Iggie's Pizza

Iggie's Pizza
818 N. Calvert
Mount Vernon, Baltimore
pizza
www.iggiespizza.com
410-528-0818
Cost: $$
Reservations: Not needed
Date of meal: September 6, 2007
National Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It
Baltimore Price-Quality Frontier: On It

I went to Izzie's for pizza. It's self-serve. You go up to the counter, order, pay (no tipping), wait, pick up your pizza, bring it to your table, and eat it. It's also BYO. Iggie's is about as upscale as possible given this. On a Thursday evening, it was quite busy with 20-something bohemian Mount Vernon types. Decor is simple but elegantly so. It would be an ideal place for a 2nd date if you were 21.

Pizzas come in 8 inch and 14 inch sizes. The 14 inch pizza was a little small for two (if you are pretty hungry) and a little big for one. The four cheese pizza with garlic was very good. Pizza here is very thin crust; much more Italian than American style. I like this but perhaps others find it a bit dry. Pizzas are interesting: duck confit is a topping, lots of goat cheese, etc. You don't come here for pepperoni. Pizzas were in the $14 range for 14 inch pizzas. They have frozen pizzas you can take home and bake later, but this seems to defeat the purpose.

Personally, I would rather go here than S'ghetti Eddie's. I think this reflects personal taste more than innate superiority. Prices are similar, though Iggie's is more expensive because pizza's there are 16 inches (30 percent larger surface area). Iggie's has far superior decor. Both have interesting options and good ingredients, but the thin-crust thing is more novel. While both aiming to be high-end pizzerias, they are relatively far apart and catering to different crowds. S'ghetti Eddie's is all about the Roland Park parents who want to bring their kids to pizza but want good ingredients and interesting toppings; Eddie's is for single bohemian 20-somethings from Mount Vernon. You couldn't take kids to Iggie's or a date to S'ghette Eddie's. There is room for both; these two products are about as differentiated as two high-end pizzerias can be.