Metro Pizza
Garlic Knot Meatball Sliders
Pompeii Style Pizza – Anchovies, Olive Oil, Herbs
Sicilian Pizza
Grilled Pizza with Razor Clams and Arugula
Bruschetta with Sausage, Peppers, Onions on Sesame Semolina
Pasta Pie
Steibrenner Calzone
Modesto Pizza with Sliced Mozzarella
Pistachio Gelato Brioche Slider
Serving Las Vegas for 35 years and continuously evolving the concept while slowly growing the brand it would be difficult to say anyone has contributed more to Sin City’s love of pizza than John Arena, and invited in for a special history lesson on Friday night it was with friends both new and old that a group of ten was enthralled by tales dating back centuries, the owner of Metro Pizza’s almost encyclopedic knowledge served up alongside several styles of pie in the bakery named after his mother attached to the pizzeria on Sky Pointe Drive.
Now in the business of baking since his pre-teen years, a childhood in Brooklyn giving way to the launch of a pizza career in Las Vegas shortly after relocation and the time-honored skills that have made him a veritable legend amidst many of the best Pizzaiolos from around the globe, it was with a warm introduction that John welcomed us to the universe he has been exploring for more years than the majority of our party have been alive and dotting the experience with several tastes of Metro signatures as well as off-menu specials while fielding any number of questions with unparalleled candor the nearly four-hour experience passed almost too quickly, the information offered far more than one could have ever hoped to absorb.
Truly a generous host, the entirety of the experience free-of-charge with wine and soft drinks provided for those choosing to enjoy, it was with the assistance of Lulu’s Chris Decker that nine items were rolled out during the course of the evening and beginning with Metro’s golden garlic knots wrapped around tender meatballs there was nary a bite not to be savored, the pizza sauce a true work of art that tastes only of fresh milled tomatoes with the slightest bit of herbs, a far cry from other ‘chains’ looking to suit the American palate by adding sugar or too much salt.
Taken back to the times of Pompeii through pictures and stories discussing misconceptions of Pizza’s origins, taste two featured a freshly stretched flatbread topped only in chopped herbs, olive oil, plus sliced sardines and explaining how it was not until trade brought water buffalo and tomatoes from Asia and Spain that ‘modern’ concepts of pizza truly existed, the next bites of pie were offered in the form of Metro’s Sicilian-style with 4-days cool leavening allowing the crust to come across crisp and robust with a wispy air-pocketed interior that appropriately resembled the cross section of a sponge.
Getting creative with the toppings as the group was invited to enter the kitchen, course four featured a grilled pie topped with peppery arugula and razor clams whose sweetness was beautifully accented by the lightest bit of char, and showing off his family’s baking heritage with slices of sesame studded semolina the nutty bread proved quite the treat beneath a ragout of roasted vegetables, though perhaps even better when smeared with butter and fresh preserves hot from the toaster on a loaf given to each of us as a gift to take home.
Onward to some of Metro’s more eclectic signatures, some in the group beginning to fade under the weight of so much food, items six and seven spoke to the fact that there is no one ‘right’ way to make a pizza, the pasta filled iteration having roots dating back hundreds of years in Italy while my personal favorite bite of the evening arrived in the form of Eggplant Parm wrapped in a crispy baked shell, the whimsical wink to Seinfeld just one more reason to love a dish that could have easily come off as gimmicky or far too oily and unwieldy to sell.
Rounding out savories with the thin crust Modesto while fielding more questions from the crowd, each answer speaking to years of travel, research, and the sort of passion most only dream they could have for the way they make a living, it was with two trays of ‘sliders’ that the evening would end, and although the intensely nutty gelato is sourced from a company in California it was the housemade brioche buns that made all the difference, each lightly sprinkled with sugar and nuts to make the best ice cream sandwich served in the Northwest suburbs, not really a surprise given the quality of the baked goods offered from Arena and Decker during daytime hours at Lulu’s Bread and Breakfast.
FIVE STARS: Obviously a special experience, but one that is at least somewhat accessible to the general public by way of courses offered at UNLV, suffice it to say a lifetime of experience and a fervor for his craft has made John a true legend amongst the pizza community while cementing Metro as a fixture of the community – the sort of place easily overlooked or dismissed as a ‘chain’ in reality using top-tier ingredients to please everyone from families to aficionados while embracing a culture of learning and evolution, no one style of pizza considered to be the only ‘right’ way.
RECOMMENDED: Pasta Stuffed Pie, Sicilian, Steinbrenner Calzone.
AVOID: N/A, though bruschetta, Pompeii-style, and grilled pizza are notably not part of the ‘regular’ menu.
TIP: Not currently on the menu, the Sicilian is rumored to re-emerge in the fall, and at least in my humble opinion is the best version I’ve tasted to this day.
WHAT THE STARS MEAN: 5 World Class, 4 Excellent, 3 Good, 2 Fair, 1 Poor
http://metropizza.com/
