaker
Early Spring, 2017

Metal Influence:

TOXIC HOLOCAUST

"Burn"

Another Fast Casual Pizza Concept In Tucson? Yeah, But This One Is Kinda Cool...

Okay, we seem to be on some kind of mission of late, one that focuses on new restaurants opening up in places where others have failed.

There was the fantastic sushi joint on Campbell in a suck hole of proven defeat that we know is going to make it because their food is so darn delicious. Then there was the amazing sandwich depot on 4th Avenue in a nook known to swallow eateries whole but is so tasty and lively we have a real gut feeling it's gonna pull through the hot and unforgiving summers and beyond. Now a pizza place has recently opened up near the Tucson Mall in a corner juncture surrounded by other fast food options famous for making restaurants go bye-bye in less than a year.

But, just like the other two, we have a hunch this one just might survive because it has a budget, a focus and, most importantly, a surprisingly good product.

Method of...dough?

It's called MOD Pizza and at first we thought it was just a flashy local concept come to pass in the bleak rim near the corner of Wetmore and Oracle. The last one to come and go there was a Mongolian BBQ thingy that seemed to draw the crowds but seemingly not enough to keep the ovens on and employees paid. It sat lonely and empty for a spell after closing but then one day a jazzy marquee was set up and before you knew it the place was open for business.

At first we just rolled our eyes and were all, "Yeah, go ahead 'new pizza place'. With thousands of other similar restaurants in this town like you we bet you wont make it to Christmas. Good luck! Bah-hahahaha!"


(Okay, we didn't actually laugh like a sinister mad scientist, but...alright we kinda did.)

The energetic staff making your pizzas to order

Then one day, out of total curiosity, we decided to check out what this MOD Pizza was all about online. We typed in their name on a search engine and what we got was a bit of a shock.

Turns out, MOD Pizza is a chain, not a huge one but a chain none the less. But...we had never heard about it or them. Going to their website we were astonished to find that they had stores all across the country, over a hundred at this point. Wait, what? Who is this MOD Pizza you speak of? And where did you come from?

Checking out their page on restaurant review sites, we were even more floored to see that they averaged a 4-5 star rating, all across the board. 4-5 star rating? For a pizza chain we never even heard of?

Oh. Oh we got to try this one out...

Saucin' it up in full fervor

Apparently the concept for MOD started back in 2008 by a couple of Starbucks and Seattle Coffee Company refugees that wanted to do something fun and cool on their own. After hooking up with other corporate head cheeses (pun intended), the pizza concept started to grow and expand and, well...now we have one here in Tucson.

So on a breezy warm afternoon in late May, the Tucson Homeskillet walked in and this is the result:

Clean, stocked and ready to rock

Right off the bat we were impressed with the layout. It was spacious but not too overbearing. The space was clean, like a "oh, nice" kind of clean; not too sterile but you definitely felt safe eating there. Good table organization too. A few big tops and a smattering of 2-4 top tables, keeping it basic yet really organized.

MOD is a fast casual concept so basically you pick whatever you want on your pizza and they will make it as you wish right on the spot. They have a bunch of concocted options with names such as "Tristan", "Dominic" and "Jasper" (who we later found out were employees that created such genius creations that they named the pizzas after them) but according to the website and on-site menu itself it's apparent they want you to do as you please.

The line formation is easy too. The minute you walk in you are immediately instructed to turn right and a friendly server is there waiting to take your order at the register. MOD Pizza is obviously well thought out through trusted schematics and test runs from soft openings we gathered...but how is the food?

Super hot oven makes for super fast pizza

Unlike another fast casual pizza spread that we endured a while ago, the staff at MOD are really on top of it. Young and eager with a forward customer service attitude, the girls that helped us this day were awesome. Smiling, helpful, playful even (making fun of Metal Mark as he snapped photos...but in a good way), they answered all questions fluidly and with vigor as opposed to the usual "Umm..I dunno" of so many others of this style of eatery's ilk. So we ordered a couple of pizzas and a salad and waited for the outcome.

Alright. The restaurant design was on point. The movement of the patrons and the ease of ordering was good. And the service, the service!, was really what was setting us up to like this place.

Soon after the real test arrived. When they called out our name we grabbed the goods, sat down and started to chow down. 

Let the silent judging as we chew and swallow begin!

Huge Caesar salad...for cheap!

We ordered a Caesar salad, sounds cliche but, c'mon, if a pizza joint can't get a staple salad down correct then why bother. It was very generous and served in a large steel bowl. Tossed with Parmesan cheese, herby croutons, diced tomatoes and fresh romaine lettuce, this thing was definitely shareable between two to four people. The dressing was impressive too; had a good tangy bite with a distinctive anchovy luster. Okay, cool, they can do a Caesar salad well...good job MOD!

