CHEAP EATS

U.S. Pizza returns to Sherwood Press 1 spot

— It was a sad day in Sherwood with the death of Mike Presson, the owner of Press 1 Pizza on Arkansas 107. We wondered what would become of the little brown building perched on the side of a small hill.

It is now a U.S. Pizza — what the location had been years ago. They enclosed the deck on the front of the building, changed the sign, and reopened with little fanfare.

The small building’s interior is mostly wood, with a few colorful accents and lighted beer signs, and tables sport red-and-white-checked tablecloths. There are a couple of large televisions mounted on the walls. A sign by the door says maximum capacity is 74, so it’s not a huge place. But what they lack in size, they make up for with friendly employees.

Information on the front of the to-go menu recommends calling in your order ahead of time. It states: “All our pizzas are freshly prepared and baked in stone hearth ovens. Please allow 30 minutes from time of order.” At least they’re honest.

That evening, we ordered two 15-inch pizzas, and it took a while to decide on the varieties, as the menu includes traditional and specialty choices.

We settled on a Supreme ($15.99), which comes with beef, sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, bell peppers and onions. I asked for the substitution of black olives for the peppers, and the fellow on the phone said, “Sure.” That was nice. Some places make you pay for substitutions.

We also ordered the Cheeseburger Cheeseburger ($15.59), which comes with beef, bacon, diced tomatoes, purple onions, mozzarella, cheddar cheese, and mustard instead of tomato sauce. I’m not overly fond of baked tomatoes, but figured I’d give them a whirl.

The pizzas traveled home snugly in their cardboard boxes. Our favorite was the cheeseburger pizza. The crust was crisp and the toppings flavorful, although next time I’ll forgo the tomatoes. The mustard makes an interesting addition too, adding to the realism of believing you are eating a cheeseburger.

Sadly, everything the cheeseburger pizza was, the Supreme really wasn’t. It started with the crust. Instead of being crisp and crunchy, it was sort of soggy, and when I picked up a slice, the pointy end just drooped sadly. We went with light sauce, and the other toppings didn’t really shine through. I even put a slice in the toaster oven the next day, but the crust still stayed limp and a bit soggy.

On our second visit, we seated ourselves in the area that was formerly the deck and set about deciding what we were hungry for. Judy’s White Cheese Dip ($7.29) sounded promising, so we started with that, then ordered half a Turkey Swiss, Bacon and Guacamole sandwich ($4.99) to share and a 10-inch Mexican Chicken Pizza ($13.99).

The menu says the dip is a combination of three cheeses and four kinds of peppers, so I was afraid it might be too spicy, but it wasn’t. The thin white dip was delicious, and served with standard round corn tortilla chips.

The pizza and sandwich arrived at the same time. The half a sandwich was about 4 inches long, which, for the price, seemed skimpy. It came with a pickle spear and bag of Lay’s potato chips.

The sandwich comes on a toasted hoagie with ovenroasted turkey, bacon, melted Swiss cheese, romaine lettuce, sliced tomatoes and fresh guacamole. Overall it was pretty flavorful, but it almost seemed silly cutting it in half to share, as small as it was. The tomato slice was huge, and we removed it, but there wasn’t very much of the shredded turkey or guacamole on it either.

The pizza, while smaller than we had envisioned, was delicious, topped with chiliseasoned fajita chicken, Anaheim peppers, spicy tomatoes, garlic, alfredo sauce, olive oil, chopped onions, and mozzarella, feta, sharp cheddar and parmesan cheeses.

The pizza dough was crisp and delicious, and all the toppings came together nicely. It reheated well in the toaster oven the next day, too.

We still want to visit for brunch, which is served from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. They offer a variety of breakfast pizzas, and frittatas that the menu says are “gluten free.”

U.S. Pizza also sells a small selection of wine and draft beers. Tuesdays drafts are $1.50 and they’re $2 all day Thursday.

U.S. Pizza Co.

Address: 8403 Arkansas 107, Sherwood, and other locations

Hours: 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday, and 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday.

Cuisine: Pizza, salads, sandwiches

Credit cards: AE, D, V, MC

Alcoholic beverages: Yes

Wheelchair accessible: Yes

Carryout: Yes

(501) 992-1512

USPizzaCo.net

Weekend, Pages 38 on 04/05/2012

Upcoming Events