Pop-Up Pizza
The Main Street – Sauce, Mozzarella, Pepperoni
The White Chapel – Mozzaella, Ricotta, Roasted Garlic Oil, Sauteed Spinach
Garlic Knot
Cinnamon Bombolini with Cream
While New Yorkers or the New York-centric seemingly love to tout the excellence of the “slice,” it can only be said that I don’t get it – a greasy pile of low quality pepperoni on overly sweetened sauce topped with cheap cheese supported by a foldable, dull crust simply is not my idea of pizza and no matter how many try to defend their favorite slice shops or memories of slurping down a 99 cent hunger stop-gap at 2am the fact of the matter is that most of it is no better than Sbarro…a few exceptions noted…and one of them right here in Las Vegas. Dubbed “Pop-Up Pizza” by the folks at downtown’s Plaza hotel and located just off the gaming floor Pop-Up is not a pop up in any true sense of the word, but rather a traditional appearing joint with white tiles, limited seating, and gas ovens behind a selection of pre-made and fresh pies ready to be fired (or refired) plus a few bonus items and with expedited but friendly service it provides a veritable bargain; my total bill coming to $9.47 before tip and delivered to my hands in less than five minutes. Beginning first with the ‘extras,’ both the supple garlic knot and delicate brioche-style donuts with truly impressive house made sweet cream would prove to be quite impressive at 50 cents each and moving on to the pizza itself I’ll simply offer a ‘bravo’ to the persons in charge of sourcing and the team arranging the pies as each component came together beautifully – the sauce tangy but not sweet, the garlic aromatic but not overwhelming the fresh spinach, and the cheese of a whole-milk variety full of flavor and not with oil while the crust, still foldable, had good crunch but ample chew neither adding or detracting from the composition. Still not even remotely close to the quality of many artisan pies but a step in the right direction, particularly for the slice-shop genre, and offering delivery throughout Sin City I still can’t say I ‘get it’ but for those looking for an improved take on the nostalgia of childhood, or drunken nights in Manhattan, this is about as good as it gets.
