Everything You Need to Know About Pizza in Ogden | The Ogden Wire

A transcript of the podcast can be found below:

Shane Osguthorpe Welcome out to the Ogden wire, and today, we're going to talk about something that everybody loves. I don't think I know anyone who doesn't love it. We're gonna talk pizza today, some of the best pizza places, you're independently owned pizza places around downtown Ogden and the surrounding area where Super Bowl's coming up. You know you're gonna have to get your pizza in your wings somewhere. You might as well support local support local We are joined today, Taylor Hartman from visit Ogden, the Director of Marketing Communications, and Sydney is with us. And Sydney is the newest employee. Sydney pace, our newest employee at visit Ogden. She's been there. It'll be almost a year here soon. Yeah, almost a year. Sydney is legendary for her love of pizza. She loves she could eat it every day, she claims. And so a little bit ago, we said, well, you should be the one that kind of reviews all our pizza places. So there's a cool blog on our website you can check out, but we want to run you through, because there's some big news in our pizza world this week that we just learned, right? Let's just start at the top. Sid, tell us a little bit about what's going on at Slackwater and kind of the recognition they got this week.

Sydney Pace Yeah, so Slackwater pizza started in Ogden in 2011 and it just got named number nine in Yelp's top 100 restaurants of the US, not just pizza restaurants, restaurants, restaurants, yeah, at all. So other things fall into that category, but our Slackwater number nine, known for, like, a lot of their artisan pizzas, different flavors, they're always coming up with something they always have, like a monthly special, typically, kind of like a lot of other ones do.

Shane Osguthorpe But tell us what your favorite Slackwater hookup is. When you go over there,

Sydney Pace When it comes to pizza, my favorite is just the margarita. I know that's kind of basic, but it's so good. I love the balsamic drizzle. And what makes a good pizza, I think, is the crust. And I think Slackwater's crust, and when it comes to their pizza is like 10 out of 10.

Taylor Hartman That's generally, are you a New York style crust? Or do you like deeper, deeper pizza crust?

Sydney Pace Um, more like New York City style. Yeah, the thinner, the better, the crispier and

Shane Osguthorpe Slackwater is wood fired, right? Fired. I haven't been back in the kitchen once or twice when they took me back there. Um, yeah. So awesome. Wood fires pizza. I think you can turn anything into a calzone there, too. Calzone there too, can't you?

Sydney Pace Yep, they have 23 pizzas, and you can turn any of those into, like a calzone, and it's just the perfect crisp when it comes to, like, the oven, brick wood fire ovens.

Taylor Hartman I love Slackwater's pizza because it is, it's really, they clearly use fresh ingredients. They focus on, you know, local or seasonal products, right? So in October, they're going to have a harvest related pizza and, you know, some squash based soups. I think, you know, Slackwater has that level of service too. That's just, it's really high. I can understand why they'd be the top in Yelp's, you know, most highly reviewed places in the US, because you go to Slackwater, and even if there's 10 tables waiting, you get in quick, you get your food. Well, it's very, very often, does it? It's exactly what you wanted. So I just think Slackwater's service is so, so elevated, too.

Shane Osguthorpe And probably one of the biggest beer selections in all of Ogden. Great beer bar. They bring it there. They're constantly rotating through that. I think the beer menu is bigger than the food menu, honestly, Slackwater, yeah, don't be turned away by the crowds waiting out front. They usually can get you in and through. Slackwater also is one of our local places. It features live music occasionally, I believe, on the weekends, right, Friday or Thursday through Sunday or something like that. Be sure you check out all that stuff. But Slackwater is that's a lot of people that's kind of like a go out to nice dinner, kind of pizza. Sid, you're a daily, daily user of, well, I shouldn't over emphasize daily, but you are a very loyal follower of Lucky slice pizza as well, right? Tell us a little bit about lucky slice and what differentiates them and why you love them.

Sydney Pace Yeah, I actually was there for lunch today because I had a prep for this podcast. But lucky slice is one of my favorites, because sometimes you just want a quick slice with your friends, and you can get a breadstick, a slice and a drink all for like, $8 and so for us, broke college students or whatever, like, it's perfect to get that lunch and get those vibes of just, I don't know, the vibe in the community of Lucky slices, like one of my favorites.

Shane Osguthorpe Definitely a good vibe, great community partners. Tell us what the pizza is like. This probably falls into your love of New York style pizza with a thinner crust, right? Yes. Tell us kind of what you can expect from your pizza lucky slice.

Sydney Pace Honestly, you can expect, like, anything and everything. They always have a monthly special as well. Some of them are repeats. So, like, they've had like, a pickled like the Cuban pizza was, like, pickle and mustard based instead of tomato based. Oh, it's delicious.

Shane Osguthorpe Yeah, it's like, a good way, because you're not spending all your money on a whole pizza to try something new, but the slices of New York style, thin crust is just like the perfect and their appetizer selection, they have good desserts. Yeah, I like it. They have gluten free options. You do have to order, if you are gluten free, you have to order like a whole pizza, but then you can split that.

Sydney Pace And they just. Change our hours to be open until like 2am on the weekends.

Shane Osguthorpe Once again, good for you college kids that are up that late, right?

Sydney Pace Exactly, never sleeping.

