There’s a new player in the delivery and takeout pizza niche for Utah County and this one comes with an appetite.

Hungry Howie’s, a national chain with more than 500 locations across the U.S., made its first foray into the Wasatch Front when it recently opened a franchise in Orem. We had never eaten at a Hungry Howie’s before, so we went in with moderate expectations.

Those expectations were met — and more.

As previously mentioned, Hungry Howie’s is built for takeout or delivery — although there are two small bar-type counters inside with a few bar stools and other seats, so technically, we suppose, someone could eat there if they so desired. The inside was clean and vibrantly colorful, with yellow and white tiles on the wall, augmented with some faux wood paneling.

We stopped in on a Friday night — and while there was a constant flow of incoming traffic, it never felt overcrowded or manic inside. Our cashier was extremely helpful and patient, explaining all the different options, answering our questions and offering suggestions.

Hungry Howie’s hangs its hat on flavored crust pizza, offering eight different flavors — which, we were told, are all free, allowing you to mix and match with abandon. To be honest, all the flavors sounded enticing, so it was a bit difficult figuring out which ones might go best with what type of pizza ingredients. The flavorings offered are: butter, asiago cheese, Cajun, butter cheese, sesame, ranch, garlic herb, and onion. With our selections finally made, we sat down to wait for everything to cook.

Once we made it home with our bounty, it was time to dig in. We were anxious to try the much-ballyhooed flavored crust. The first pizza we tried was the Asian specialty, and admittedly, our immediate reaction following the first bite was “Wow!” This pizza contains a tangy Asian sauce, grilled chicken breast, red onion, green pepper, sesame seeds and mozzarella cheese. As for the flavoring, our cashier had suggested his personal favorite, the garlic herb. However, we opted for sesame — which we figured might go perfectly with the Asian’s ingredients. We were right. In fact, the sesame flavoring was so good that we could have been entirely happy with nothing but crust basted in sesame all by itself.

We discovered that the flavored crust was all it’s cracked up to be, and created an interesting phenomenon. After a lifetime of mental conditioning, there were several times we arrived to the last outer portion of the pizza, and without thinking, simply anticipated the taste of normal crust. Those occasions, though, turned out to be delightful surprises and a delicious reminder that flavored crust is a pretty cool feature after all.

While the Asian proved to be our personal favorite, we were also enthralled with a simple two-topping choice of the pepperoni and Italian sausage, enhanced by a garlic herb-flavored crust. We also enjoyed the Howie Works, which was a conglomeration of everything but the kitchen sink. It came with pepperoni, ham, mushrooms, green pepper, onions, Italian sausage, ground beef, black olives and extra cheese.

There are 10 different specialty pizzas, ranging from Buffalo Chicken to Philly Cheese Steak (which sounded quite intriguing, although we didn’t sample it this time), and you can still go the pick-your-own-toppings route. But there are also an array of calzones, breads, wings and salads.

We tried the Turkey Club calzone, which was fantastic. The calzones feature an outside crust which is extremely tasty, folded over, but not entirely closed. It came stuffed with turkey breast, ham, bacon, cheese, lettuce and tomato. There is also a line of Howie Rolls, which are kind of like glorified Hot Pockets — if, that is, the popular store-bought brand were much bigger and tastier.

The Howie Wings were a little on the small side, but a worthwhile side, especially when dipped in the accompanying blue cheese sauce.

All in all, we really loved Hungry Howie’s and can enthusiastically report that flavored crust pizza really is all that — even without a bag of chips.

HUNGRY HOWIE’S

Where: 1549 N. State St., Unit 105, Orem

Hours: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. to midnight Saturday and Sunday

Info: (801) 225-3333, www.hungryhowies.com