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!

Stefanos

Despite spending the majority of my time within a one-mile radius around the UT campus, I had never previously made my way to Stefanos Pizza. Now that the Cumberland Avenue construction project is more or less complete, venturing to eat out on "The Strip" seemed like a good idea.

This was the first Chicago-style pizza I had eaten in quite a while so I was looking forward to the deep dish. The restaurant was not crowded and our pizza was delivered quickly. Similar to most deep dish pizza, it was extremely filling and I could barely finish a slice with some breadsticks. The pizza was delicious! I refrigerated my leftovers and they held up well for another meal.

Overall, the pizza and breadsticks were exceptionally tasty. I would recommend going during a low volume time to avoid parking difficulties. It may be a restaurant best enjoyed when school is not in session and the campus area is calm.

1000 Degrees Pizza

we are back to pizza questing! this last friday was at 1000 degrees neapolitan pizza. (i'm not sure what makes it neapolitan; i never saw vanilla, strawberry, or chocolate anywhere!)

the idea behind this is that the oven is 1000°F. it cooks the pizza in a very short time. in fact, it's the quickest i've gotten a pizza from time into oven to table. it was super fast.

but here's the problem: the time it took to get through the line and have our pizzas made totally lost all the time we saved during the cook time. i don't know if they were short staffed or if the kids working were not experienced yet or because they kept shifting positions, it felt like they were not as organized as they could have been. and this was a friday night. don't know how it is these days, but weekends were always considered to be the busier days, so be ready. they seemed to be behind on some dough, and a few ingredients needed to be restocked on the line too.

that being said, the pizza was good. i liked the crust, sauce, cheese, toppings. i was so hungry (from the long wait) that i totally killed my 14 inch regular crust. k1 ate most of hers. she had a piece to take home and wanted to get box but wasn't sure how long it would take to get the box. i forgot to order bread sticks this time, but i am not sure how long it would take to get them.

it really seemed similar to many of the assemble-your-own pizza places which have popped up. i would say that if they could nail down their serious lag issues, they would be a rival to the blazes and pie fives (oops, sorry, pie five) in this town.

big ed's

i know it's not knoxville, but big ed's pizza is a well-known standard for pizza around here. this place was established in oak ridge in 1970 and has been serving pizza to happy people since.

i was in college when i first visited big ed's. big ed was still alive back then and i caught a glimpse of him standing at his usual bar spot that evening. even though he has passed, his pizza still lives on. and a pizza quest wouldn't be complete without a trip to this historic spot.

the style seems new york, although the logo on the window of the store says it's "true italian style." the crust is of the hand tossed variety, providing a thinner foundation. the sauce and toppings are consistently delicious. i have included the link to big ed's website at the bottom of this post. you should read the "who is big ed" section which talks about the history and what ingredients are made and used. it is interesting.

both k1 and i were quite hungry, so we decided on a couple of 12 inch pies each. k1 ordered her usual pepperoni only. i ordered pepperoni, bacon, and onion. (they now put benton's bacon on their pizzas!)

being as hungry as i was, i threw down on my pizza. i couldn't get enough of the flavors of tomato sauce and cheese and toppings! k1 was able to take some of her pizza home for later enjoyment. that might have been a smarter move. now, she can have the experience of big ed's extended more than just one evening.

being the classic as it is, i felt we needed big ed's t-shirts to show our pizza solidarity.

uncle maddio's pizza joint

k1 and i hit uncle maddio's pizza joint on friday evening. i didn't realize this place was here until i had done a quick google search for pizza places within my location while driving down cedar bluff.

uncle maddio's is located in the northshore publix shopping center. they advertise that they are locally owned. and if you notice in the picture that it's not a pizza place but a "pizza joint." i like that. a pizza joint!

the format is like blaze or pie five. we told them we wanted personal pizzas and which toppings, and they built it on the line in front of us and slid it into the oven. (theirs is not wood fired.)

