When my little brother visits, the family always eat at one of two places.
Bull City Burger & Brewery, because you can’t beat its namesakes. Top 2 burgers in Durham (tied for me with Burger Bach), and one of my favorite breweries in a city full of amazing local beer. So Ben ALWAYS makes it over there, usually with the whole family.
The second place we nearly always go with him is Pompieri Pizza. Ironically, it’s owned by the same people as BCBB. Clearly they have a good thing going according to the Clarks.
So when my brother planned a quick work visit to NC, he squeezed in a dinner with us at Pompieri!
First off, the locale. Its in an old fire station, and they kept enough of the bones of the
structure to see it. Not to mention that pompieri means firefighters in Italian. The menu keeps it simple: 9 or 10 regular pizzas, two daily specials, and of course the build-your-own option. They also offer salads, appetizers, and just started including sandwiches, but I’m pretty committed to this whole pizza deal here. It’s Neapolitan, complete with that perfect chewy-but-thin crust and sauced just right.
I love to try new things, so I mostly get whatever the daily special turns out to be. And y’all, I have never not loved it. This most recent trip it had cabbage on it, which isn’t a favorite veggie of mine, but on this pizza it was great! A contrasting crunch and with just a tiny bit of sweetness. Plus, how can you resist a pizza with a meat called “porkbasa?” That and parmesan with red sauce and I’m all in. My brother picked the veggie special, which included squash and tomato chunks and felt very summery.
I know this is silly, but one of my favorite parts of going to Pompieri would be the scissors. Every pizza comes out of the kitchen with scissors for cutting slices. Novelty way to slice + the freedom to pick your slice size = win. Plus, there’s no excuse to not share bites now.
When I do order off the menu, my favorite is the Drunken Horse. The sausage has some kick to it, balanced perfectly with the rich sauce and creamy mozzarella. It’s my favorite of their regulars! With a cold beer, it’s perfection.
Speaking of beer, they offer their sister store’s beer on tap! Naturally, I’m all about the local stuff – and there’s so much to choose from in Durham – and one of my favorites at BCBB is their Golden Ale. I like having a lighter beer with pizza – I’ll save the stouts and porters for after dinner.
Another bonus about Pompieri: they do a ton of stuff related to sustainability. Their herbs are grown in-house in an aquaponics setup (read: fish are involved), and they source a bunch of their ingredients locally. I love places that commit to caring for the community immediately around them!
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