Denver recently beat out New York, Chicago and Detroit to take the top spot on a controversial list of the best pizza cities in the country. How did it happen? A data team from a company called Clever Real Estate tallied up Yelp ratings and the average price for a large cheese pizza, along with the number of pizza restaurants in 50 cities nationwide to create the list.
Plenty of people were thoroughly bewildered — and certainly angry — since Denver doesn’t even have a signature pizza style, let alone a storied pizza tradition. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some solid, even exceptional slices. (Check out our list of the best 11 pizza shops in town.)
And this summer, there are two new pizza shops, one serving Roman-style pizza and another focused on Midwestern tavern-style, for you to consider:
Rolling Pin Pizza
Kevin Morrison has seen plenty of confused customers walking through the doors of Rolling Pin Pizza on East Colfax Avenue expecting to find tacos, tequila and whiskey.
That’s because on April 5, Rolling Pin replaced the original location of Tacos Tequila Whiskey, which Morrison opened in 2012 before adding several more locations. “There were two more taco shops opening in the area, and it was just too saturated,” he told The Denver Post.
The new restaurant serves one of Morrison’s childhood favorites: Midwestern, tavern-style pizza with a cracker-thin crust. “Everyone can find a niche in pizza,” Morrison said.
Most of the old-school pizza names at Rolling Pin are Chicago-inspired, like “I Still Call It Sears Tower” with Italian sausage and giardiniera or “Leroy Brown” with cupped pepperoni and red onion – Morrison’s favorite. There are also four rotating, new-school pizzas with chef-driven toppings, like the popular No. 4 with spicy soppressata, shaved red onion, chives and house-made hot honey.
Customers can watch the chefs flatten the dough with a rolling pin (hence the name) and whip out measuring tape to perfect the 12-inch size. Pizzas range from $10 for a Margherita to $19 for a specialty lamb meatball pie. For diners looking to graze on appetizers while sipping on limoncello or sambuca (also housemade), there’s a variety of charcuterie boards, chicken liver mousse, Spanish white anchovies, baked herb ricotta, salads and desserts.
“We’d stand up to any pizzeria in the Midwest,” Morrison said.
1514 York St., Denver; 720-475-1337; open Wed.-Sun. from 4 to 9 p.m.
Eat’Ya Pizza
Restaurateurs Nicholas Kayser, Brian Hardy and Travis Masar have always wanted to own three restaurants: One serving American classics, one with pizza and one with ice cream. They checked off the first goal with Rooted Craft Kitchen, which has locations in Denver and Boulder.
So when they got the opportunity to take over a former pizzeria that came complete with a handmade Castelli Forni pizza oven from Rome, it felt like destiny.
Eat’Ya Pizza opens on May 9 in the historic Sugar Cube building on the 16th Street Mall in Denver. While some restaurants have had a tough go of it recently along the under-construction pedestrian walkway, Kayser said he believes “the 16th Street Mall renaissance is real,” Kayser said. “We can feel the energy returning, and we’re excited to be a part of it.”
Eat’Ya replaces Sofia’s Roman Pizza, which closed unexpectedly last fall after just five months of business. Kayser said he’s family friends with the landlord at the location, Urban Villages, and was approached to take over the vacant space (although the two did not partner financially on the new concept, as Sofia’s Roman Pizza did with Urban Villages).
“The Downtown Denver Partnership has approved a patio expansion project on 16th Street between Blake and Market, so it will be all-pedestrian indefinitely,” Kayser said. “It should be a fun summer with some activation, like live music, out there.”
Like Sofia’s, the nostalgic, ’90s-themed pizzeria serves Roman-style pizza, something that “is gaining a lot of traction in bigger markets like New York and California,” Kayser said.
“We wanted to delineate ourselves from other pizza spots down there, and it’s a better crust style for the ingredients we’re going to be sourcing.” Roman pizza is typically eaten by the square slice, and the dough is crisp and sturdy so it can hold plenty of toppings.
When it opens, Eat’Ya will serve pizza by the slice or whole pizzas to-go. There will be four to six rotating specialty slices every day, like mortadella and pesto or a shakshuka brunch pizza with baked eggs and spicy tomato sauce. There will also be soft-served cannoli gelato and frose.
The fast-casual spot will have a 70-seat patio outside for diners who need a quick bite before heading to a Colorado Rockies game or show at the Denver Center for Performing Arts.
Kayser wanted to come up with a creative name after struggling through a trademark battle with the Edible Beats restaurant group, which owns Root Down and Vital Root. They have since settled it, but have to either rebrand or close their Rooted Highlands location.
“After that, we’ve gotta make sure we’re coming up with something unique, and Nick’s Pizza wouldn’t cut it,” Kayser said.
1530 16th St. Mall, Unit 101, Denver; (303) 953-2119; eatyapizza.com; Opening next month seven days a week from 10:45 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Update: A previous version of this story mislabeled photos of The Sears Tower pizza from Rolling Pin Pizza as a different pizza.
