LUNCH AT BLAZE PIZZA - Northeast

Blaze Fast-Fire'd Pizza is located behind Sunridge Mall besides Five Guys and by Buffalo Wild Wings on 32nd Street in the N.E. It is U.S., California-based, chain, and you can tell once you see the menu. They have the calories listed after each item listed. I have been to California a few times, and twice in the last year, and I don't remember seeing any Blaze Pizza joints around.

My friends and I decided to stop by here after the Home and Garden Show since none of us have tried Blaze Pizza yet. I think they were having a change over in staff since there were a few people working for that few minutes that I went up to order. I didn't get any explanation on how the ordering process work but I eventually figured it out - it's like Subway. My friend who was a few minutes behind me got the full explanation. You can build your own pizza or do their signature pizza for the same price, $10.45. Only the one-topping and the Simple Pie, cheese pizza, are cheaper. Each pizza dough is pressed by a cool looking machine once the order is placed. The order-taker writes your name on this parchment paper where the pizza goes on and circles your order on it. The next part was a little confusing. I ordered one of their specialty pizza but the person adding the toppings kept asking me what I would like on it. It kinda confused me since I wanted what I ordered, but I did get a few extra toppings with it. I pointed my order out on the parchment to the person after we gave each other confusing looks. She didn't ask me if I wanted any more toppings after this and proceeded to add what was on the specialty pizza list which was fine. After they pile all your toppings on, they put your pizza in a very hot 800 degree F open-flamed oven for about 180 seconds. They have a person there to check it constantly. At this point, you pay for your pizza and any other salads, dessert, and drinks. Once your pizza is done, another person calls your name while they slice your pizza and place it on the pan or take out box. Drinks, condiments (red pepper flakes and Parmesan), and half size pizza boxes for your leftovers are all around the corner.

Art Lover $10.45

Artichokes are one of my favourite vegetables. So any pizza with artichoke on it will most likely be picked by me. Art lover has artichokes, mozzarella, ricotta, garlic, and dollops of red sauce. In addition to the main ingredients, I got ground beef and spinach. The pizza is thin crust, my favorite kind, and the open-flamed oven crisp the pizza edges quite nicely. Everything on the pizza went well together and was delicious. I had a good experience building this pizza.

I'm glad that this restaurant showed up in the N.E. or else I will never go to it. Pizza is definitely not one of my go-to food, but I know where to go when I want a personalized pizza. I don't know about putting the calories on the menu. I'm aware that it make people food conscious, but I'm kinda turned off by it.

Blaze Pizza
2618 32nd Street NE
403-291-0985