Fox's Pizza, Pittsburgh

Fox's Pizza
Pizza chain founded in Pittsburgh: pizza and distinctive "wedgie" sandwiches

Okay, disclaimer: we totally wanted to go to Fox's Pizza for the name. We occasionally look at franchising opportunities when we tire of the high-tech world, and Fox's Pizza Den came up as a good one, plus they have very little presence in California (the downside is that just within walking distance of our house there are five good pizza places, with another opening soon, so it's a pretty saturated market). Anyway, they were founded in Pittsburgh, so on our trip there we decided to try them out.

We had the chance to go there twice, once for lunch and once for dinner. For lunch we got a "wedgie" sandwich, one of Fox's Pizza's distinctive menu items. Mine was a chicken ranch; my friend's was a pepperoni wedgie. The wedgie is basically a small pizza folded in half and then cut in half, so each half of the sandwich is the size of a quarter slice of a small pizza. They're quite good: the chicken ranch wedgie was not very pizza-like, but the chicken and sauce were good, and eating them on a pizza crust was definitely better than standard bread (again we return to my precept that bread quality is a critical and often-overlooked part of sandwich-making). The pepperoni wedgie also got glowing reviews. They were both satisfyingly messy, too. The only drawback was that the Fox's Pizza was a counter service only location, so we had to go sit outside on a bench to eat.

The location in Pittsburgh proper was counter only as well. Situated on the fringe of a shady neighborhood in Mount Washington, we arrived late at night (but before the odd closing hour of 10:45) for a takeout pizza. The pizza remained warm and fresh on the twenty minute trip home and proved tasty as well, with a nice crisp crust, flavorful sauce, and good toppings that enhanced the flavor rather than smothering the pizza. It was received to general acclaim by all. Given that the distribution of pizza places around Pittsburgh seems somewhat more sparse than here in California, I think Fox's Pizza well worth a visit, wherever in the area you happen to be.