Mercury Pizza

Mercury Pizza

2107 Kinney; 447-4992
Sun.-Tue., 5-10:30pm; Wed.-Thu., 5pm-1am; Fri.-Sat., 5pm-3am
www.mercurypizza.com

Mercury Pizza, located in a little house on Kinney Avenue a few hundred yards from the intersection of South Lamar and Oltorf, has just recently reopened after a brief hiatus while ownership was transferred from the pizzeria's original investor to Blake Moffitt, the chef who designed the menu. The atmosphere is remarkably reminiscent of a 1970s college town, from the "circus"-style lettering on the menu to the "Ass, Cash, or Grass – Nobody Eats for Free" motto emblazoned on the wall. But what Mercury Pizza excels at is making hand-tossed, New York-style pizza, with a thin, crisp-on-the-bottom, foldable crust. Their pizzas are huge, measuring 20 inches in diameter. All are excellent, but their specialty pizzas are amazing: the combinations of toppings are inspired, and the skill used in assembling them is obvious.

For instance, the Who's Your Daddy ($15.99) uses crisp, relatively greaseless Italian pepperoni, thinly-sliced fresh jalapeno, and minuscule pieces of fresh pineapple. Other available top­pings include pulled pork, breaded chicken, goat cheese, "Buffalo" chicken, bleu cheese, bacon, and roasted red peppers. Because the pizzas are so very large (one is adequate for four to six people), Mercury also sells a lot of slices, each of which is the size of a normal meal. Garlic Knots ($4 a dozen), Cheesy Gar­lic Bread ($3.50), salads (most $9), Maine Root sodas, and a few other items round out the menu. The zoning at Mercury Pizza is problematic; it isn't a sit-down restaurant, and at present the only way to enjoy these superlative pizzas is to order them for pick-up, as delivery is limited.