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like it climbs up the pan to create little peaks of burnt cheese yummy-yum that you can just snap off and eat . Hell yeah . Now ! Let ’ s get back to Figgy the White . A figgy pizza isn ’ t groundbreaking . It ’ s pretty common in these types of pizzerias and for good reason . If you want to stray from your traditional mozzarella cheese into things like goat cheese or ( in Figgy the White ’ s case ) feta and ricotta , fig is a great flavor to marry those cheeses into flatbreads like pizza . A pizza with a white sauce instead of red doesn ’ t scream pizza to me so it ’ s rarely my choice , but I always like it when forced to eat it . But I loved Figgy the White .
But let ’ s get even more whimsical with our pizza , shall we ? My son joined us , and he chose the Tie Dye served New York style . He ordered it because he ’ s been really into pesto lately . A 12-yearold into pesto . That ’ s my boy . The Tie Dye is a pizza with “ a tomato sauce base topped with our cheese blend and swirls of pesto and vodka sauce .” That swirl is what gives the Tie Dye its name . That swirl also guarantees a wonderful distribution of those different sauces . If you have someone who refuses to stray from the traditional red sauce , the Tie Dye might just be their gateway drug into pesto et . al .
The Works ! The Works is Driftless Pizza ’ s answer to the combo pizza . It comes with “ a tomato sauce base topped with our cheese blend and sausage , black olives , pepperoni , green peppers , mushrooms , and red onions .” I don ’ t usually like an entire grocery list of toppings on my pizza . I want to experience each topping , and with an entire “ Twelve Days of Christmas ” on my pizza , it ’ s just sensory overload . The Works , however , doesn ’ t eat like that . The flavors are well-balanced and well-married . I don ’ t get to enjoy all the ingredients on their individual merits , but all the ingredients combine to form a cohesive flavor profile that stands on its own merits .
This last one is going to be a bit contentious . People on either side of the debate have strong , strong feelings about Hawaiian pizza . They ’ ll tell you pineapple doesn ’ t belong on pizza . My retort is , “ It ’ s sweet and salty in pizza form . Why can ’ t you just be happy about that ?” Driftless Pizza has a much more convincing retort in the form of their Hawaiitalian . No , they didn ’ t ditch the pineapple . Keep dreaming . They embraced the pineapple by giving it a bit of a char and pairing it NOT with your common Canadian bacon , oh no . They up the game by pairing it with prosciutto . Hence the “ italian ” in Hawaiitalian . Oh , but wait ! That lightly charred pineapple and that prosciutto have too much love for just the two of them . So they form a throuple with some wonderful caramelized onions . A friend of mine made a point about caramelized onions that I think is a good one . A lot of places that serve caramelized onions don ’ t know what a caramelized onion is . Driftless Pizza gets it .
As for the restrooms , well … I don ’ t get it . Driftless Pizza , a brewery tap room , a beercade , a comedy club , a sports bar , and I ’ m probably forgetting other things … ALL of them direct their customers to the same restrooms and somehow … SOME- HOW they still manage to keep it clean . I mean … I ’ ve been in the Novelty Iron Works building on a busy weekend , and MAYBE the garbage is a little too full , but I still have no trouble doing my dirty work there .
Driftless Pizza is the pizzeria the Tri- States deserves . And with all it has to offer , it ’ s also the pizzeria the Tri-States wants , even if they don ’ t know it yet . •
Driftless Pizza
333 E 10 TH ST , DUBUQUE , IA 563-275-3444 DRIFTLESSPIZZACO . COM Hours : Daily : 11 AM – 9 PM
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DUBUQUE365 . COM Issue # 465 July 18 – July 31 , 2024 365INK MAGAZINE 31