Just south of Hermosa on Highway 36 is Lintz Bros. Pizza, a true local destination, where long-time customers are greeted like family by the Lintz family themselves, and new guests are treated to a friendly atmosphere and some darn good pizza.
Brian Lintz, the owner and founder of the destination pizza place, has been serving handmade pizzas to guests for 20 years this September, a milestone certainly worth celebrating.“ It used to be one out of every three businesses goes out of business,” Brian said,“ and now it is closer to one out of every two. It is kind of a big deal that we’ ve been able to make it 20 years with having a business burn down, and with everything we’ ve gone through.”
The Lintz family, Brian, his wife Kristy, and their two kids, and their destination pizza joint are a testament to the power of prayer and hard work, the importance of community and the ties that bind and, last but certainly not least, a love of good food and sharing it with others.
When suppertime rolls around, the parking lot alone tells you a good deal of what you need to know, and the line at the ordering window and the full tables tell you the rest. 300 pizzas leave the kitchen on an average Sunday afternoon, and for good reason. Lintz Bros. is a crowd pleaser, a favorite spot for local families with visiting guests, ranchers with their crews, the after-rodeo folks, and visitors to the Hills, or anyone else who just likes a good pizza. And their pizzas are good – really good. Soft crust, generously topped, with a pound of cheese on a large pizza. Got a crowd to feed? You know the place.
“ Based on our location, we have so many people going in and out of the Park,” Brian said.“ We had a number of guest books up, and I realized we had people from all over the world coming in. We started having articles written about us in Australia, and Belgium, and New Zealand. I was joking with Kristy and said,‘ We’ re soon to be world famous!’ That kind of had a ring to it.” And that phrase stuck, as the tagline on their passport stamp logo.
Back in the kitchen is an organized chaos of activity, with young employees busy about their various jobs, taking orders, assembling pizzas, weighing out the cheese – it really is true, a full, weighed pound of cheese makes it onto a large pizza – shuffling pizzas through the towering oven, and finally bringing them out, piping hot, to a table of hungry people. Some are recognizable and traditional: cheese only, or pepperoni and sausage, or supreme. Some, though, defy logic, you might say.
“ When we first started making pizzas,” Brian said,“ I didn’ t have any specialty pizzas, but they were all create-your-own pizzas.” One evening, though, a crew from Mt. Rushmore Telephone Company, from whom they’ ve rented building space for 20 years and with whom they share the building, came in at the end of a long day of work, ravenous.
Their boss was verging on hangry, and said,“ Brian, I’ m so hungry, I don’ t care what you bring us, just bring us some food!”
Brian, who had begun to experiment with pizza recipes after 5 years of eating pizza every day, saw the starving crew as his opportunity to test out a new creation without having to twist any arms.
The boss took a bite of the presented pizza and his eyes got big.“ Oh my gosh, what’ s on this?”
Brian went down his list:“ Well, it’ s got Canadian bacon, sausage, sauerkraut, pineapple, and jalapenos.”
“ What the heck? Why would you put that on there?”
The reaction was somewhat expected, given the seemingly-incompatible ingredients.
“ It’ s a twisted sense of humor,” Brian acknowledged,“ and I’ ve tried different things, and this is a really good pizza.”
“ This is a phenomenal pizza! But what in heck are you going to call it?”
Brian thought for a moment.“ Well, it’ s got Canadian bacon and pineapple for the Hawaiian, kraut for the German, jalapenos for the flaming … Let’ s call it the Flaming German Samoan. How’ s that sound?”
That first specialty pizza to this day, believe it or not, is their bestselling specialty pizza.
“ I’ ve convinced a lot of people that either don’ t like sauerkraut or don’ t like jalapenos, and some that didn’ t like either …. The biggest challenge is just getting them to try it,” Brian said.
But it got Brian playing around with recipes, with a hefty serving of“ sarcasm and good taste.”
Four or five grocery bags full of spinach from a friend’ s garden inspired what became known as the Lean Greek, a now-favorite menu item featuring a thin crust, olive oil instead of traditional sauce, chicken, spinach, black olives, fresh tomatoes, parmesan, and feta cheese. myblackshillscountry. com Down Country Roads
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