Review: Sly Fox, Pottstown PA

One great end-of-summer tradition is a live draft for fantasy football. A few years back, I got to join a league in Pottstown PA. Each year has been marked by great hospitality, superb beer, and forgettable pizza. Bottom line, there was no decent pizza anywhere near Pottstown.

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Happily, the craft beermaker Sly Fox expanded beyond its Phoenixville base and added a "beer tasting" location in Pottstown. It's a huge space that offers Sly Fox beer, of course, and a short menu featuring BBQ and pizzas. Our league commissioner Chris brought back 12 pies for us to devour during our draft.

Topped with kielbasa and onions

The pizzas (about $8 each) are personal sized, but on the large end of that. They seemed a little bigger than the wonderful 10" Neapolitan pies that I'd eaten just a day earlier at Rapidough Pizza Pies in West Chester. Big enough to be cut into 8 slices that were smallish but not tiny.

Image from www.ValleyForge.org

At first glance, it was obvious that this pizza was going to be better than anything we'd had before in the Pottstown region. Beautiful char bubbles on the cornicione revealed that these were not cookie-cutter pies made of mass-sourced ingredients.

Looking good under the hood

The crust was an excellent foundation. While the char leopard spots made it resemble a Neapolitan, the crust was firmer, crisper, and a deeper golden brown than a Neapolitan. Each bite yielded a proper external crunch, a satisfying inner chew, and a flavor that could stand on its own. No droop, no soggy spots, and excellent adhesion of the toppings.

Buffalo and Margherita slices

The standout pie was the one topped with onions and kielbasa. Kielbasa! How is it that no one else is using kielbasa as a pizza topping? I confess, I enjoyed this wonderful novelty so much that I did not pay close attention to the sauce or the cheese. The sauce was applied sparingly; the cheese was plentiful and sported some nice top browning, but both were role players here.

I also sampled the plain Margherita, and here the tomatoes were applied in brilliant red chunks. This pie was more like a Trenton tomato pie, with the cheese mostly under the tomatoes. I would have liked a bit more of these savory tomato chunks on the kielbasa pie.

Buffalo chicken pizza

I never would have ordered it, but Chris also brought back some buffalo chicken pizza. For completeness, I decided to try a small slice.  And, to my surprise, I didn't hate it!  In fact, I enjoyed it enough that I had a second slice. The buffalo sauce had a bright and tangy vinegary flavor, and the chunks of skinless boneless tasteless white chicken were somehow juicy with a decent texture. I'm still never going to order chicken anything on my pie, but this was OK.

From BrewsTravelers365.com

From BrewsTravelers365.com

A major kudos to Sly Fox for bringing the first worthy pizza to Pottstown. I've known for years how good the beer is - and they've kept the standards high with this pizza.