“It’s all about the crust, right? Any joker can top a pizza. Buy good cheese, be picky about your meat. Done. Crust, though: There’s the money. Cook it quick in a hot, hot oven like Coal Pizza Company. The crust at this restaurant that opened just before the Super Bowl is light in color, lighter in texture. It’s open and chewy, with a thin skin of crispness and golden airy bubbles.”

“The restaurant, in a skinny Downtown dining room with a 900-degree custom coal oven, doesn’t churn out perfectly round pies. Roughly 12 inches across, these pies get further personality from toppings of duck confit, caramelized onion, fig and goat cheese ($16) or pesto, tomato, olive and goat cheese ($14). White pie ($12) makes gorgeously simple use of spinach and feta. The menu says a pie serves one or two people, but if anyone’s getting through one alone, I don’t want to know about it. The vibe in Coal Pizza Company is casual, with servers wearing jerseys. It’s as if the owners put most of their attention into that crust. Mmmm, that crust.”