I found out about Pedro’s Pop Up by looking at the Chomp Facebook page. I wanted to check out what was happening at this wonderful food hall. Much to my delight, the pizza oven was finally being used.
I had been waiting months for this event. There was going to be a large event on August 12 but I decided to check out Pedro’s Pop Up on Thursday, August 11 to avoid a crowd. Using Toasttab, I ordered a vegetable deep dish pizza(15.00) and a Little Gem Salad(9). You could add some green chile for a dollar upcharge. If you wanted to add cheese on your pizza there was a $1.50 upcharge. If you wanted to add chicken to your vegetable deep dish pizza the upcharge was $2.50.
There is that beautiful pizza oven, all fired up and ready to cook some delicious pizzas. Ok, full disclaimer, I’m from Chicago. This is the kind of pizza that I grew up on. I ate at all the best pizza joints there. I’m talking Pequod’s Pizza, Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria, Uno Pizzeria, Giordano’s, Gino’s East, and My Pi Pizza. In my opinion this pizza is better than any of them. I gave up deep dish pizza years ago. It was just too much. As I got older, I really enjoyed New York style pizza. Now I like Detroit style pizza from places like Backroad Pizza (please bring Detroit Style back) and in Albuquerque, Thicc.
I’m not a big fan of eggplant but the eggplant on this pizza was incredible. I especially liked the burnt eggplant. There was also fennel, roasted garlic, artichokes, mushrooms, and a sheep’s milk feta. The feta was nice and sour and complimented the vegetables. The tomato sauce was just enough so that the entire combination really melded together extremely well. As with any pizza in New Mexico, I added some chile. Toasttab spelled chile with an i but all is forgiven because there was a generous amount and really added to the taste of the vegetable pizza.
It looked small but it was filled with vegetables and with the salad it made a meal for two.
Here is a closeup photo of the burnt eggplant. It is a new favorite topping of mine. All the vegetables were bright and fresh. These ingredients really made the pizza special.
I was very hungry so I forgot to wait and photograph the entire slice. I only took one bite.
I always like to have a salad with my pizza. This little Gem Salad(9) was an incredible addition to my pizza order. It had plenty of parmigiano cheese on top. Yes, they were very generous. The roasted garlic dressing was divine. The garlic was subtle but very tasty and the focaccia crumbs added a whole new dimension to this salad. Yum! I demolished it in mere minutes. It was so good. I thought 9 dollars was kind of pricey but this little salad was well worth it. Little Gem is a little sweeter lettuce and this salad was almost a wrap. I could see having this for a light lunch.
The roasted garlic dressing and the Parmigiano cheese really made this salad sing.
Pedro is the guy in the red baseball cap. He was so proud of his oven. I was there on his opening day. Peter O’Brien really knows how to make an incredible pizza. The crust was perfectly cooked as was my pizza. He and his wife, Cara McGorrian, who wasn’t there at the time, own High Mountain Cuisine, a catering company which included Pedro’s Pop-Up.
Pedro’s Pop-Up is open Tuesday-Saturday 5-9. Their phone is (970) 901-8902. I just ordered my pizza and salad through Toastab. My order was ready before I got there. That is always a good sign to me. I wished Peter good luck and said I would be back if his pizza was good. I will definitely be back because his pizza was incredible as was the salad.
Santa Fe City Different Foodie 