Restaurant Review: Sizzle Pie

It has been a minute since I bothered to review a new establishment on The New School, but I thought it was time after a few visits to the hyped new East Burnside pizza joint Sizzle Pie, located just across from the newly opened Burnside Brewing. Shortly after opening this pie joint received some great press for their late night hours and creative pies, but what really pushes them into New School territory is their goal of becoming a great watering hole with a very craft beer-centric drink list.

Beer List

The Beer:

The beer list is great, especially for a pizza place. While it is bottles only, they plan to expand to a full bar soon, and the current list is well-selected and - even better - cheap. At first glance the prices may not seem so great, i.e. Lagunitas IPA, Stone IPA, Caldera Ashland Amber all $3.50 for 12oz, but the value lies in the bombers (22oz) and larger sizes. Ninkasi bombers of Sleigh'r, Total Dom and Oatis for $5, Hopworks IPA and Secession for $6, and the best of all, a 750ml bottle of Upright Seven for only $8! Indeed, it is a hardy beer list for any restaurant or even a local pub, but for a pizza joint it is spectacular. However, the glassware is a problem; more about that in my first impressions below...

First Impressions:

Having heard advance buzz on Sizzle Pie from people in the beer community for quite a while before they opened their doors, I was excited to check it out what had been billed as a spot that would feature great pizza with an outstanding beer selection and a punk rock sort of attitude. It was New Year's Day and I had just received my discount code via email for a Groupon-like offer that had been promoted by Sizzle Pie prior to grand opening, wherein you got $30 credit for $15. This seemed like a good time to use it, being home with no food in the fridge and the grocery stores all closed. But seeing as how it was New Year's, I decided to call ahead just to be sure they were open. After 3 unanswered phone calls I almost gave up, but was assured that they would be open.

Ben Edmunds and I walked in to find a few people waiting at the register to order and one booth full. It was a quiet evening, and while the space is inviting and warmly lit, there was no music playing and the staff seemed lost. Indeed, looking over their menu we found many interesting selections, yet oddly no prices. While ordering a pie I let the cashier know I planned to redeem my coupon, and she looked at me perplexed, as she obviously had never heard about it. She asked other staff and most of them were confused as well, until finally someone knew about it. But even this guy then told me that the offer was only good for grand opening day! Astounded, I said they then owed me some money, especially considering I had not even received the coupon # until that day. They got on the phone to the owners trying to figure the whole thing out. Question: Why, on only your second official day open, is there no owner/manager on hand? After a good 15 minute wait they finally told us they would figure it out and we could just go ahead and sit down, and they put our order in. I opted for a beer, a Stone IPA, which was served in the bottle with no glass offered. Ben, on the other hand, asked for a glass with his beer, but shockingly they had none. They offered one of those generic red plastic soda cups instead. Passing on that, they finally found a tiny yellow water glass that held all of about 8oz of beer. I guess it was better than nothing. In the end, our pizza was solid but the staff was untrained. I decided to write it off until I could make a second visit at a later date, which I finally did recently, over a month since their opening.

The Food/Pizza:

Upon my first visit to Sizzle Pie, Ben Edmunds and I decided to split a 'South of Heaven' - a pretty unadventurous pie for Sizzle Pie standards - that featured pepperoni, mushrooms and fresh jalapenos. This was SP's 2nd day open and they had not even put prices onto their menu, let alone size options. We decided to order a whole pie figuring we could take home leftovers. The pie came out hot and delicious-looking, and you could tell the jalapeno slices were fresh cut and not out of a jar or a can. The pizza was fresh, juicy, oily, and spicy, with just the right amount of crispiness to keep it from being too flabby (like many thin slices get) and not slathered in oil or juices, either.

Sizzle Pie is known for being very friendly to vegetarians and vegans, and for this reason I thought it would be a good opportunity to invite my brother and Angelo of Brewpublic, both of whom are vegans, for my 2nd visit. Myself being not remotely vegan, I ordered a slice of pepperoni,and a slice of the interesting-sounding vegetarian pizza 'Italians Do It Better'. The IDIB is a cheese pizza base (as all pizzas must be, in my mind) with garlic, basil, parmesan, and, most uniquely, breaded eggplant. It is kind of a freakish looking slice, but I had to try it. Both slices were slightly dried out from being under the heat lamps too long. The pepperoni was an average thin crust slice, not too oily. The IDIB I did not dig at all, though; the main flavoring components, the cheese and the breaded eggplant, contributed little in the way of flavor. Sure, cheese is always good, but the eggplant was just a husk at that point, only contributing a chewy texture, perhaps because it was not super fresh, or maybe it just needs to be marinated.

When I have ordered a whole fresh pie the pizza has been pretty good, but when you look at the bill of $20-$26 for a full size pie it has to make you think twice. The slices have been questionable. Perhaps that is why they originally left the prices off the menu? That's always a bad sign.

Sizzle Pie has a pretty inviting, alternative interior, with wood lighted stacks made to look like pizza boxes, some booths, and a family friendly but punk rock design to everything. They even have a jukebox featuring lots of hard rock classics. Reviews for SP have been pretty good so far, as the neighborhood has happily greeted their vegan menu and late night hours.

With pies featuring ingredients like white truffle oil, New Deal Vodka cream sauce, and creamy basil cashew spread and funny names like 'The Slaughter of The Soil', Sizzle Pie is aiming for something different. I think it is - when you look at the aesthetics of some of their pies with swirls of sauce and designs that remind you of something out of a Tim Burton movie, you really understand the place. It's all style with not a lot of substance, and I cannot imagine anyone but vegans getting very excited about the place. I think I will stick with the thoroughly underrated Dove Vivi for pizza and Burnside Brewing just across the street for beers.

Sizzle Pie
624 E. Burnside
Sunday – Thursday, 11am – 3am
Friday & Saturday, 11am-4am.