Stop 025: Hops and Pie (The Highlands)

Hops and Pie

Location:  3920 Tennyson Rd.  Denver, CO 80212

Well I never thought I would describe a slice as attractive, but there is a first for everything.   If the slices I was served at Hops and Pie walked by a construction site, there would definitely be some whistling.  For the $3.15 slice of the day,  Hops and Pie offered  salami, fresh mozzarella, and garlic blisters,  so naturally I had to go for 2!  This topping trio was a tremendous balance of flavor that did not take anything away from my ability to monitor the quality of the cheese/crust/sauce.  The cheese was of quality and cooked to represent several different shades of brown and yellow.  The sauce was decent, and it was not difficult to find.  As far as crust goes... it was crispy and slightly charred to my liking, but a bit too thin for the weight of its luggage.  My slices required a curl, but not a complete fold to eat.  Hops and Pie is a place where you want to eat your pizza.  The atmosphere was balanced, the guy on my left was wearing a suit, the guy on my right was wearing a Star Wars shirt and had a piece of rope for a belt.  It might take a minute to get your pizza but thats okay because they have an awesome selection of craft beers to keep you busy.  An outing at Hops and Pie is not gonna be cheap, so don't come here with less than $20, unless you can abstain from alcohol.  A 10" personal pizza is  $7 plus .75 per topping.  This is a place I would take a sexy lady,  a bunch of dudes, or my parents.   Are you looking for a deal?  Hops and Pie has 2 most excellent deals!
Tuesday from 5pm - close $2 craft cans
Saturday  from 12-5pm $16 gets you  2 slices of the day and 3 craft drafts  (which falls under the not too shabby status)

Stop 024: Ian's Pizza (Five Points)

Ian's Pizza

Location:  2210 Blake St.  Denver, CO

Located by the ballpark and a couple decent breweries, I was bound to stop and smell the pizza of Ian.  On this particular spontaneous pizza experience, I was simply on my way to meet a friend for a couple beers and some food, and I thought... Hell, I'll just snag a slice to hold me over, after all its a 20 minute walk, it will take at least another 20 minutes to get our food order, and by then this slice will be evenly spread out throughout my digestive track and I will be hungry again.  Anyways... I noticed that they offered mac n' cheese pizza, so I realized I was in for at least 2 slices.  Rule #1:   Always try an exotic slice when given the opportunity.  Rule #2:   One cannot pass judgement on an establishment without having something measurable, like cheese or pepperoni pizza.  Let's start with the mac n' cheese slice!  Love the idea, but the results were blah blah bland.  I mean don't get me wrong, it was not torture to eat this slice, it just required a fair spray of hot sauce to keep my interest.  When I lifted the skirt on the mac n' cheese slice I was not able to detect any sauce underneath the cheese.  I would like to suggest a spicy Alfredo sauce or a thin paste of hot sauce underneath the mac.  I do believe in Ian's doughy dough, but the sauce was pedestrian.  My peperoni slice was a bit greasy, which I would not have noticed if they were a little more generous with the cheese.  When I found out Ian's was based out of Wisconsin, I was shocked that they did not lay it on as thick as thieves.  Ian's recently opened this shop and it is their first outside of Wisconsin. I applaud their ambition, and with a few adjustments they just might impact the Denver pizza scene, but its too early in the game to tell.  The people who worked there were nice and I feel awful for this unnecessary parting shot, but they offer the consumer tiny napkins that are not worth a damn.  I got some hot sauce on my shirt and used about 20 napkins to wipe it off  (You know the little cocktail napkins you get at a gyro cart where you need to grab 1/4 of the stack in order  to wipe some Tzatziki sauce off your lip)