Shane Osguthorpe Lucky slides. Love them. One of the newer ones that's kind of come on the scene here in Ogden recently is out in the old Slackwater location by the river along Washington Boulevard, around the Ogden arch right there, and that's taboo pizza. They for a long time, they had a location, and still have it up on Harrison Boulevard, and now that they've moved into that space that used to be Slackwater next to Steve's barbecue, remodeled kitchen, and tell us a little bit about taboos menu, either one of you.

Taylor Hartman I think Taboo Pizza, they have a ton of very unique types of pizza, and there's a lot of them. So if you're in the mood for a meat lover's pizza, there's probably four different options at taboo. If you're more in the mood for like, something a little lighter, they have all of that. You know, taboo was really they got super well known during the pandemic because of their to go orders on their Harrison Boulevard location. You can get in and out. The online ordering is super great. They they really bit off a lot by getting this Ogden River Parkway location up and running. It's more of a restaurant, right? You've got your big pizza oven and your servers, and they say they're just starting to get a lot of traction and really get, you know, it takes a little while to plant in your new location, and taboo has done a great job. They're a really good partner. They also offer gluten free pizzas, and so you can get two different sizes of gluten free pizzas. And the lettuce they use in their salad is, like, really good. It's just super, super fresh lettuce, and it's not your typical iceberg. You got a few different types of leafy greens in it.

Sydney Pace One of my favorite parts of taboo is their breadsticks, like you need a good breadstick for your pizza. And I would think theirs is pretty good. Their ratio to butter and salt is perfect, and they're not super big, so you can eat a whole pile of them or just one.

Shane Osguthorpe Yeah, and they seem to have struck that perfect balance of a quick serve pizza place and a restaurant where it's neither entirely one or the other, but it's just a good vibe in there. And of course, like you mentioned, Taylor, great community partners. Couple of the other ones we wanted to highlight. One up by Weber State University, well known by Utahns. It's been Dave Portnoy covered the pie pizzeria while he was here doing his big pizza tour. And I'm a fan of the pie. Some people don't like it. It gets deep dishy, and some people have issues with it, but that is my my go to is the pie combo with fresh tomatoes on top. I can probably keep that in the fridge and eat on it for three days if I get a medium or a large one of those. It's a great pizza. They also occasionally do the live music thing close to Weber State University. They've got their own delivery drivers that can deliver Tia really easily. They also have a lot of the pasta options, lasagnas, and they all do calzones, and they do, you know, different things like that. Anything you want to mention about that? Any you guys big fans of the pie, like me?

Taylor Hartman I used to go to the pie when I lived in Salt Lake City, and so it's great that they have a second location up here. The pioneer in SLC is like real university based, and so similarly, they have that at Weber.

IF YOU ARE READING THIS EMAIL TAYLOR@VISITOGDEN.COM and he will get you a free slice of pizza

Shane Osguthorpe Yeah, that's your go to spot for Deep Dish style pizza and cheesy polo parts are so good, yeah, get the ranch and the marinara And then an old Ogden staple for the old timers, a local favorite, and that's Tony's pizza. And that's down near South Ogden, just on the south end of town, near the theater and Gandy dancer and that kind of neck of the woods down there. That's it. To me. It's just good old fashioned hometown pizza. The Tony's combo is really good. It's made with like, green olives, in addition to all the other stuff you'd normally find on a, on a on a combo pizza, and I find it tasty again, they have great pasta options. They're they're probably my favorite takeout. They're closest to my house. I can run it. I can order on on the phone, step in, give them my name, they have me my pizza, and I'm out the door. So that's, that's why I love Tony's. You guys ever gone to Tony's?

Taylor Hartman I've been to Tony's? Tony's is really good for when you're going to the Ziegfeld theater or the Gandy dancer for a performance and you want to enjoy a slight or a whole pizza with the group before or after. It's your classic, like after soccer games. Kind of hometown pizza restaurant. It's real old school. You're really supporting a local family that's been doing it for a long time? Yep.

Shane Osguthorpe So I bought the t shirt. I have a Tony's pizza t shirt.

Taylor Hartman Talk about a classic name, Tony's pizza. Tony's pizza, yeah, watch, take

Shane Osguthorpe Tell us a little about the Ogden pizzeria. Sid

Sydney Pace So the Ogden pizzeria, this is the place that I would go with my family, like all the time growing up, mainly for their orange Fanta drink, like it is so good. We definitely drank too many of those. I got sick. But a little bit about Ogden pizzeria is that it was open in 1974 and it's a family owned restaurant. They had, like, their classics, like barbecue chicken, pepperoni. Um, kind of similar to Tony's, I would say, like home style, fill and family oriented, like vibe going on there. And I think their chef, their chef salad, is really good as well, if you get that with their homemade ranch. So I don't know, I love it for their salad and their pizzas

Shane Osguthorpe Right on. Well, I mean, pizza is one of those things that's slightly different just about everywhere you go, unless you go to one of the chains. And you know, if you're visiting Ogden or want something a little bit different than the chain pizza, these are the ones we would recommend. We talked through a bunch of them today. Of course, you can check out our website. We can put a link to the blog that discusses a lot of this. You can see some images of the food, but yeah, thanks for having a little lovely discussion. Post pizza lunch. That was great.

Sydney Pace Pizza brings everyone together. So here we are.