Pizzabout: Hall's and Sauced on Paseo
Rob and Dave are high on pie once again
At long last, Pizzabout is back!
Between illness and car foibles, Pizzabout got derailed at summer’s outset, but I’m happy to report it’s back on the road.
The quest to find my love of pizza took Rob Crissinger and me to The Hall’s Pizza Kitchen and Sauced on Paseo.
Both of these local, independently owned pizzerias have endured through evolution and global pandemic.
Hall’s gestated in a food truck a little over a decade ago, amidst the Great Food Truck Breakout of H&8th. Today’s Hall’s in Midtown opened in 2017 and features dough developed through the expert hands of pastry chef Alyssa Ulrich. The same Alyssa Ulrich who oversees the magic show materializing daily in the ovens of Harvey Bakery.
Sauced was founded in the Paseo Arts District by Ed Baldwin and Mandy Biggers in 2006. Baldwin was an early-adopter to the troll class that eventually turned Twitter into X, but he did create a cool spot to listen to poetry readings and have a slice. At first, anyway.
Long story short, Baldwin and Biggers broke up in 2010, leaving the property and business in the wind. Paseo Grill owners Joe Jungmann and Lesley Rawlinson netted the lease, cleaned up the kitchen and changed the name from Sauced to Sauced on Paseo. They also changed the pizza. It chugged along for a decade, all the while Shaun Fiaccone, Humankind Hospitality president and CEO, was a silent partner. About a year after the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, Fiaccone and Humankind took full ownership.
Enter chef Quinn Carroll, who oversaw installation of a new deck oven and the addition of dough made in house daily. He’s got a great team, who recently undertook two days of pizza university-style training, and a restaurant that offers a three-pronged attack on hungry consumers.
I wrote a story for Edible OKC about Sauced on Paseo, which took me into the kitchen with Carroll. I couldn’t rightly go into a pizza kitchen and not bring along Rob. Watching Rob soak in pizza knowledge from Quinn was almost as delicious as the pizza that followed.
‘Nuff said, here’s how the scoring and our impressions follow.
Open 11 a.m. to midnight daily
Dave’s Thoughts: Sauced is more than a pizza place these days. It’s a family-friendly pizza place, adult’s-only pizza bar, and an all-ages arcade. Five More Minutes arcade arrived this summer and can be accessed through the bar. The big news? All the games are free-play. There is also an air hockey table.
The bar offers an open space with full-service and a frozen peach Bellini built for this kind of hot summer. The Italian nachos are also on point.
But that’s X-Factor stuff. We’re here for the pizza.
Sauced is a rare local pizzeria offering pizza by the slice. Four slices, including a vegetarian option, are available daily.
Let’s get to the pies. I’ve been to Sauced four times in the past year, and the last was my favorite. That’s when I at last discovered the Nichols Hills pie, a clear homage to the Truffle Shuffle from the OG Wedge Pizzeria. It’s no surprise, Humankind has a pair of owners who were connected to the original store on Western, when it was property of the Deep Fork group.
I’ve tried the Classic Pepperoni, Hot Honey + Burrata, Twister and Kimmereno.
The Hot Honey + Burrata is topped with cupping pepperoni, basil pesto and hot honey glaze as well as mozzarella and sauce. This could well be Sauced’s signature. A unique topping blend that really works. The Twister adds Italian sausage, whipped ricotta, and sliced garlic. Very rich, very delicious. The Kimmereno is no longer on the menu but still available. It includes goat cheese, jalapenos, shaved red onion, roasted tomato and pecorino Romano.
After four trips, I’ve learned the less pepperoni and sausage I choose the better. Love them, but they don’t love me back. The Nichols Hills was great on day one, and as leftovers two days later.
Sauced dominated on extras with the arcade, the super-cool bar and the ungodly good oatmeal cookie cream pies.
Crust: 1.95
Cheese: 1.96
Sauce: 1.92
Toppings: 1.88
X-factor: 2.00
Total: 9.71
Rob’s Thoughts: I’ve gotta be honest, Sauced on Paseo hasn’t always been on my Go To list for pizza in the OKC area when people ask for suggestions. That changed on my most recent visit with Dave and our behind-the-scenes tour with chef Carroll, a real pizzaiolo with a passion for detail that has taken this pizzeria from just OK to a legit competitor for my limited pizza dollars. Quinn knows his shit and quickly made a fan out of me.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the sauce at Sauced has always been spot-on, fresh and unpretentious with that classic tang that makes me make sounds when I’m eating it. It’s semi-embarrassing when people are near enough to hear me overly enjoying it (you know the kind of sounds I mean), but I would drink that sauce by itself and be totally happy about it so there you go.
