Pitch Coal-Fire Pizzeria: Dundee's new hip place to be

Pitch Coal-Fire Pizzeria
5021 Underwood Avenue
Omaha, NE 68132
(402)590-2625
www.pitchpizzeria.com


Another Thursday night; another search for a great new place to eat. Pitch opened a quite a few months ago, and I have been dying to go since I first heard of it. However, every time we'd thought about going, we would drive by and see how packet the place was and decide to go somewhere else. Last night we had a little more luck. We managed to walk in and were seated right away.

Located in the heart of Dundee; Pitch is the new brain child of Willy Theisen, Omaha local who introduced us all to Godfather's Pizza. Pitch uses a coal-fired oven for their pizza and most of their other dishes, which give's a unique yummy charcoal flavor to pretty much everything. The interior has a very hip and trendy feel, which made Eric feel a little underdressed. It really seems to be the new place for the "it" crowd to hang out, and  even for a random week night, it was still pretty packed.  

We started by ordering some drinks. They have a very extensive wine list (about 2 pages), as well as a decent selection of beer, and even some speciality cocktails. Since I have been on a major bloody mary kick lately,  I decided to try the "Pitch Midtown Mary".  A Martini Style Bloody Mary with Skyy Vodka and House-Made San Marzano Tomato Mary Mix, Basil Ice-Cube, and topped with a blue cheese stuffed olive. I have to say I did really enjoy my bloody mary. It had a nice rich, savory flavor and was just spicy enough to give it a little bite. Although I do have to say, that while I really enjoyed my drink, I didn't feel it was quite enough booze for the $8.00 I spent on it.


Then on to the food. It came out in kind of a funny order, but it actually seemed to work out okay. So, I'm going to talk about it in the order that it came out.

I had ordered a side of their Roasted Brussel Sprouts. Which was the first thing to come out, which I though was strange since they were on the menu as a side. But it actually turned out really well as a kind of appetizer. They were roasted with in oil with garlic and pancetta, and were really tasty. The pancetta added this lovely salty flavor and a crunchiness to add some texture that really made it something special. Eric said this was actually his favorite dish of the evening.

The next thing to come out was the actual "appetizer" that we ordered. Since we decided to go with a vegetarian pizza, I thought we'd get a little protein with our appetizer. So we ordered their Calabrese Meat Balls in tomato sauce and grana cheese. I was a little shocked when they came out and were the size of baseballs, but it turned out that this was my favorite dish that we ordered. The meat balls were super tender and very well seasoned. The tomato sauce tasted very fresh and was really nice and savory. It was also served with a couple little pieces of delicious focaccia bread, that I just couldn't get enough of. In all honesty, these meat balls were so big that I could have made of meal of them by themselves. Luckily I did have someone to share with. However, we still brought almost a full meat ball home with us.

Finally, out came our pizza. Rather than pick our own toppings, we went with one of Pitch's signature pizzas. We chose the "Shrooms" pizza. Which was topped with thyme cream, roasted mushrooms, truffle oil and oven dried tomatoes. The crust was really nice, which is where I believe the coal-fire oven makes the difference. It was a thin crust, that was crispy with out being too cracker like, and I did get just the slightest hint of charcoal. Which does set it apart from the other pizzas in town. Surprisingly my favorite part of the pizza was the oven dried tomato. Although, I think that is probably since I am really not a huge fan of white sauces on pizza. So the tomatoes were giving me that little bit of acidity that I needed with my pizza fix. This really was more a pizza for Eric than myself, and he really enjoyed it. I thought it was okay, but I think next time we go back, I'll be trying something different.


At the end of our meal we were both stuffed, and had a box of goodies to take home. I'm sure we will make a trip to Pitch again, especially when we can take advantage of their pizza and bottle of wine for $25 special (every Monday 8-close and Tuesday-Friday 2-6). If you get a chance, check it out. Then definitely let me know what you think!