we both ordered our standards: all meat for me, cheese and pepperoni for k1. we both liked our selections. for us the most memorable item was the bread sticks. they look like normal bread sticks in the photo, but they are thinner. we detected garlic and minced onions atop the sticks, and that made them very yummy. i think k1 spent more time nibbling on the sticks. i couldn't blame her. they were addictive!

it was easy to get to this place, the atmosphere was casual, and the service was speedy! we had not been sitting for very long and got our pizzas. the crust was new york style. the toppings were quite tasty as well.

if i had to do over, i would have doubled down on the bread sticks order...and still gotten a personal pizza. note for next time.

little joe's pizza

this place has been around since 1974, but i never heard about it until we started this quest. and i don't know how it could have been missed!

i arrived early and got a booth. they immediately dropped off some bread sticks to my table and got my drink order. since i was hungry, i started the nibble on the sticks. they were outstanding! the bread sticks are complimentary but sauce is extra. i didn't need the sauce, though. they were delicious in their own right.

k1 sat down, and we placed our order. they did a great job of keeping our drinks fresh. our server would walk by and drop another cup of whatever was lowest on our table. never had to ask! excellent!

when the main event came, we proceeded to nom. the crust was a thin crust, which is their specialty. (i didn't see from the menu if you could even get a thicker crust.) but this crust was one of the best thin crusts i have had in this quest. others were good, no doubt. but little joe's had the cracker crunchy crust of which i am a big fan.

the small was a good size for a small. being as hungry as i was and because it was pizza, i ate almost all of mine. (i overdid it.) but it was just so darn good! i know k1 was loving hers as well. 

the location of little joe's is at the intersection of kingston pike and watt road, so it's a hike. i would say, though, for the crust and the service that the hike was well worth it. (clarification: we drove. we didn't walk that trip.)

ps: happy national pizza day!

Blaze Pizza

I had heard lots of good things about Blaze despite it being new to Knoxville so I was excited to check it out. It did not disappoint! The restaurant is similar in set-up to Pie Five. An assembly line of ingredients is available to build a personalized pizza from the bottom up.

I chose a pepperoni and garlic as my toppings and waited as they cooked my pizza in the wood-fired oven. The whole process was very quick and in no time I was digging in! I really liked the crispy crust. You can definitely taste the flavor from the wood-burning oven. As a whole, the pizza was extremely delicious.

I have now visited both locations in Knoxville- Cedar Bluff and Turkey Creek. Both are conveniently located, although the Turkey Creek restaurant had a more inviting interior.

Overall Blaze is a quick and easy way to get delicious personal pizzas on the go!

la rosa's pizza

our next quest took us to la rosa's on cedar bluff. i have eaten there before and have their pizza a few times (at the office). i am already a fan, but k1 needed to make her own decision.

k1 ordered the double pepperoni, a step up from her staple. she admired the thin crust on hers. the crusts are very good. she also liked the taste of the pepperonis. good flavor there. and she's sampled quite a few now to know what she likes.

normally, i would have gone with a meat loaded pizza, but i saw the sweet and spicy flatbread on a featured menu which included pepperonis and drizzled honey with a few other ingredients to help it live up to its name. very good stuff. i mulled over ordering a meaty side pizza too because the pictures in the menu drew me in. i decided i didn't need that much food but made the mental note to revisit for more of this stuff.

we both liked what we had. my opinion also bumps it to a favorite.

a fact of which i was unaware was that they deliver! i need to check their coverage area for the next time think about calling in a pie.

this place i conveniently located on cedar bluff near kingston pike across from the new colossal kroger. check it out!

empire pizza

k1 and i appropriately visited this place after watching rogue one before christmas. it was a cozy place with a very new york feel to the decor.

i went with something very meaty while k1 picked the standard pepperoni. we both liked the crust, which is typical new york style. i had plenty of meaty goodness on mine (as seen in the picture).

the place is located on kingston pike east of lovell road (on the right if you are headed east). we saw several people walk in for pizza take away.

both k1 and i recommend it if you are looking for a little bit of new york in west knoxville.