What’s changed is the crust. I used to tell people if the crust at Sauced was about half as thick, it could be one of the best pizzas in the city. Well, folks, this has come to pass, perhaps when they changed to a new flour. It’s lighter, thinner, and still sturdy, with a nice undercarriage bake and crunch to the bones. I didn’t eat all of my crusts, but didn’t have a full pile of discards on my plate at the end either. Success!
Sauced has risen in the ranks for me, and now I’m even more likely to visit the Paseo on a night out, and will recommend this pizza to people. I’ve heard they have a great gluten-free crust too, so I’ll be returning soon to check that out and try my hand at Dig Dug in the new arcade. I used to be pretty good at that.
P.S.
Order the oatmeal cookie cream pie to go, you’re welcome.
Crust: 1.95
Cheese: 1.96
Sauce: 1.92
Toppings: 1.88
X-Factor: 1.93
Total: 9.64
Aggregate: 9.68
Open Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday. Closed Sundays.
Dave’s Thoughts: To be honest, I was not a big fan of the early iteration of Hall’s Pizza Truck. The truck was novel, but the first slice I ever had didn’t inspire much enthusiasm. Nothing offensive, but nothing to dispel the personal notion that pizza runs a distant fourth to burgers, tacos, and sandwiches.
Thus, when Hall’s went brick and mortar in 2017 I was late to arrive. Very late. In fact, it wasn’t until last summer that I went into Hall’s for a pie. Luckily, I was with chef Alyssa Ulrich, keeper of the dough, for my maiden voyage.
Happy to report, this Hall’s is not your food truck Hall’s.
Among starters, Quinn’s Burrata is a standout. Burrata is drizzled with truffle honey and served with prosciutto, calabrese olive oil and wood-fired flatbread.
I’ve tried four different pies: The Samwise, Hot Pepperoni, Matt, and a special with peach slices. Rosemary Roasted potato makes Samwise distinctive and caramelized onion enriches it with help from bacon, cream cheese and balsamic reduction. The Hot Pepperoni is pepperoni and hot honey, and the Matt includes artichoke hearts, basil-walnut pesto, and caramelized onion.
I also tried the gluten-free crust with my dear friend and Food Dood Feeder, Tracey Zeeck. She calls the rice flour crust the best in the city for the gluten-averse. I found it crunchy and delicious, no need to be gluten-averse to enjoy it.
As for X-Factor, Hall’s has a cool rooftop bar and some of chef Alyssa’s amazing cookies available for dessert. Here’s how I scored it.
Crust: 1.88
Cheese: 1.94
Sauce: 1.89
Toppings: 1.85
X-Factor: 1.96
Total: 9.52
Rob’s Thoughts: I have loved being in OKC’s Midtown since the early days of H&8th Night Market, the largest monthly food truck festival in the nation, where I would sit on the original Ludivine patio drinking bacon-bourbon martinis with 60,000 of my closest friends while watching the best local live music on a stage across the street. That’s where I was introduced to the Hall’s food truck. It wasn’t great, but it was pizza, so it was still pretty good. The current iteration of Hall’s is much much better, and for me it’s all about the quality of their dough.
I guess you’d call this style of pizza wood-fired. Kind of a puffy-boned baker’s pizza with a good char on the crust. It may lack a bit in traditional pizza style points, but makes up for that with delicious crust flavor, some out-of-this-world starters, a strong salad game, and a boojie interior decor that just feels nice and makes you want to order a couple bottles of Prosecco and stay a while. Maybe the best local pizzeria for a date night.
The sauce is fine, and their toppings are good quality. It’s a solid pizza in a fantastic location in walkable Midtown with easy access to the OKC Streetcar line. A good option for pre-gaming events at the Civic Center.
Also, I concur with The Food Dood Cathey and Urban Z (Tracey Zeeck @ZeeckPR) that the gluten-free crust here is special, I liked it better than the traditional crust! Super light and delicious. My score below reflects the traditional crust.
Crust: 1.58
Cheese: 1.96
Sauce: 1.92
Toppings: 1.88
X-Factor: 1.93
Total: 9.27
Aggregate: 9.40
Next Pizzabout, we will introduce our first leaderboard. It’s a great time to support our habit by becoming a premium subscriber.
The Summer peach pizza at Hall’s was one of the funnest things I’ve tried in a while. My only complaint was it needed more of everything: more peaches, more bacon, and more of the strawberry jalapeño jam. When you took a bite that had all those, it was so good.