Review: Hoboken Pie - Austin, TX

What is the best pizza near the University of Texas in Austin? There's plenty of choices, but most lean toward the "filling bellies of drunk college kids with cheap greasy pizza" approach. After a bit of research, I placed my bet on Hoboken Pie, intrigued by their claim "Jersey inspired" and their use of "unbleached, un-bromated flour, nitrate and MSG-free meats from local purveyors, farm-fresh veggies, locally grown tomatoes and whole-milk cheeses." 

How many UT Austin students know that Hoboken is the small NJ town across the Hudson River from New York, and also the birthplace of Frank Sinatra?

I ordered a large pizza with half sausage and half pepperoni (discounts available through their app). I needed to take the pie home for a later re-heat, so I asked them to leave the pie uncut so that it would slide easily onto my oven rack. In fact, this 18" pizza barely fit into my oven!

718 Red River Street, Austin TX

The pie had an appealing classic look with the tomato sauce and cheese melted into a deep orange; the sausage looked legit, applied to the pizza in raw chunks to cook on the pie. 

Before the re-heat

The whole essence of this pizza was indeed very much New Jersey east coast style, starting with its thin crispy crust. That crust was about ideal in texture, but it didn't have a lot of its own flavor; it may have suffered a bit on the reheat.

The sausage chunks were very good; the pepperoni was sliced in large thin rounds that also delivered a nice punchy flavor. Overall, the pizza was pleasantly salty so that I didn't find myself reaching for extra seasonings to shake on top.

The crust was good, the sauce was good, the cheese was good, the toppings were good. No element stood out above the others, so the overall effect was "greater than the sum of its parts." This was a well-balanced pizza indeed reminiscent of the legion of store-front pizzerias all over New Jersey and neighboring parts of PA and NY.

Nice char underneath

A solid value, this pizza could go from good to great with a more flavorful crust. As it is, it was still a nice treat to be reminded of a classic Jersey pizza; as a bonus, the folks working there were patient and polite. We found a similar experience out in the Austin suburb Bee Cave at Jersey Giant Pizza, too.