Naked*

I get pretty excited every time I hear there’s a new restaurant coming to my neighborhood or close-by area. So when I heard Naked Pizza was opening up two shops, both within a 2 miles of my apartment, I was jumping out of my skin with excitement. Good pizza that I can get to quickly? A place that will deliver pizza right to my door? That’s reasonably priced? That’s actually not totally bad for me? Yes, yes, and yes! (I’m the first to admit I sometimes get delivery for places located immediately across the street. In my defense, the street is wide w/ T tracks in between, it’s Boston and it’s cold, and sometimes I just can’t take my sweat pants and slippers off).

Boston’s first Naked Pizza opened in Brighton Center. They have another shop opening in Coolidge Corner in just a few weeks, so I was pretty curious to see what the pizza was like (and why they were so confident to open up two shops within miles of each other!)

What is Naked Pizza? Well, I’m hesitant to say it’s healthy pizza because that just don’t sound appetizing. But really, it’s healthier than usual pizza. Pizza you can actually feel good about eating. The crust is made with tons of whole grains and the ingredients are simple and all-natural.

Adam and I always say, you can tell a lot about a business by the way they do their marketing and design. And Naked Pizza is totally on top of things. Plus, they’re ridiculously into social media. Which I absolutely love and respect. I’ve been seeing people talk about Naked Pizza on Twitter all week, with them interacting with everyone. Smart business!

And how adorable is the menu? It’s simple and to the point, while still being fun. You can build whatever kind of pizza you want with the options you see (I love that feta is a cheese option!)

Or get one of their combinations.

So, we obviously have to start with the crust.

Naked Pizza’s crust is made with an Ancestral Blend of 10 grains plus prebiotic agave fiber and probiotics. Whoa! And for those of you saying, “ew, I don’t want all that in my crust,” trust me, you need to just try this. It wasn’t the kind of crust you take a bite of and say, “that’s healthy.” It tasted like any normal pizza crust to me, but even better because it had more substance to it.

In case you’re wondering, the grains in the dough are oats, brown rice, buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth, teff, spelt, tapioca, and two kinds of wheat.

Their tomato sauce is made from simply tomatoes, water, and herbs. No high fructose corn syrup, sugar, or citric acid.

We got a behind-the-scenes look at the pizza-making process and everything was run so efficiently and all the ingredients looked super fresh.

They put the finished pizza on the moving pizza oven and in 7 minutes, 45 seconds the pizza comes out the other side, cooked perfectly. I want that oven in my kitchen.

Of course, we got to try a huge sampling of Naked Pizza’s menu and I can honestly say, I absolutely LOVED it all.

First, we got to try the bread sticks. They have huge pieces of basil on them and yes, they were amazing. How often do you get breadsticks from pizza places that are totally greasy and soggy? These were fresh, wholesome, and the perfect side to a delicious pizza 

Here’s the superbiotic pizza. I’m not usually a huge veggie pizza person (love veggies just not on my pizza), but this was fantastic. I think because it was fully loaded with all kinds of vegetables, including artichokes! I would love to try this one with feta cheese.

Here’s the Farmvil (hehe). It’s loaded with ham, pepperoni, sausage, and hamburger. Obviously it was my favorite.

Check out the thin crust pizza! It was SUPER thin and crispy. A little bit lower calorie than the regular crust and just as satisfying. We tried one with onions and mushrooms.

And the Smokehouse, which has hickory-smoked BBQ sauce and onions and chicken. YUM!

The shop had bright green walls with a giant television screen showing you all kinds of good stuff about the Naked Pizza company (they’re opening a shop in Dubai, but aren’t allowed to use the word “naked,” so they have to say N_k_d instead). The shop also had two ipads, which you can use while you’re waiting for your pizza to be ready. They’ll eventually get a Naked Pizza Twitter stream up there, too. A pizza shop that is happy to be in the 21st century? I’m all for supporting that.

I really wish I had a Naked Pizza t-shirt, too.

Everyone at Naked Pizza was so nice and welcoming (even as we were totally getting in their way in the kitchen). You can tell they’re really excited to be in Boston and can’t wait to serve all of us delicious and nutritious pizza.

I’m absolutely thrilled Naked Pizza has come to the neighborhood and I can get my pizza fix without having to feel guilty (without sacrificing taste). Oh, and did I mention they deliver? Yeah, I’m just a little bit excited about that. I mean, it is raining today here in Boston 

Good luck  And happy weekend! I say everyone should order pizza for dinner tonight!