Are you ready to venture off the Las Vegas strip? What if I tell you that the best pizza in Las Vegas (and maybe, just maybe the country) is only a few miles off the strip in Downtown Las Vegas? Walking into the unassuming strip mall next to Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, made famous by TV show Pawn Stars, and into Good Pie, I had my doubts. But then I met Vincent Rotolo (Vinnie to his friends — and everyone is his friend) and I was blown away by his passion for pizza. Noticing a prominent Vegas chef there for lunch (and getting tips from Vinnie on how to make gluten-free taste so good) I started to get excited as I heard the story of Good Pie and their signature “Grandma Pizza.”
The Grandma Pizza is an emerging style of pizza that is finally getting its time to shine. In Vinnie’s Brooklyn neighborhood, back in the 30s and 40s, grandmothers would go to the pizza shop, they would buy pizza dough and stretch them out in their pans. When the kids wanted something at home, they would pop them in the oven, simple and easy. Decades went by and a whole generation of kids who had grown up on this homemade pizza still craved it. So neighborhood pizza makers started to sell it themselves, to fill this void. The first “grandma pizza” was sold either in the late 70s, early 80s, depending on who you ask. Vinnie wanted to create a neighborhood pizza shop in his new neighborhood – Vegas. More than just create delicious pizza, Vinnie wanted to create a spot for the community to come together. Since grandma pizza came from grandmothers nurturing their families, Vinnie made this the Good Pie signature style, to nurture his community.
We watched as Vinnie made the “Good Good” – cheese on the bottom, sauce on top. Then more fresh mozzarella, flown in from Brooklyn. There are 4 different cheeses on every pie. When he was little, his dad used to take artichokes and stuff them with sausage, so with a nod to his father, he tops the Good Good with artichoke and sausage. Vinnie likes to stick with two toppings and refuses to put anything on a pizza that the grandmothers wouldn’t have used. Looking down his kitchen is a wall of photos of grandmothers, keeping an eye on him and his pizza.In addition to the Grandma style, Good Pie also offers Detroit and Brooklyn style pizzas, along with award-winning gluten-free and vegan options. There’s more to the menu than just pizza, but not much more. You wont find sandwiches or lasagna at Good Pie, Vinnie wants to stick with what he does best. Good Pie also serves up crave-worthy Good knots–with three kinds of garlic (garlic oil, roasted garlic, and fresh garlic), grana, parsley, and sauce; Good balls–homemade beef and pork meatballs, sauce, grana, and parsley; and Calzone-mozzarella, fresh mozzarella, ricotta, and grana.
My favorite? The “That’s Dat Good $hit” Detroit Style – mozzarella, fresh mozzarella, pecorino, wild mushrooms, caramelized onions, finished with Urbani porcini mushroom and truffle thrills, whipped ricotta cheese, shaved grana padano, fresh parsley & Urbani organic truffle oil. I’m a sucker for mushrooms and truffle, and the Detroit Style of pizza was new for me – the crust is golden crispy on the bottom and soft and fluffy inside.
Learn more at www.GoodPie.com.
