It’s another fake food holiday; I mean, really, #NationalPepperoniPizza day? Well, whatever. It is one of my favorite pizza orders, though I sometimes get creative.
A pizza from Home Slice Pizza with a large pepperoni heart design. 02/04/15 Tom McCarthy Jr. for AMERICAN-STATESMAN
In the spirit of this day of national recognition, here are my top four pepperoni pizza variations in Austin:
Pepperoni and green peppers at Home Slice (with a side of ranch): That vegetal snap of pepper is a nice balance to the pull of the pepperoni rounds and ooze of cheese.
The Fat Queen at Pieous: A mass of fatty Italian meats – hot sopresatta, savory Italian sausage and crispy pepperoni comingling for a spicy, salty and oily chorus.
The Detroiter at Via 313: So. Much. Cheese. So. Much. Pepperoni. Natural and smoked casings.
The Red Pie add pepperoni at Bufalina: I would say the pepperoni with jalapenos (for same vegetal snap as Home Slice, but with a kick, but since it doesn’t seem to be on the menu right now, I will go with the red pizza, which gets umami from Parmesan, spicy buzz from red pepper flakes, piquancy from garlic, sweetness from tomatoes and herbaceous complexity from oregano).