Bono Pizza (1717 Northwest Blvd, Columbus, 614-906-8646)

Hype: We were pumped up about this one. Some friends said a few good things about it and a few people wrote to recommend it. High expectations, lots of mystery!

Scene: This is not what we expected. So you walk in to the beverage carry out and look left. I think it used to by a "Coney Island". Remember? They turned it in to a nice little faux Italian kitchen that just serves pizza I guess. It was really small and really crowded with very nice people: a couple Australians, a family, and an Asian guy with two big cans of Coors in front of him he brought in from the carry out next door. We talked about just getting it pick-up but some nice people were finishing up and offered us their table for two. Three of our four sat down at the table. I asked the lady working if she had an extra chair and she obliged--this made it really tight but everyone was kool about it. The placed ruled! Jim went to the carry out (which happened to be right through the sliding steel security gate) to pick up a sixer of a favorite beer. Things were getting even better. By the way: everyone was partying in there. It was like a paradise: a Pizza Speakeasy!

The Pie:
Crust- Laid back, not fully round, airy, soft underbelly due to all the sauce (see below) and crispy edges.
Sauce- Very nice. Herby, especially with all the basil. If you don't like basil you will not like this pizza. We all really liked it. Perhaps the highlight of the pie.
Cheese- Mixture of fresh mozza, asiago, and others. unevenly distributed, and heavy in spots. Very tasty.
Peps- Moderately spicy, yet very flavorful. Plenty of them and also unevenly applied. Also good.

Overall: This place ruled. We washed down the pies with the waffles that they had for dessert. Between the good company, friendly hosts, and comfortable chair we ate some totally good pizza. I will be coming back a lot, I hope, as long as everyone keeps this joint quiet. If we all go hyping it up like Bill Bellamy it will get too crowded and then we can't sit down and eat. Think about it. 5---5. Bono Rules!

Perfect Pizza: Sheer Perfection

I'd seen a few Perfect Pizza shops around town and had written them off as existing about one rung below Domino's on the ladder of 'gross pizzas'. That's a pretty bad rung to be on, in fact I'm not even sure it's still part of the ladder. It may just be lying on the ground at the foot of the ladder, probably in a puddle of muddy water. Despite my reservations I decided to give it a shot on the glowing recommendation of my flatmate. New rule: Never listen to my flatmate.

For £22 we got two large pizzas, chicken wings, potato wedges, garlic bread and some dips. In fairness that's a pretty good deal, here's a list of those things ranked in order of how much I liked them:
1) Chicken wings.
2) Potato wedges.
3) Garlic bread.
4) The dips.
5) The pizza.

Like my old Gramps has never said, nor will ever say because he's not from the old West, "When dips trump pizza, shit ain't right".

In the photo, if you look closely, you can kind of see the cheese is shining a little bit. I don't want shiny cheese. Shiny cars, shiny shoes, shiny shins, fine, shiny cheese, not so much. Also, and maybe I was unlucky and this was just a one off, but I think the guy that made my pizza ran out of tomato sauce and the only thing he had to replace it with was salt. Loads of salt. Luckily for me I'm not a slug because this pizza would have shrivelled the shit out of me. Not that having to spend the rest of my life unable to eat this pizza because it would now be fatal to me would be the worst thing about waking up to find I'd become a slug. There'd be loads of other drawbacks, like not having legs, or eyes or arms or no slime. I think perhaps I (and possibly all of us) take not being slimy for granted, we shouldn't, we're so lucky to be able to live slime-free lives. Think about that. Jah bless.

3 out of 10