Remember the pandemic? It might feel like it was five minutes ago or five years ago, but we can likely agree not much good came from it—other than binge-watching all the shows.
Las Vegas has at least one outstanding outcome from that era. While we were all housebound, special education teacher Ethan Spiezer made the most of his time, teaching himself how to craft a sourdough crust combining a half-dozen different flours in the quest to create what he calls contemporary Neapolitan-style pizza.
The A.P.B., stacked with arugula, prosciutto and burrata.
Spiezer’s journey eventually landed him at Jolene Mannina’s groundbreaking Downtown restaurant incubator Vegas Test Kitchen. While it’s no longer with us, its legacy lives on in the brick-and-mortar locations it spawned, including local favorites Yukon Pizza, Stay Tuned Burgers, and Spiezer’s Solamente Pizza.
After outgrowing a shared Town Square space, Solamente has landed its own street art-adorned eatery with limited seating—but an arcade game!—on West Sahara. It’s here where Spiezer is dishing out some of the Valley’s best pizzas on a leavened sourdough, the Schrödinger’s cat of crusts—soft and airy while also simultaneously crispy and flaky. If asked, he’ll tell you it’s all about oversaturating the dough, but I think it’s black magic ... exceedingly delicious black magic which also happens to be gluten-intolerant friendly.
Solamente’s pies run the gamut from traditional such as the Pizza Margherita ($20) and Pizza Pepperoni ($21), the latter of which is loaded with garlic, to more unorthodox offerings such as the Pizza Cacio E Pepe ($18)—a simple cheese pie laden with pepper—and the Australian-inspired Pizza Daniel Gigi ($22). The Gigi is particularly unique, foregoing traditional red sauce for horseradish butter and topped with prosciutto, arugula and truffle oil. Its spice cuts through the toppings’ umami and richness for a wonderfully balanced pizza.
And if you’re a garlic stan, congrats, because it abounds on the menu. My other favorite is garlic-packed, the Pizza Spicy Special ($20), adorned with pepperoni, Calabrian peppers and hot honey. Garlic also contributes to the well-balanced Pizza Pesto Sausage ($20) with a nutty pesto base, savory sausage and bright honey-whipped ricotta.
Solamente Pizza translates from Italian to “only pizza” which is an apt menu description. It serves a small number of other dishes—think sandwiches and salads—but I have yet to overcome my pizza fixation to try them. I suspect you’ll find yourself with a similar infatuation.
SOLAMENTE PIZZA 8390 W. Sahara Ave. #130, 725-205-5610, solamentepizza.com. Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m.
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