Here was our one complaint about the salad: Sure it was tasty and there was a lot of it but we were confused on how to go about and actually, um...eat it. It didn't come with tongs or even a spoon to dish the stuff out and none was offered to us. See, with MOD everything is kind of up to you, which we liked, but this idea wasn't calculated well enough we thought.

You get your plastic utensils next to the soda and lemonade fountains and pretty much take care of your own business, which is great. But there wasn't a salad station where you can get little bowls or serving gadgets. Instead you are kind of forced to eat straight from the large steel bowl that teeters as you dig in. Once or twice we almost tipped the thing over attempting to get into the creamy veggie awesome and trying to scrape some of the salad onto the plate almost caused a lettuce and crouton avalanche.  

That was our one complaint.

So far.

If you're good with the basics, you just might make it

Another uber staple of the pizza universe is the ubiquitous pepperoni option. Again, if you mess this one up, you're all washed up in the Tucson pizza business kid.

Nope. It was really tasty.

We ordered two "MOD" sized pizzas, which are roughly around 11 inches, a sort of larger version of a personal pizza. There's a smaller option at 6 inches and something called the "Mega MOD" which doubles up the crust (?) but we kept with the house specialty.

The best thing about the pepperoni pizza was the ratio of toppings. The red sauce was very flavorful and sharp but not over powering or dull. The mozzarella cheese wasn't over done or sloppy with just the correct amount to cover the whole thing and give for a full mouth bite. And you might think that they got a bit stingy with the pepperoni, using only about less than a dozen to swirl the top with, but, honestly, being a fan of New York style pizza, it was the perfect amount.

Sure you got a meaty nib with almost every bite but the mildly conservative placement of the meat didn't make for a greasy flermed pizza. Those coming in and expecting standard corporate ham fisted distribution of cured pork and beef sausage causing a symphony of glistening lips, drippy forearms and the onset of pimples due to its gut churning dole of little red circles contorted into mini pools of lard drip might be disappointed. We weren't. We were very down with the first pie we tried.

But, at MOD you can do what you want so go for the double meat there bucko. It's up to you.

Have fun!

Next on this pizza...uh, one of each I guess

Apparently each store across the US has a signature pie. Here at the one on Wetmore and Oracle, they have a featured one going by the name of "Cooper". This option came equipped with red sauce, mozzarella, ricotta cheese, roasted asparagus and red peppers, red onions, mild Italian sausage and finished with fresh basil.  Unfortunately we caught them after a bit of a lunch rush and the girl assembling this pizza apologized and said they were out of basil. But then they offered me another option if we'd like. So we took the arugula route which honestly we would have preferred in the first place.

Sure there was a lot going on here but, again, it was quite lovely to eat. The combo of the dollops of ricotta and the sausage brought it all together and the rest just made it feel as if you were sort of being "healthy" about it. We know a lot of people out there would find a pizza like this almost offensive but, sorry, this stuff was good. See, if you let yourself juggle your tastebuds a bit between traditional and experimental now and then you might be surprised to find you actually enjoy unconventional toppings on your pie.

Except olives. Olives suck.

Wow, what can we say? MOD Pizza is pretty darn great. The food is yummy and fresh, the establishment is clean and inviting, the service staff is attentive and delightful...overall we'd say that hinge between Total Wine and Home Depot just might be occupied for a few seasons we predict. Even with all of the other fast casual options in that range of retail and tight parking, MOD Pizza gives us a nicely deliberated product that we know will go over well with those on a tight budget and schedule.

The lemonade was good too. As was the music. Turns out they have their own radio station that you can stream at anytime. As we ate and analyzed we were treated to some classic rock, obscure New Wave, old school garage ska and I think we caught the tail end of Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me".

Not too sure. Maybe it was just a dream...

Decent slice for a decent price

Okay MOD Pizza...it's on. The good people of Tucson are now ready to give you guys a shot. You seem to be making it in other parts of the states now it's our turn to see if you got what it takes to make it here, the first city in America to go all UNESCO on all y'all other busters.

We at the Tucson Homeskillet liked them. Yeah, we'll be back. Will you?

Oh did I mention we barely finished all our food and for two pizzas and a huge salad it barely broke the $20 mark? Did we mention that?

I think we did.

No. We did.

Cheers!

T-dizzle represent!

Camera, Typing and Eating
"Metal" Mark Whittaker
A Few Days Before Memorial Day, 2016

Metal Influence:

MOD

"Method Of Destruction"