Serious Pie

Yes, this place is expensive. Yes, it’s in a somewhat shitty location if you’re going to have to park. But the pizza is good and it’s original, which can be a hard thing to find in a pizza. I thought that the boring pizza with cheese and tomatoes was a disappointment, but I loved the one that was smothered in all different kinds of mushrooms with truffle cheese and the one with arugula and egg. The appetizer that was basically a caprese salad with peaches instead of tomatoes was good too. I wouldn’t go here often because it’s too expensive, but if you get the fancy pizzas it’s worth it to go once in a while.

We checked out Tom Douglas’ newest endeavor Serious Pie last Friday. There are some nifty features: a window onto the Bakery, group tables and some great wrought iron Holly Hunt meets Ironware International style chandeliers. The menu was small but appetizing enough and affordable.

We all ordered Beet salads and a blended wine and settled into our usual engaging conversation, well except we had to shout to hear each other. After a short period of time and many moments of group silence, we fell into conversations with whomever was next to us and essentially gave up on trying to talk across the table.

The couple next to our group also fell too often silent and had to ease their aching throats with numerous glasses of water after every attempt at talking.

I would suggest that the restaurant re-think all the hard surfaces in such a small space and try to bring some fabric in. Even padded fabric panels with some sort of front design that went half way down the bakery windows might help to absorb some of the sound with out ruining the view and feeling of space.

We ordered the Wild Mushroom with Truffle Cheese (the best I thought), the classic Margarita and the Potato pizza. All were good but none of them were great. The mushroom was satisfying for a few of us but fell short for the rest, the Margarita was okay, but not done in the classic style and with a little too little ingredients and the Potato was way more potato than pizza and nearly sent me into a carb induced coma. I didn’t mind that the pizzas were square and served on cutting boards but some of our group preferred a round pizza. It is likely that with the limited table space the square shape is more comfortable for the table.

After waiting over an hour for only alright pizza and leaving with soar throats, had us all wishing that we had gone to Via Tribunali instead.

I would recommend it, as it is Tom Douglas and it was good, but maybe lunch would be a better deal, and the bakery would be open so you’d have that as added entertainment.

What makes a pie serious? If you ask me the pizza pies at Serious Pie are a little more on the frivolous side, with delicate crust, novel presentation and ingredients like truffle cheese and yukon gold potatoes. On the other hand, the restaurant is a well-executed dedication to simple and delicious dining, with a small but thoughtful menu of interesting salads, pies and desserts. The space itself is small—most of it is taken up by the pizza kitchen and the Tom Douglas bakery, where you can see all the bread for his restaurants being baked during the day. Long, shared tables line the sides of the dining room, with just enough space down the middle for the wait staff to squeeze by.

We shared a small but lovely salad of shaved celery and white anchovy with lemon dressing, and the forged mushroon and truffle cheese pie. It wasn’t a ton of food but that left room to sample two desserts, the honey ice cream with a poured espresso shot and the cranberry hand pie. With a carafe of the house wine only costing $15, you can have a complete and satisfying meal for two at a terrific price. I will definitely go back for more Serious Pie.