All Star Pizza

The new Inman Square motto

This post is long overdue!  How have I not blogged about All Star Pizza Bar yet?  It's totally wrong and as both a frequent visitor to All Star and a proud Inman Square resident I should be ashamed of myself.  I offer up this meager post as my apology to the mecca that is All Star Pizza Bar.

It used to be that in Inman if you uttered the phrase "All Star" everyone knew you were referring to the renowned sandwich shop All Star Sandwich Bar.  Additionally, for a rather long stretch of time (beginning with the demise of Aram's #1, not to be associated with Aram's #2, and ending with the jubilant grand opening of All Star Pizza Bar) it used to be that in Inman if you wanted pizza you only had one option.  Don't get me wrong, City Girl Cafe has yummy pizza but not much variety and the lack of pizza in our neighborhood was just downright depressing.

That all changed when it was announced that the people behind All Star Sandwich Bar bought the space previously occupied by Aram's with the promise to do to pizza what they had done to sandwiches.  It took them close to a year to renovate the space but slowly things started happening.  Signs went up, humongous pizza ovens were delivered, and murals were painted.  JO and I were constantly updating each other on the progress in the space.  Did you see the awesome mural?  What do you think about the exposed brick wall?  Oh my god! The menu just went up and it looks amazing!  We spent quite a lot of time discussing the evolution of All Star Pizza.  It helped us get through the winter :-)  

The line for the pizza party

Finally, in April, the moment that everyone in Inman had been waiting for happened.  All Star was ready to open.  A few days before the official opening, All Star decided to throw a free pizza party.  I was giddy with excitement all day at work.  People probably thought I was crazy when I said I had to rush out of school at the end of the day to go to a pizza party.  Apparently I wasn't alone.  I got there about a half hour after it started and waited in line for 40 minutes.  Of course I was sending JO pictures since he was in Portland, OR for work.  I finally made it to the pizza counter and I was hooked from my first bite.  It took a lot of restraint on my part not to get pizza on their Grand Opening night, but I held out for JO to get home from his trip so we could try the pizza together.



Since All Star opened we've had our fair share of pizza.  I'm also so overcome with jubilation from their pizza creations that I often post about our All Star visits on Facebook.  As a result, more than one person has commented that they are concerned that all I eat is pizza.  When I brought a couple left over slices to work for lunch several people asked me if this was indeed "the pizza."

Dessert Pizza

One of the cool things they do is have a Funky, and sometimes Funkier, slice/pizza of the day.  These are crazy creations and you just have to try them.  My two favorites have been the shortrib pizza with braised shortribs, roasted mushrooms, and a creamy onion sauce and the dessert pizza featuring roasted apples, chunks of cheesecake, and a walnut, maple burbon drizzle that was to die for.

Shortrib Pizza

My two favorite standard (standard only because they are on the menu daily) pizzas are the Red Head featuring shaved steak, roasted potatoes, cremini mushrooms, applewood bacon, and a horseradish drizzle and the Chile Relleno Pizza featuring salsa verde, corn (yes, that's right and it's delicious!), chorizo, relleno peppers, and Cotija cheese.

The Red Head

Even more than the pizza, and the fact that it's literally 50 steps from our building, what I love about this place is the neighborhood atmosphere.  The owner loves sharing his pizza with Inman and loves how great everyone has been to him.  If he's in the shop he'll stop by your table and ask how the pizza tastes.  It's the kind of place where your greeted not with "What will you have?" but "How's everything going?  Good to see you again."

All Star Pizza Bar deserves all of the awesomeness that has come it's way and I for one, despite my complete lack of a blog post until now, am grateful for it's addition to the Square!