Black Market Pizza - Ames

Black Market Pizza has been on our radar for quite awhile, and we finally made it up to Ames to have lunch there. Located at 2610 Northridge Parkway, Suite 107, Black Market Pizza is in the north Ames Somerset neighborhood.

When they opened in March of 2009, they got a lot of press and great reviews, and have even been on 'Man vs. Food'. Black Market Pizza was opened by some guys that had just been laid off their jobs and decided to open a pizza place during a not so stable economy. They hoped their concept of fresh ingredients, Chicago style deep dish, and thin crust pizzas would take off in Ames.

The menu is pretty varied, lots of specialty and gourmet pizzas, and of course, you can build your own from the large selection of toppings. They do have a vegetarian pizza and offer a sweet potato crust for the price of an additional topping.

They also feature some salads and sandwiches, and serve up an original 'Chicago Style' hot dog - an all beef hot dog with mustard, relish, onions, tomatoes, pickle spear, sport peppers and a dash of celery salt on a warm poppy seed bun. Beer and wine is also available.

So we ordered up a couple of beers, our pizza, and a couple of side salads. Once you order at the counter they get right on making your pizza. Here's the guy that made ours!

It's not a huge space, and there can be a wait on Friday and Saturday nights. But they also offer take-out pizza, and do deliver in the area.

The salads were great - nice, fresh romaine lettuce, some juicy tomatoes, and those little crouton things were super crispy and tasty.

We decided to try their authentic Chicago Style Deep Dish - we ordered a Louie's Favorite with sausage, pepperoni, bacon, mushroom, onion and mozzarella cheese. The cornmeal crust is awesome, crisp and crunchy, almost a buttery flavor. They fill the crust with cheese and your toppings, then top it off with tomatoes and herbs. We only got a small, but it was plenty! Very filling, but very good, you seriously want to keep eating more than you should.

Look at all that cheese! And the crust is done to perfection, not soggy or limp at all.

We had fun talking with Greg, one of the owners. He explained to us that they always have this cool 'Kool-Aid Bar' (in addition to a regular soda machine). The flavors rotate, but how cool is this? And yes, it is a slight 'jab' at the corporate soda giants, but he said it is very popular.

He also showed us this proto-type of their pizza cutters - shaped like a little 'gun,' they will carry them in shoulder holsters. Too fun.

But seriously, the kool-aid bar is totally awesome.

Their loyalty program, The Repeat Offender Program, lets you collect stickers for each purchased pizza to be redeemed for free pizzas.

We were pretty impressed with Black Market Pizza. We'll plan another visit on a Wednesday night when they do their Super Thin Crust pizzas, which are very popular. It's nice to know there is another great pizza option - because you all know how I love pizza! So if you are craving a pie, take the short drive to Ames and check out Black Market Pizza. Tell 'em Iowa Foodie sent you!

Black Market Pizza

2610 Northridge Parkway, Suite 107
Ames, IA 50010

515.292.1111

Hours

Sunday  11am - 9pm
Monday  11am - 2pm and 4:30pm - 9pm
Tuesday - Thursday  11am - 10pm
Friday - Saturday  11am - midnight

Menu and more information at www.blackmarketpizza.com. Follow them on Facebook here.