CLOSED: Provo’s newest pizzeria a hidden gem
A pepperoni pizza is pictured Tuesday at Fat Daddy's Pizzeria. This pizzeria serving New York-style pizza is located at 22 S. Freedom Blvd. in Provo.
A cheese pizza is pictured at Fat Daddy's Pizzeria.
A BBQ chicken pizza is served at Fat Daddy's Pizzeria.
The Outlaw pizza features jalapeno peppers, chicken, bacon and ranch.
Chaz Gandolph sprinkles cheese on an Outlaw pizza on Tuesday at Fat Daddy's Pizzeria.
A pepperoni pizza is pictured at Fat Daddy's Pizzeria.
There is only one way pizza should be eaten.
I won’t delve into the age-old debate of New York versus Chicago-style pizza, because there is no debate.
Pizza is meant to be eaten with your hands, and if necessary, folded.
I’m fairly confident it says so in the Bible; somewhere between “Honor thy father and mother” and “Thou shall not kill” is “Thou shall not desecrate pizza by using utensils or making it so deep that it can’t be enjoyed, because that is an abomination.”
Perhaps you missed it. Just read between the lines.
For those that have had true New York pizza, there’s no turning back. It means you will crave giant, thin and greasy slices of pizza hot out of the oven with delicious, creamy cheese and fresh basil or vegetables. Some have described this as love. For others, it is the American dream.
Wherever you may fall on the spectrum of devotion, Americans consume significant amounts of pizza. A statistic from the USDA in 2014 stated that 1 in 8 Americans eat pizza every day, and there is no shortage of pizza places in Utah County. However, good pizza (the kind that doesn’t harden into cardboard five minutes after it cools, doesn’t appear at a buffet, and is made with care rather than the tears of tomatoes) is harder to come by in our area. Perhaps others won’t admit it, but I will: There are fewer than half a dozen legitimately good restaurants that serve pizza in the valley.
Let me introduce you to one of those.
If you haven’t been paying close attention while driving through downtown Provo the last several months, it would have been easy to drive by Fat Daddy’s Pizzeria and not even realize it was there. It opened up shop immediately south of Joe Vera’s new location in a spot off Freedom Boulevard that has been unoccupied for years. Like many locations in the area, the building is full of its own history and Fat Daddy’s seems to fit in perfectly.
While you can order cheese or pepperoni like anywhere else, Fat Daddy’s features some tasty custom combinations on its menu from its chef, Chad Pritchard, that cannot be overlooked.
We ordered several different pizzas: the Hippie is topped with eggplant, peppers, onions, mushrooms and roasted tomatoes that were “quite good.” Though a vegetarian option, do not let the lack of meat dissuade you from ordering what was voted our group favorite.
We had to order the Queen Margherita, a classic among New York-style pizza joints, with its fresh mozzarella, basil, olive oil and tomato sauce. It’s simple, and in my opinion superior to plain cheese pizza. I also would have gladly accepted more liberal amounts of basil, though I realize some people prefer it as a garnish.
The King Umberto — a meat-lovers — is made with pepperoni, sausage, bacon, pastrami and meatballs. This pie is hefty and the quality of the meat is apparent. The pizzeria cuts its own bacon and makes its own sausage.
The Outlaw is my personal favorite, with chicken, house-pickled jalapenos and chunks of bacon. It had the perfect amount of spiciness; the peppers were distinct but didn’t overwhelm the other flavors.
However, regardless of the many slices of pizza we each consumed, the star is the crust. Fat Daddy’s has a great crust and that is the foundation of great pizza. I will never understand the people that eat a slice and leave the crust on their plate like an apple core or buffalo wing bone. What is wrong with you people? It’s as strange as a person eating a muffin bottom and leaving the muffin top, which is culturally understood as the most desirable part of the muffin.
While not on the menu board in the store, the Bacon Cheese Breadsticks are what American dreams are truly made of. It is essentially a 14-inch pie of cheese and sprinkled bacon. The breadsticks were greasy slices of joy. I’m fairly confident I caught my friend swiping up the crumbs from the pan out of the corner of my eye. Before we had even finished off the breadsticks, another asked if we could make a return visit solely to order more of them.
If you happen to believe pizza is a category on the food pyramid (It’s not. I’m sorry.), or you’re adamant it satisfies all the food groups, I think you’ll find a jaunt to Fat Daddy’s is worth a first, second or fifth visit.
Fat Daddy’s announced it was suspending operations on Jan. 18, 2017.
Fat Daddy’s Pizzeria
Location: 22 S. Freedom Blvd., Provo
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday-Saturday
Prices: $2-$3 per slice, or $12-$24 for whole pizzas, $5 lunch special for two slices of cheese pizza and a drink
Info: fatdaddyspizzeria.com, (801) 877-1883