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| - I attended the Yelp Elite party at Blaze last night and I was thoroughly impressed. The owners are so enthusiastic and friendly and you can tell that they're treating their staff well because every staff member appeared happy and that translates into excellent service. Going to Blaze is a full experience...above and beyond just a restaurant. The staff were actually singing in unison at one point :)
The interior is comfortable, ultra clean, and the space is cleverly designed. Blaze has ample outdoor seating.
Now, about the pizza. I know I've mentioned this in other reviews, but again, I grew up in Chicagoland, I spent the last 9 yrs.in Metro NYC, and I've eaten a lot of pizza in Italy. So, I'm a very picky pizza eater. Here's what Blaze has going for it: this is really good pizza dough and it's coal fired right there in front of you. This crust is actually the real deal. But possibly of greater importance is the fact that the staff is really looking out for you as you build your own pizza. We used to frequent 2 coal fired pizza places that were very highly regarded in the NYC area (Cassie's and Brooklyn's). Both good places, unless you ordered more than 2 toppings in which case the chefs allowed your pizza to become hopelessly soggy.
Here at Blaze there are 40 toppings (preservative free, by the way - no nitrites, etc!). Last night I must have ordered half of them on my pizza and the chefs had my back. They added the correct quantity in the correct order and there wasn't a bit of sogginess to the bottom layer of my pizza's crust!
Their toppings are of high quality and you pay the same price regardless of how many toppings you get...seriously! My pizza was under $8 and it included marinara, fresh mozzarella, ricotta, Parmesan, bacon, smoked ham, Italian sausage, black olives, mushrooms, bell pepper, spinach, artichoke hearts, purple onion, and tomatoes. Absolutely delicious.
Their packaging materials are minimalist and recyclable, these guys are far more eco friendly than most restaurants.
Their salads, s'mores cookies, and blood orange lemonade (all house made!) totally deserve honorable mention.
What is not to love about Blaze?! I am so impressed by this place and will most certainly be back :)
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