Provo’s pizza place Slab Pizza is famous for signature five inch “slabs” of pizza in more than 29 different flavor combinations with high-quality toppings.
The restaurant is small, but the pieces of pie are large and packed with flavor. Each slice is topped with Wisconsin mozzarella cheese and other ingredients, such as bleu and feta cheese, peanut sauce, roasted pork and bacon.
One Saturday morning, Eric Beutler, co-owner of Slab Pizza, saw a PBS cooking show of Julia Child making pizza, which inspired him to try it out. Beutler discovered his family loved making pizza.
“We got into the whole thing,” Beutler said. “We were growing our own herbs, tomatoes, roasting the tomatoes and garlic for the red sauce, experimenting with the bread and crust, finding just the right cheese … the whole shebang. It was a lot of fun, and we enjoyed what we ate immensely.”
Beutler bought pizza ovens at a garage sale for only $2, which eventually turned into a great pie-making adventure. Beutler and his family teamed up with Andy and Simy Gartz, the creators of Provo’s Rooster Dumpling and Noodle Bar, to create the Slab Pizza experience.
The ingredients are high quality, but traditional pies only cost $4 per slab, and premium pies only cost $5 per slab. The restaurant also offers a super premium pie slab for $6 and a “super duper” premium pie slab for $7.
Slab Pizza specializes in tasty, thin-style crust, strong enough to hold all the mouth-watering toppings but also soft enough to make a hot, gooey, delicious slab of cheesy pizza.
John Makua, a customer of Slab Pizza, said a slab offers more pizza for less money.
“When I was there I tried the Hawaiian-style pizza,” Makua said. “It was pretty good, and the prices were fair for the quality and the quantity because the slice was generous. My meal with drink totaled $8.08. I specifically remember because that’s Hawaii’s area code.”
The restaurant, with long wood tables and a relaxed atmosphere, also has a stage where music events and jazz nights are occasionally hosted. Customers are able to watch artists jam out while eating their slabs of pizza.
Slab Pizza’s motto is simple: a slab is “a really big slice of really great pizza.”
Slab Pizza is located on 671 E. 800 North underneath Campus Plaza Apartments and is open Monday–Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Walk-in orders are welcome, or customers can order by phone at 801-377-3883 or email at .
