Monday Munchies- 312 Pizza Company
The first time that I went here was almost two years ago now, which is just mind-boggling to me. I specifically remember it because it was right around the time that Hillary and I began trying to grow our family. Hillary and her mom were going to dinner and to watch some a concert that I, and my father-in-law, had no interest in going to see, so we wanted to go eat some nice greasy pizza and drink some beer. If it involves drinking some ice cold beer, we’re probably interested in trying it out. Hillary’s parents live in Southern Indiana, about 3 and a half hours away, so we get to see them every couple of months. I broached the awkward conversation of asking if they thought that they would ever choose to move down to Nashville, and he said, “well I guess we would have to consider it if you guys gave us a grand-child.” If you’ve never had something like that said to you by someone other than one of your own parents, let me tell ya- it’s a pressurized situation. He was completely light-hearted about the statement, like he always is, but it just put the whole “grow the family” idea into perspective. Here we are a couple years later, and our kids are about to turn one. Mind boggling. This is irrelevant to the food review, but a great memory that I will always get to share with Denny.
I have never been a huge appetizer guy. One, because I’m cheap and don’t enjoy spending a ton of money on food. Two, most of the time that I am going out to eat, I am still trying to be health conscious and it’s mostly cheese options that I would eat anyway. Three, I think they’re overrated a good amount of the time and make it harder to have room to enjoy your entrée. However, there are a few appetizers where I have to break down and do it- cheese dip at Mexican (obviously), the gookmandu (dumplings) at Korea House, and mozzarella sticks. While my favorite fried cheese concoction is the deep-fried ravioli sticks at Mafioza’s, the mozzarella sticks at 312 are pretty legit- and if it is fried with cheese on the inside, it’s probably delicious. Also in the fried family, they have cheese curds. If you’ve never been to Wisconsin and divulged in cheese curds, it is equivalent to someone coming to Nashville and feeling the gravitational pull of walking down Broadway, but the curds are much more satisfying and less self-depricating. Like I said, if it’s fried and has cheese, I’m down to check it out. For the beer draft menu, they have ten options, most being local brewery options and then a couple of different choices from more national brews.
In case you’re reading this and didn’t know, “312” is a Chicago area code. Which means that their pizza is going to be Chicago style, and thin crust Chicago style is my go-to. Deep dish gets all of the love when most people think of Chicago pizza, because it is the over the top, gluttonous, indulgent option, but I think thin crust carries the most bang for your buck and doesn’t make you feel like you have to roll yourself out of the restaurant like Violet when she eats the 5-course meal gum prototype in Willy Wonka. The “Buckingham Fountain” is the only thin crust menu option that is exclusively thin, and it’s basically a margherita pizza. We got “The Capone” because, you can probably guess, is basically a meat-lovers pizza. They also let you build your own pizza and you can easily build a pizza that will feed three people for $25. Denny and I split a 16” and didn’t come close to being able to eat the whole thing ourselves. In typical Nashville fashion, they have a “Nash-ago” pizza with hot chicken and pickles. Based on Yelp’s reviews, the Daley’s Supreme is a very popular option if you’re in to the traditional Supreme pizza.
For the one or two vegans that actually read what I have to say about food-lol-, all of their crusts are vegan! So that leaves a lot of their pizza options available to you, including 16 toppings that you can create your own pizza with and cheese substitutes. There are also three sandwich options and four appetizers you can choose from. Not my cup of tea, but if it’s yours, there probably aren’t many pizza places that have a pretty extensive vegan menu.
I know Nashville has a Giordano’s now (of course it’s on Broadway), but if you’re looking for a Chicago-style pizza, give 312 a shot. Locally owned by people that have made the smart migration to leave the city inhabited by the worst hockey team in the universe post-Soviet Union, they’re a great local pizza place worthy of your support. 312 Pizza Company has been featured on a lot of food blogs written by sites much larger than mine, so they must be doing something correctly. They’re on the corner of 4th and Monroe in Germantown, with plenty of street parking as well as a lot across the street.
SCORE: 8.0/10