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Pie Zanos Kitchen
4743 North 20th Street, 602-955-4225
Hours: 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., 7 days a week

Okay, so my best friend and I are doing pretty well on the whole avoiding carbs thing, but sometimes you’ve just got to come up for air and have a pizza. The best part about Pie Zanos is that you won’t overindulge because all of their gourmet pizzas come in personal size only.

The pizzeria is located in a cozy space that has a walk up counter where you both order and then watch the exceedingly friendly staff put your pie together right before your very eyes. The smallish interior comfortably holds quite a few tables below walls colorfully decorated with pop art paintings that are for sale.

Pie Zanos’ menu offers a variety of specialty pizzas such as the “Buffalo” ($6.75), a Cajun and ranch-flavored crust topped with buffalo wing meat, mozzarella, mushrooms and pineapple; or the “Greek” ($7.00), a garlic crust beauty covered in pesto, Feta cheese, gyros meat, red onion and Kalamata olives.

I opted for the design-your-own-pizza ($4.95), and added my perennial favorite toppings for 55 cents each. Okay, I’ll admit I’m no foodie—my mundane choices consisted of mushrooms and Italian sausage, although I did order the caramelized onions for a bit of adventure. For those a bit braver than moi, Pie Zanos also offers such intriguing choices as asparagus, pickled jalapeno, tofu and sweet potato.

My carb-conscious dining companion vacillated over the salad offerings—a traditional house or the “Anti-Pasta” full of meat and cheese, and Pie Zanos’ “Tuscan” salad, made up of spinach, red pepper, tofu, Gorgonzola cheese and sunflower seeds in a balsamic vinaigrette ($5.95 - $6.75). But, her dietary resolve crumbled like a hunk of Feta cheese when she spied another diner’s “Pie-Talian” sandwich layered with pepperoni, salami and ham, tomato, red onion and olives on Focaccia bread ($6.75).

“It’s delicious,” she said as we sat to eat outside on tables next to the pizza place. I had chosen my pizza crust in garlic flavor, which made the thin crust a perfect compliment for the plentiful array of meat, cheese and veggies. I usually pick off the onions that are included in most pizza joint’s combos because they are never quite cooked enough to get rid of that burning rawness, but my choice that day of caramelized onions were softly sweet just as I had hoped.

With a full espresso bar and menu selection of two and three egg frittatas, Pie Zanos is also a pleasant place for breakfast. And on the other end of the spectrum, they also have a variety of beers on hand and feature a happy hour from 4-7 p.m. nightly.
Cheers!