A Full Circle

Even though pizza pies circle the globe, they have a special place in America's heart. So when two brothers take on the pizza biz in Oklahoma, you get a very unique pie where "manly" meets "Midwest". Brothers Pizza Depot lies out south at 101st and Sheridan in a non-descript, cozy location. At this joint, you order at the register and pick-up at the window, no fuss, no muss; but oh brother, have they got an amazing slice.

Lately it seems pizza has gotten wimpy. Anchovies gave way to ahi tuna and a robust hand-tossed crust has been replaced by flaccid "flatbread" -- the mystery meat of crusts. However, thank your lucky stars and stripes for Brothers Pizza Depot, an all-American pizza experience boasting over 20 specialty pies on traditional handcrafted crusts, with a variety of calzones and sandwiches rounding out the menu.

Of course they offer traditional pizza toppings, like pepperoni, sausage; but they also let you design your own pie with a host of quirky ingredients, like polish sausage, gyro meat or sundried tomatoes.

I decided to let them dazzle me with their extensive collection of specialty pies. Fortunately, you can order half-and-half pizzas in medium ($12.99) and large($15.99) sizes for no additional charge, so you can throw caution to the wind and try a little of everything, which I was obliged to do.

These days, no pizza feast is complete without a round of hot wings, so I ordered up half a dozen ($4.99) choosing hot-style wings over the barbecue-flavored wings. They arrived out of the oven plump and juicy with a side of creamy ranch and blue cheese.

Nicole Donis

Many times chicken wings at a pizza place are wimpy with a biohazard orange coating. Not these little beauties. An order of six seemed too conservative, until I saw the next destination on my pizza expedition -- the Veggie Zone ($9.49). Golden brown dough enveloped a heaping amount of melty cheese, with fresh spinach and manly-sized strips of sundried tomato. A brush of garlic butter sauce glistened on the top of handcrafted crust, which proved to be the perfect combination of crisp with a little bit of chewy. In true American fashion, I opted toward excess, and ordered a couple more of their finest pizzas.

The first loaded pie to hit the table was 50 percent Big Brother -- each piece overflowing with mozzarella and cheddar cheese, Canadian bacon, hamburger, Italian sausage and pepperoni. It's a carnivore's dream come true with quality meats and, surprisingly, a low grease factor. This mammoth concoction shared the same space with the Fiesta -- Brother's version of the late, great taco pizza.

Taco pizza is possibly the combination of the best two food items on the planet. Yet it seems to have faded into food fashion history -- until now. The Fiesta pizza starts with a layer of salsa bean sauce (which is available for any pizza, by the way), a heaping amount of mozzarella, hamburger, black olives, red onions, jalapenos and topped with lettuce, tomatoes, tortilla chips and cheddar cheese. A packet of hot sauce comes along for the ride. Oh, taco pizza, it has been too long since we've seen one another. It was literally a Fiesta in my mouth.

Home Slice. Nicole Donis

Poised to throw in the towel, my dining partner and I welcomed yet another sky-high pizza pie, this time half Queen Margherita -- Brothers' version of a margarita pizza -- and the other half an American Dream, with Alfredo sauce, mozzarella and provolone cheese, bacon, grilled chicken, fresh mushrooms, red onions and tomatoes.

OK, I am not a fan of Alfredo pizzas, because they usually have a cheap canned Alfredo sauce and gummy pre-fab chicken. Not the case with the aptly-named American Dream. The Alfredo sauce was pitch-perfect with the smoky bacon and tender chicken. The fresh mushrooms added an earthy kick drenched in all that luscious cheese.

Brothers Pizza has set the bar high for all other Alfredo pizzas, making this naysayer a believer. The Queen Margherita's royal court held a garlic glaze, mozzarella, feta and parmesan cheese, slices of ripe tomato, fresh basil and a dash of oregano. Usually margarita pizzas are light, almost dainty. But this Queen was far from matronly, with a generous mound of cheese that sometimes overpowered the fresh veggies and nearly negated the basil. Still this delicious combination would please a kingly appetite.

This pizza feast came in well under $50 with enough left over to feed some lucky coworkers the next day. Brothers Pizza also knows how to bring the pizza to the party with catering know-how. And with wallet-friendly daily specials, you'll want to introduce these Brothers at your next family dinner.

Send all comments and feedback regarding Restaurant to aevans@urbantulsa.com.