Colorado Pizza (Anthony's Pizza & Pasta in Golden, Pizza Alley in Denver, and Beau Jo's in Idaho Springs)

Somehow I ended up trying too much pizza while I was in Colorado. I wasn't planning on having so much pizza, but the opportunities seemed to arise. What I did find out, from my limited sample size, is that the Denver area of Colorado has some very respectable pizza. I can't say this about other cities that I've had multiple pizza data points with (ie- Atlanta).

Anthony's Pizza & Pasta (Golden, CO)

My first pizza experience was in the town of Golden at a restaurant called Anthony's Pizza & Pasta. Golden is a suburb of Denver which seems like they want to be historic while the majority of the buildings in downtown looked very new. Anthony's was located in one of these very new looking buildings. I ordered a slice of cheese. It was a large slice with nice thin crust. It was pretty tasty. Not the best slice ever, but it was still good.

Pizza Alley (Denver, CO)

Pizza Alley was in Dever's Highland Park neighborhood. I stumbled upon this place as I was looking for dinner while finding out that restaurants in Colorado close very early. I was later told this is because of Colorado's outdated liquor laws that only allow alcohol to be served to 11 pm. Not sure why this causes a whole lot of restaurants to close at 8:30 pm or how accurate this was. Pizza Alley closed at 9 and they said I had plenty of time to eat there if I was only getting slices when I arrived at 8:45. My slice of cheese and white pizza weren't served until 9:10, and I was pretty much shoed out the door as soon as they were delivered to my table. I have a feeling someone forgot to put them in the oven. The pizza was good. Like Anthony's, this was thin NY style pizza. The slices were big enough to hang over the edges of paper plates. Both were good, but I preferred the very garlic heavy white pizza.

Beau Jo's (Idaho Springs, CO)

My third pizza experience in Colorado was at Beau Jo's in Idaho Springs. Unlike Golden, Idaho Springs seemed like all the buildings were actually old and historic. I wasn't planning on pizza for a third time in a four day trip, but when I noticed their sign was touting Colorado Style Pizza, I decided I must give it a try. I had never heard of Colorado having their own regional style of pizza, so I was curious.

On the menu, Beau Jo's gave options for what fell into the category of Colorado style pizza. They gave the option of Mountain Pies or Prairie Pies. They were sold by weight, ranging from 1 pound to 5 pound pies. According to my waiter, the Mountain Pies were the more unique pizzas, while the Prairie Pies were pretty much a typical pizza. I picked one of their Moutain Pies called the Yukon. It was topped with sauce, Canadian bacon, artichoke hearts, roma tomatoes, mozzarella, and provolone. The pie had an interesting twisted crust. It was definitely similar to a deep dish pizza with the crust holding the mass of toppings in. Unlike a Chicago style deep dish pizza, I don't think this was cooked in a pan. This Yukon pizza was the most interesting pizza I had in Colorado, but it was also my least favorite. The sauce reminded me of Lunchables pizza sauce. I'm not exactly sure how I remember how this sauce taste since I don't ever remember eating many of these. I wasn't a big fan. The tomatoes and artichoke hearts were soggy which made all of the juices pool over the slices of Canadian bacon. This meant a wave of liquid rolled off of the meat every time I picked up a slice, bringing the cheese with it. 

My first experience with a Colorado Style pizza didn't impress me, but at least I can say I've tried this type of pizza!