Las Vegas Weekly

Metro Pizza school will teach you to toss like a pro

Sam Facchini, left, and John Arena want to teach pizza to the masses at Metro.

Photo: Beverly Poppe

There are tons of special food events every week around town—wine dinners, guest chefs, multi-course tastings, you name it. But nothing compares to the monthly, tasty get-together thrown by the guys at Metro Pizza. It’s a nonstop, interactive lesson on everyone’s favorite food, an intriguing education on the history of pizza and the history of Metro, and a distinctively Vegas experience. I’m talking about real Vegas, the actual people who make up our community.

Photo: Beverly Poppe

You can enroll in this one-night pizza school once a month, alternately held at the Metros on East Tropicana and on Horizon Ridge in Henderson. When the new store opens in the Northwest this spring, the class will be held there, too. Owners John Arena and Sam Facchini have been teaching it for 11 years, and you’ll always get at least one of these charming New York natives when you attend.

For $25 you get three hours of pizza history and instruction, unlimited beer or Chianti, and a cavalcade tasting. You’ll toss dough. You’ll share your first pizza memory. You’ll sample tomatoes and learn why Metro gets theirs exclusively from Stanislaus County in California. You’ll compare thin crust to thick, and discover why you should never put raw veggies on pizza before it goes in the oven. And the best part: you get to take home a simple, killer recipe.

“It’s not really about Metro Pizza,” Arena says. “We just hope you look at pizza differently after the experience.” If it’s possible to love pizza even more than you already do, Metro Pizza class will make that happen.