Little Joe's Again

For well over a year, my niece and I have been questing around Knoxville for pizza joints to give them a try. I have been really amazed at how many pizza places exist in this town. (Our goal was to visit places which were pizza primary restaurants, not places which served pizza along with burgers and other main entreé types.)

K1 graduated from university this past December and is taking a job in a far away place. The location is far enough away to make these endeavors no longer regular. Since we were getting close to her departure time, I asked her for one last quest. I told her we could visit someplace new (our list still has venues yet not visited), or she could pick a place we have been before. Of all the places we've tried, she chose Little Joe's.

We first found Little Joe's almost a year ago. (Post here: https://knox-pizza-quest.blogspot.com/2017/02/little-joes-pizza.html) The memory of this place was the bread sticks. This time, I ordered sauce, and I really should have ordered extra. I recommend two orders of sauce for one basket of sticks for maximum enjoyment.

On our previous visit, we had ordered our own pizzas. This time, we ordered a single large pizza. The crust was outstanding, as usual. We kept it simple with pepperoni and extra cheese. I added bacon on my half. We threw down again. The to-go box had only a few pieces left by the time we called it quits.

I wish we had started this quest earlier than the fall of 2016. It has been such a fun time to find pizza places with Kiersten. I did tell her that she's going to need to find more pizza places wherever she visits for her job and report back. Who knows? Maybe I'll find my way out to where she is when she discovers the best-evar! And I hope to maybe try a few more on our list when she comes back for a visit.

Love you, kiddo!

Rosati's

It's been a while since we have ventured on a quest. K1 is finishing up school and has been very busy to complete all her assignments.

Well, those assignments are done! The quest continues!

I had several people suggest Rosati's to me. (I keep wanting to call it "Rosita's.") This is a Chicago style pizza spot located among the shops off Papermill right down from Five Guys. They have been around for about a year.

We decided that although we like a good thin crust pizza, we had to try a deep because it is the native style of the Rosati's. The only logical conclusion was to get one of each!


Immediately after we ordered, I realized we had not ordered the standard breadsticks for proper sampling. We were hungry and decided we'd be fine.

And we were! The deep dish pizza had pepperoni and bacon (of course), and our thin crust was chicken and garlic. We started on the deep dish first. Although only ten inches, it was everything you imagine a Chicago pizza to be. The crust was tasty and the sauce plus cheese hit the spot. We both ended up going back to the deep dish for seconds it was so good.

Remember the forgotten breadsticks? The thin crust completely made up for their absence. Crust perfect, cheese stringy, garlic savory...we really were fine.

It took a little time to get the pizzas after ordering, but the wait was worth it. In fact, given the choice of Stephano's and Rosati's for Chicago style, I would have to choose Rosati's.

For a cold almost-winter's night, this pizza warmed us up inside!

mellow mushroom

who doesn't like the mellow mushroom? their pies have been a staple in knoxville for a long time.

the niece and i trekked down through rush hour thunderstorms braving the horrible drivers in this city to eat some delicious pizza. and though it is not new to us, it had been a while since either of us had visited mellow mushroom. (k1 recalls her eighteenth birthday party as the last time for her. i think it was the same for me.)

let's talk food. we started with their garlic and parmesan pretzels. these incredibly tasting appetizers come with what seemed like freshly made tomato sauce on the side. ours were piping hot and fresh from the oven. the pretzels were very doughy, much like a well-made breadstick. we both were big fans immediately.

k1 ordered her baseline pepperoni pizza, and i chose the house special. the crust is much like a new york style crust: not too thin, not too thick. and although i had a generous helping of cheese on mine, k1's was loaded with cheese. (in case you don't understand, that's a good thing.)

we both could only pack in two slices this evening on our pizzas. that, of course, means extended enjoyment in the next day or so. the pretzels were a good size and that helped fill us both up. i could have made a meal out of the pretzels alone.

shortly after the delivery of our pizzas, the manager came by and introduced himself and checked to make sure all was good. we let him know it was and hyped the pretzels a bit.

fighting the traffic was worth all that we experienced at the mellow mushroom. they have two locations: one on cumberland avenue and the other out west off campbell station road. try the pretzels!