Stop 006: The Pie Hole

The Pie Hole

Location: 44 S. Broadway Denver, CO 80209

Let's start with a positive...   The price is right!  $2.08 for cheese, $2.31 for pepperoni, $2.78 for slice of the day.... I am tired of seeing mediocre slices going for $3 and up!  This pizza is not going to change the world, but it is priced appropriately.  If it was priced higher, I would have given it a lower rating because my slices were on the drier side of the spectrum, and seriously lacked sauce.  The absence of sauce gave Pie Hole more of a triangular cheese bread feel.  My favorite part about the Pie Hole was the atmosphere, it gives off a rare vibe in the late night slice scene.  Most late night slice places want you to get your slice and eat it as you walk away.  Pie Hole offers plenty of seating and a chill atmosphere, which enabled me to sit down and relax with my slices.  For that reason alone, I will drop into the Pie Hole again.

Stop 005: Two-Fisted Mario's

Two-Fisted Mario's

Location:  1626 Market St.  Denver, CO 80202

I believe you can judge a pizza place by it's mushrooms.  It's quite simple, if they use canned mushrooms, the pizza is going to be lazy and uninspired, luckily Two-Fisted Mario's passed the mushroom test.  TFW has a good assortment of toppings, and as stated earlier they passed the mushroom test, so the topping quality level is set high enough to try any combination your heart desires.  This is a good slice to walk and fold, and TFM includes enough flavorful sauce to avoid being confused with cheese bread.  The crust was decent, but nothing I would spend extra time discussing.  After consumption, my slice left an acceptable  pizza grease print on the paper plate, just enough to know something tasty had once been there.  Plain and simple, I had one slice and wanted another, but the line was long and full of zombies, so I opted to walk away wanting another.  If you choose to consume beverages downtown, TFM is open late for the downtown bar scene.  (10am- 2am Sun/Mon/Tue/Wed and 10am-3am or as late as needed on Thurs/Fri/Sat.)

Stop 004: Beau Jo's "Colorado Style Pizza" Buffet

Beau Jo's "Colorado Style Pizza" Buffet

Location:  2710 S. Colorado Blvd.  Denver, CO 80222

First of all, I suggest if you are going to try Beau Jo's, you take advantage of their all you can eat buffet.  The buffet is every day from 11-2pm and it costs $8.99, now lets dissect the buffet...  To start, the service is friendly to the point where I felt like they were legitimately happy that I decided to have lunch there.  For a pizza shop, they have a decent salad bar that sports a nice variety of seemingly fresh veggies and salad extracurriculars.  Now let's talk pizza.  The buffet has a good rotation of meat and meatless pies coming out of the kitchen at a rate that kept pace with the consumption of buffet goers.  There was never a point where I was just flat out refusing to eat the picked over pizza they had to offer.  (I feel like at any given Pizza Hut buffet I spend 50% of my dining time waiting for a better offering than what they have on display)  They offer 2 basic types of pizza, "Mountain pie" which features heavy toppings/often infused with the cheese, and a puffy honey kissed crust to which they encourage consumers to add additional fresh mountain honey on by placing a bottle of fresh mountain honey at each table.  The pizza was tasty, and the Beau Jo pizza sauce complimented the honey touched crust nicely.  When it comes to the mountain pie, Beau Jo's will not skimp on cheese or toppings and the buffet had a variety of agreeable topping combinations.  Mountain pies are not measured in typical fashion, they come by weight, you can order from 1-5 lbs.  If puffy crust if not your thing, they offer "Prairie pie" which  is their way of saying thin crust and less toppings.  As far as crust goes, what makes them unique is the honey white or honey wheat, but they also offer gluten free crust if you are trendy or actually have a glutton allergy.  No buffet would be complete without dessert pizza, and even though I was full, I can't finish a pizza buffet without a slice of dessert pizza. After trying their dessert pizza, I have concluded that Pizza Hut's dessert pizza was a caterpillar, and Beau Jo's dessert pizza is the butterfly!  I'm pretty sure they just made up the term "Colorado style pizza" but the result of this buffet was satisfaction!

Stop 003: The Garlic Knot

The Garlic Knot

Location:  2553 S. Colorado Blvd.  Denver, CO 80222

First off, there are many locations, and they have begun to franchise off their name, therefore the quality will not be consistent.  I believe the original was splendid, but when you have more than 10 locations the quality level has nowhere to go but down.  With that in mind, they still put out a decent New York style pie,  although at nearly $16 for a 6 slice medium half cheese/half pepperoni and pepperoncini, I'd have to say they came out on the better end of the deal.  The sauce was good, you could tell it was based off a legitimate  recipe, although it was spread out too thin, making me wish for more.  The hand tossed crust had just enough flavor to avoid being bland, and was cooked just right in a stone deck oven.  They also use premium cheese and the toppings I had did not come from the bottom shelf.  Overall I think it was pretty tasty and slightly overpriced,  I honestly worry about  quality control as I see franchise opportunities arise on their website.

   

Stop 002: Fat Sully's

Fat Sully's

Location:  141 S. Broadway,  Denver, CO 80209


There is another location at 3237 E. Colfax, but I grabbed my slices at the Broadway location.  Fat Sully's is a solid New York City style slice that adjusted to Denver's altitude nicely.  The slice was big and the sauce was tasty and evenly distributed.  Fat Sully's is crafted on a crust that can hold its own in any borough.  The cheese and toppings are of high quality, which range from $.40 to $.60.  They have plenty of meatless toppings, my personal favorite was the *sauteed green peppers.  Two slices is plenty to eat, and it was my pleasure.

Stop 001: Marquis Pizza

Marquis Pizza


Location:  2009 Larimer St.  Denver, CO 80205

As I approached Marquis Pizza my companion told me this will be an "average" slice.  A hostile Marquis Pizza customer overheard our discussion and angrily inquired, "Did you just call this pizza average?"  His interrogation was fierce, but the pizza whisperer was able to move forward and order 2 slices.  It is true that this pizza is average in some aspects, however their crisp crust was well above average.  They know just how long to cook a slice because it had the perfect amount of crisp, with just enough char to satisfy anyone.  The sauce was nothing to tell your mom about, and the cheese was spread a bit thin.  Overall it's not a bad late night slice with plenty of toppings to offer.  The 2 biggest assets  of Marquis Pizza are their ability to crisp a crust, and their late night slice-ability.

handy rating system

All aboard!

All aboard!  The Denver Pizza Train is here to lay down some tracks across the mile high pizza pie scene.  May no slice be left behind!  Chew Chew!