Stars Pizza Cafe & Grill

Three quick notes. First, we hope you enjoyed the quickie review yesterday. We should be adding those pretty regularly from now on. Second, we would love to find a Thunder themed pizza by next Sunday. If anyone has a lead on that, please, let us know. Third, in another Thunder related note, we will have one of our special freelance corespondents (one of our sisters) at the Ford Center on Saturday for game six of the Thunder/Lakers series, and she'll review the pizza they offer there for us.

This week we went to Stars Pizza Cafe & Grill, located off N. Pennsylvania at 2124 NW 39th St. It was a little bit off our beaten path, in an area of town we don't usually visit, but we had heard good things. One of the great things about Stars Pizza is their hours of operation, during the week they are open until 1 am and on the weekend until 2:30 am. As night owls, we heartily approve.

Let's get this party started!

The Cheese Pizza
Stars Pizza serves one type of crust, a crispy crust that is fairly thin without being too crackery, but has enough body without being doughy. The sauce was a very sweet sauce, with just a touch of oregano and basil. It tasted very fresh and light. The cheese was some of the better we've come across, all gooey and delicious. True, it was a monotone mozzarella, but had a very strong flavor. Over all, the sauce brought all of the ingredients together into one cohesive whole. It was simple, but good.

The Pepperoni Pizza
With the foundation of the cheese pizza, the pepperoni pizza somehow transmogrified into something else entirely with the addition of simple pepperoni. The pepperoni itself wasn't out of this world, but there was a good flavor:grease ratio. But, somehow, in the cooking process, the cheese leached out of most of the flavor from the pepperoni and distributed it evenly around the pizza. It was fabulous.

The Bahama Mama
 Essentially a supreme pizza turned to 11, the Bahama Mama has an olive oil drizzle combined with the regular pizza sauce, covered with ham, pepperoni, Italian sausage, turkey, mushrooms, (takes a breath) red onions, fresh tomatoes, bell peppers, and fresh garlic, blanketed under parmesan and mozzarella cheese, and sprinkled with cilantro (gasping for air). We were a bit worried how well the thinner crust would hold up to such a huge quantity of toppings, but it held up surprisingly well. The meat toppings were evenly distributed, and weren't overwhelming or greasy. The veggies were flavorful and fresh, as well as cooked to their optimum doneness. Bits of the crust did get a bit damp from the moisture from the fresh veggies, but not enough of it to negatively affect our experience. The addition of cilantro added a whole new dimension to the pizza that worked extremely well. Stars Pizza knows how to make a pizza with more than five toppings - Hideaway, take notice.

Overall, Stars Pizza Cafe and Grill offered some great pizzas. The only downside is that it's a one-or-two man operation, and getting our pizza took a while. Dine in is offered (and judging from the decor, also a dance hall), but carrying out seems to be the way to go.