Pittsburgh Pizza Update 5-12-2015: Mobile Pizzeria, Pizza Fest, and Pizza Meets Baseball

What a week it’s been in Pittsburgh Pizza news! As Pittsburgh begins to turn the heat up, pizza season is in full swing. Well, it’s less of a “swing” and more of “pizza season continues per usual.” 

Let’s get to the pizza news for this week.

Mobile Pizza Downtown


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I was interviewing a fellow pizza lover the other day and he expressed his sadness for the lack of mobile pizza units. He wondered where Pizza Boat had sailed off to (they’re at the Spirit Lodge, fyi) and why there was no other pizza unit to fill their void.

Well, as it turns out there’s the Wood Fired Flatbreads truck. They pop-up in downtown Pittsburgh, Squirrel Hill, and a few other places around the city. They seem a bit less cool than the Pizza Boat, but it looks like they do a great job of making you a pizza on a city sidewalk. 


PNC Park & Pizza


Last week I wrote up a list of the best pizza places to eat pizza if you’re going to a Pittsburgh Pirate’s game at PNC park. It’s a great list and I hope it’s of great use to you as you enjoy baseball in the city.

Well, I have more news on the PNC Pizza front. Have you heard of Pizza Logs? It’s not a combination of pizza and Lincoln Logs. It’s a rolled up pizza. That you can build a pizza house out of, I guess?

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There they are! They’re a new addition to the pizza landscape at PNC Park. Next time you’re at PNC Park, try out a Pizza Log and let me know what you think. They seem like something you’d want to eat at a baseball game.

Pizza Fest Fills Lawrenceville


I conducted a ton of interviews at Pizza Fest; I spoke with the owners of Spak and Pizza Parma. I interviewed pizza enthusiasts. I even spoke to the folks behind the Pizza Pinup competition! I’ll have videos and interviews with those folks coming this week, but I wanted to share some photos from the event.

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It was legit crazy. So glad it’s an event that exist in Pittsburgh.

Alright! That’s a wrap for this week’s Pittsburgh Pizza Update. I was going to talk about how Andrew W.K. added a new show/pizza party in Pittsburgh, but that’s already sold out. Rats. 

I’m working on some interviews, videos, and more which I’ll sprinkle into the website in the coming days. Tell your favorite message board! Tell a pizza shop! Or sign up for my pizza newsletter!

Pizza Review: BZ's Bar & Grill

Across from PNC Park, past the statues of legends, and the special parking spot for the Pirates Bandwagon are a suite of bars. Bars engineered for the sole purpose of fueling fans of baseball both before and after the game. With ludicrous specials on Miller Lite, you can spend the same amount of money you spent on a Pirates ticket and wake up in a hospital if you so choose.

Unfortunately, baseball season isn’t eternal so they have to exist in some capacity They need a thing, a hook to keep people coming back. Something that goes beyond baseball, fried food, and cheap Miller Lite. Many spaces resort to dealing with the downtown lunch crowd, of which I was part of yesterday.

I wandered over to BZ’s Bar & Grill to meet some folks for lunch. I was worried about the large Martini glass in their logo; would we be drinking our lunch? Perhaps partake in a refreshing pizza smoothie? Not today.

We dined al fresco, along Federal Street with the Hustle and Bustle as a backdrop. It was a fine day, so we were quacked at by a number of passing Just Ducky Tours. The menu was classic bar food - sandwiches, fries, macaroni and cheese. I of course ordered the pizza.

As seen above, it’s a very plain looking pie. It’s passive and worried about offending your digestive track. “Don’t worry about me,” the pizza squeaks. “I’m just going to be over here, you know, being a lil’ pizza.” Okay, pizza.

I don’t know if BZ’s puts in a lot of effort into their pizza. I guess I could ask, but eating this pizza reveals so much more. A squishy crust that would be fine to eat for those who can’t find their dentures. The bottom is slightly charred, which would be great if the pizza was only 2-dimensions. But the third dimension, mainly the interior of the pizza, was forgotten It was fluff. The pizza was stuffed with nothingness. A pairing perfect for Miller Lite and a baseball ticket.

The pizza is innocuous. It’s taking absolutely zero chances and I think it’s okay. Like the Pirates who play it safe, the pizza is okay with a losing record. It’s fine pizza in a pinch, much better than the pizza served at PNC Park, and something I would even serve to the Just Ducky Tour ducks.

Three out of five pizza.