Hard Knox Pizzeria is located in the Western Plaza Shopping Center on 4437 Kingston Pike. Madison Bowling • The Daily Beacon
Pizza: Knoxville’s hidden gem Madison Bowling Contributor
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Volume 132 Issue 41
It’s no secret that Knoxville is best known for its big orange football culture and the famous Sunsphere that has made its own debut on multiple television shows. However, the true gem of Knoxville can be found if you just take a look at the sauce. Forget New York or Chicago, Knoxville is the hot spot for delicious, authentic and innovative pizza. In fact, in a recent online article published by Smart Asset, Knoxville was named the third best city for pizza lovers. In determining this ranking, the website considered factors such as the number of pizzerias per resident and average rating of pizza restaurants in the city. Instead of simply taking their word for it, I
interviewed three local pizzerias in Knoxville to find out exactly how and why Knoxville received such a high ranking. First up was Hard Knox Pizzeria, a locally owned, authentic restaurant that only bakes its pizzas in a wood-fired oven. “Honestly, for us, it’s the culture. We make authentic Neapolitan pizza and use old methods,” Alex Coons, manager, said when asked about the rating. Even though Hard Knox uses age-old Italian methods to make their pizza, they aren’t opposed to mixing it up in terms of flavors. One of their most popular seasonal pies is made with a strawberry sriracha base and topped with fresh mozzarella, cage free chicken, Applewood smoked bacon, red onion, cilantro and fresh strawberries. This combination of innovation and tradition is likely why it has
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been voted “Best of Knoxville” by the Knoxville News Sentinel for two years in a row, and it is definitely a part of why Knoxville received such a high rating from Smart Asset. Next up, Sergeant Pepperoni’s: a highly regarded pizzeria with two locations in Knoxville that specialize in deep dish pizza. Derek Teogard, one of the three owners of the restaurant, was happy to share what he believes makes Knoxville’s pizza so special. “I think what attributed to that rating is that there are lots of styles of pizza in Knoxville,” Teogard said. “Hard Knox does wood fire, we’re deep dish here. There’s just a lot of ‘mom and pop’ pizzerias in the city, and I think it’s that local atmosphere that people seem to really enjoy.” See KNOXVILLE PIZZA on Page 7A
Thursday, October 20, 2016