*Sponsored Post ***Special Guest Post***Blaze Pizza is a 'build-your-own' artisanal pizza chain with its newest location in the Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. It is not in the food court - rather, it is located near one of the entrances (around the corner from the Redskins team store) and directly across from an espresso bar. The best way to describe Blaze is that it is Chipotle for pizza, except without the long lines. The interactive ordering format allows guests to customize one of the menu's signature pizzas or create one of their own. As October is “National Pizza Month”, on October 2, Blaze will offer free whole pizzas, no strings attached, to celebrate its recently opened restaurant.
The service was extremely friendly and fast. The staff asked if I had ever been there before and informed me of my options. All of their pizzas are the same size - a generous 11 inch personal pizza. The dough presses could be seen behind the counter where the dedicated 'pizzasmiths' press the dough into the exact pie dimension, ensuring the thin-crust pies are ready for firing. The dough, by the way, is made from scratch using a recipe which requires a 24-hour fermentation period to produce the light, crisp crust.
I ordered one of their signature pizzas - the Meat Eater - that comes with pepperoni, crumbled meatballs, red onion, mozzarella, and red sauce. As it is a "have it your way" establishment, I substituted the classic red sauce for their spicy red sauce. The spicy red sauce was excellent, and unlike most sauces that claim to be spicy, this one had a nice spice to it.
The crumbled meatballs were exactly that; prepared as whole meatballs and crumbled onto the pizza. The crumbled meatballs were extremely tasty and a nice departure from the typical sausage added to most meat lover's pizzas.After the pizza was prepared it was slid into the hot open-flame oven for cooking. As advertised, the pizza was cooked in 180 seconds. The pizza crust had a nice texture to it - not too crispy, not too soft. The meat eater had a nice balance of meat, cheese and spicy sauce. As it was fire cooked, I was expecting some hint of burnt dough, but I did not taste any. Overall the meat eater pizza was great, one of the better pizzas I've had.
The toppings options were numerous and they offered to add any topping from cheeses to meats to veggies for no extra charge (they even offer a gluten free crust). $8 for an 11 inch pizza with any amount of toppings is a pretty good deal.
I would definitely go back again. No delivery is a huge downside for any pizza place, but this was in a mall. So if you're in the mall and are looking for good food, skip the food court and head to Blaze Pizza, you won't be disappointed.
Total Rating: 4.4
Food: 5, Price: 4, Service: 5, Ambience: 2, Accessibility: 3
by Jason
