It’s safe to say Doug Sohn has reached rockstar status. Like anything the sausage virtuoso touches, his pizza collaboration with Piece was met with heaps of fanfare when it debuted on March 1; not the line-down-the-block business that was standard at Hot Doug’s, but plenty of buzz.
On March 1, the day the Sohn’s pizza premiered, eager fans snapped up 154 of the pies. Our bellies were the satisfied recipients of one, and we found the Atomic Pizza’s sausage/onion/pepper jack combination refreshingly classic (unlike the previous month's goat chili version from Little Goat’s Stephanie Izard, or the poultry pie from Honey Butter Fried Chicken’s Josh Kulp and Christine Cikowski). The Atomic Pizza was memorable, thanks to Sohn’s seriously spicy sausage, which is laced with habanero, serrano, and jalapeño peppers.
Your singed tongue will cry out for beer, and there’s obviously no shortage of house-brewed options. “The Full Frontal IPA will dull the spice a bit, and the toppings bring out its floral hops,” says Piece general manager Eric Fritzsche. “Golden Arm Kolsch has a muted, malty, delicious flavor that goes well too,” he adds. Whereas a limited-run IPA launched in conjunction with Izard’s pizza, Fritzsche says time constraints mean the Atomic Pizza will go without a beermate.
Fritzsche estimates that the kitchen has served more than 300 Atomic Pizzas since Sunday, and says that Sohn himself made his first appearance yesterday, stopping by to shake hands and kiss babies.
Hungry? You have 28 more days to get your fill.