Pizza Public - Denver

There are a lot of pizza places in Denver and while most people are content with a $5 or $10 special from a national delivery chain, there are those of us who are willing to pay more for a quality pizza that offers more to the pallete than just grease, cheese and plain sauce. Pizza Public delivers that and with a binus on top of that. While there are east coast purists who like it as thin as a cracker and those further west who want what basically is an oblong shaped loaf of bread, Pizza Public offers a hand tossed pie that was just the right thickness for the masses yet can stretch it super thin for those who desre it as well. Our adventure started when a friend told me to check it out when we were thinking of going to another place that was down on 32nd street in Lo-Hi. I am skeptical about new places popping up but my friend is also a pizza snob so I decided to try out his recommendation. We drove up to the place which is just north of Speer on Federal. It was a bit tricky to get into the lot It was hard to see the sign coming from the south but it is just past a gas station on the corner of Speer and Federal. It was also somewhat hard to cross Federal at 5PM so I recommend coming from the north) but I was pleasantly surprised to see that they do have quite a few parking places which is definitely a premium in the Highlands. The building is one of those older brick buildings that were built in the late 60’s and early 70’s but when we walked in we weere blown away at how beautiful it looked inside. There wasthis huge room that seemed much bigger than what you would expect from just being outside. There was a long bar and warm colors that filled the room with giant art and curtains on the wall. It made you feel comfortable right away. We were seated quickly and greeted at our table by a friendly server who welcomed us to the establishment and handed us our menus. I asked her what was on special and she informed us it was Happy Hour and it was “Two for One” on all drinks. You have got to be kidding. I might see that with the well in some places but she pointed out that it was on everything including the top shelf booze. I think I know where I will be after work from now on. We ordered our drinks and started to look at the menu. They have Tapas and salads as well as the pizzas so we decided to order a couple of tapas as well as a salad to share. The drinks came out and the salad and tapas shortly after. The salad we split was the Clays Chopped Salad. It was very similar to a Cobb Salad without the diced hardboiled eggs and the ingredients were very fresh. The onions and peppers were finely chopped and I actually prefer larger pieces for the texture it adds but the flavor was definitely there. What made the salad stand out was the Champagne Vanilla Vinaigrette dressing. Wow, It was incredible and I wish i could describe it. All I can say it has that vanilla flavor combined with a sweet tang that was near perfection. The appetizers too big to be just tapas) came out next. We got the Meatball sliders and were surprised that all three were different. One had Pesto and What I believe was Feta cheese melted on top. The second had a bolognese style sauce on the meatball with Mozzarella and the other had melted Brie cheese with caramelized onions. All three were incredible. We also had the Siena Bruschetta. It had garlic sauteed mushrooms with some Finely chopped basil and cheese. Very flavorful and definitely got the taste buds ready for some pizza but there was six pieces and I was beginning to wonder if we would have room for any pizza. We were about to dive into the second piece each of the bruschetta when the manger stopped by the table to check on us. This is always a plus when I review a place. He was a big guy who was very friendly and asked us how we heard about the place and when we told him about the referral, he asked us to thank our friend and tell him that he owes him a beer, if you are reading this John, go get your beer). The pizzas are all specialty pies and he recommended the Tejon because it is the best seller and although it looks interesting with green chile instead of tomatoe sauce we wanted to keep it more traditional so we could gage it agianst the other places in the area we have frequented in the past. We opted for the build your own selection and we ordered a personal pepperoni, sausage and mushroom and my girlfriend ordereda GLUTEN FREE black olives and red onion. It is nice to see that there are gluten free options on the menu here. The pizzas came out in about ten minutes which is pretty good time for me. I know there are other places that can crank out pizzas faster but 10 minutes is very acceptable to me. The waitress served up the first slice and asked if we needed anything else and we both immediatley said we are going to need boxes. We dove in and tried the pizza. The dough was distinctly different for the two pizzas but my girlfriend said hers was actually quite amazing. I feel that too many vegetables ruin a pizza because they are mostly water but she said hers was great. as for mine, all I can say is that the pizza at Pizza Public hits the holy trinity of pizza success. The dough was thin and crisp on the bottom and still chewey enough with good flavor throughout. The Sauce had the right amount of seasoning and flavor that it accents the toppings and not overpower them. The cheese, well they are definitely using fresh mozzarella but I think they mix in another one with it because it had a nice smokey, sort of earthy flavor to it. The toppings were perfect. Lets face it, toppings are toppings and to each their own. It appears that they have many to choose from including two types of olives as well as 7 different cheeses. Toppings are great but it is the dough and sauce that makes a pizza and thney hit id in the bullseye on this one. There was enough cheese to properly cover the pizza and not so much that it all falls off when you pick up a slice. This was a perfect pizza. Hands down definitely the best in Denver. I also noticed that they are doing live music on Friday and Saturday nights. I will give this place my highest rating because the food was simply just incredible that night and again the next day), the service was friendly and attentive without being smothering, The manager checked on us personally, and best of all the price. I was expecting to pay $12 for the apps and $15-$17 for a personal pizza of this caliber but it was almost half of that. We both drank and ate a lot I might add) for less than $20 a person while I couldn’t have done this anywhere else for less than $35 per person. Great value and a most incredible experience. You must try this place out.