America!

We are feeling very patriotic this week here at Blackened Out Lady Liberty Emporium, and it's not only because my search yesterday for the cookie cake with the most frosting at Rouse's ended with the purchase of one decked out in the Stars & Stripes. We have watched approximated 173 hours of the U.S. Olympic Trials over the past week, and I have not felt so heavily invested in women's gymnastics since 1996 when Shannon Miller made bangs popular with every New Orleans girl starting Catholic high school that fall. The Fourth of July holiday bifurcates the work week, creating a monumental decision for everyone who wants to get the hell out of this office: Do you take off the two days before or the two days after July 4th? All of this talk of the red, white, and blue has made me wonder: What other reasons do I have to celebrate our great nation?

The answer came at about 6:30 last night in the Bywater.

Where else in the world can two guys from New York decide that the only way to satisfy their craving for their hometown pizza in their adopted city is to make it themselves. So they experiment, trying to find the precise combination of water and yeast to produce a perfectly thin, crackly crust and eventually discovering the winning formula. They then enlist the help of their friends and start selling pies on Sunday nights from a communal kitchen deep in the Bywater, relying only on word of mouth as advertising.

But in the smallest big city in the nation, the legend of Pizza Delicious quickly spreads. Soon customers from all over the area are making the Sunday night pilgrimmage to pick-up a pie with sauteed mushrooms and pancetta (a personal favorite) or roasted cauliflower and balsamic onion. People are calling in at 7:30am to resever their pickup times 12 hours later. The mayor happens to stop by one night for a slice. A second night of service is added. Articles are written, and accolades soon follow.

Two years later, the little pizza pop-up the could is in the process of opening up a permanent location just a few blocks from where it all began. But even though some things change, others still remain the same. Owners Greg and Mike still wore smiles of enthusiasm on their faces last night when they handed over my order - their newest creation made of braised brussel sprouts, chunks of speck, and pickled red onion. Likewise, my first taste of the pinwheel filled with pepperoni and mozzarella brought a flashback of euphoria. And despite our attempts at self control in holding off on eating until we get back home, the car ride back is still spent fighting over the last garlic knot in the pouch of tin foil.

America: Home of the free; home of the brave; home of the delicious.

Pizza Delicious - Birdie

3334 N Rampart

(504) 676-8482

Thur & Sun: 5pm till 11pm(ish)

P.S. - Even though many of us (including Blackened Out) are taking off of work after Wednesday, the workaholics at Pizza Delicious will be pumping out pies this week on Thursday and Sunday according to their regular schedule.