New (non-QC style) pizza place in the Quads ---- anyone try it yet?

[torbee]

Smash Pizza opens brick-and-mortar in Bettendorf​

By Hernan Gutierrez
Published: Nov. 13, 2022 at 11:08 PM CST

BETTENDORF, Iowa (KWQC) - The Quad Cities’ newest pizza joint, is already seeing some high demand after opening its doors Wednesday.
Smash Pizza went from a mobile food truck to starting a brick-and-mortar location, a process years in the making for owner and chef Brian Olsen.
“The food truck was because it was taking so long to get this done,” Olsen said. “I started planning this almost two years ago before we actually got the doors open. We pulled the trigger on the equipment before everything opened back up.”

The restaurateur took a gamble, leaving his old job right before the pandemic hit. It would force him to be creative when getting work while most restaurants were shut down.

Olsen said that risk allowed his dream to become a reality.

“It’s a lot of hours. It’s a lot of stress, but there’s also a ton of excitement behind it,” Olsen said. “I love what I do. There’s this thrill of doing it every single day. My staff is fantastic.”
Now with the doors open, Smash offers all things dough, like Sicilian and New York-style pizzas, bread loaves for retail sale, focaccia and more.

“The backbone of our restaurant is dough, it is bread,” Olsen said. “You have to be a whole lot of obsessive to really make those things work well and especially in a restaurant environment.”

Olsen studies everything from the percent of yeast and temperature of the dough, to the amount of time it needs to ferment.

Toppings like the sausage are ground in-house, leading to a pie Olsen is very proud to craft.

“Look at it like Brooklyn, went to Naples for the summer and then came back and brought back some of those influences,” Olsen said. “We use really good olive oil. We use this super fragrant Mediterranean oregano that has like nuances of like mint and lemon.”

Tables have already been filling up in the few days Smash Pizza has been open. Olsen said he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“More than anything, [I’m] just super excited to give this to the community,” Olsen said. “I hope that the community is happy with it.”

Smash Pizza is located at 3403 Devils Glen Road in Bettendorf. Hours and a menu can be viewed on the restaurant’s Facebook page.

 

[On Iowa]

Automatically becomes the best pizza in town, just because it's not "Quad Cities style" as if that was a thing.

 

[RileyHawk]

I had it a while ago at their food truck and it was great. Friends have gone to the new restaurant and raved about it. Apparently the owners are really good people too.

 

[torbee]

Automatically becomes the best pizza in town, just because it's not "Quad Cities style" as if that was a thing.

 

[Bro D]

Have not but will definitely give it a shot!

 

[GOHOX69]

@torbee you and your better half should visit me in the Spring or Summer. I'll make ya brick oven pizza. It's not that difficult and the end product is as good as a commercial joint. You bring the booze.

 

[torbee]

Have not but will definitely give it a shot!

Have you had the puerco loco from Lopiez? It actually might be the best pizza in the QC, and ya'll know I usually reserve that title for Uncle Bills. But cot-dam is it amazing.

Puerco Loco: Pepperoni, sausage, ham, bacon and chorizo.

The amazing thing is it has all those high-fat content meats on it, but it manages to NOT be greasy at all. Don't know how they do it.

I know some people will be aghast, but I actually have them add pineapple to this one, as the sweet of the fruit offsets all the salt and spices perfectly.

This is why I can't be skinny, lol.

 

[Bro D]

Have you had the puerco loco from Lopiez? It actually might be the best pizza in the QC, and ya'll know I usually reserve that title for Uncle Bills. But cot-dam is it amazing.

Puerco Loco: Pepperoni, sausage, ham, bacon and chorizo.

The amazing thing is it has all those high-fat content meats on it, but it manages to NOT be greasy at all. Don't know how they do it.

I know some people will be aghast, but I actually have them add pineapple to this one, as the sweet of the fruit offsets all the salt and spices perfectly.

This is why I can't be skinny, lol.

I love their pizza. I haven't had that one above but it looks fantastic. I agree with you on pineapple.. their hawaiin is really good too. I haven't been there in quite a while for some reason but now I want one. They used to have one (maybe the still do?) called the Paco and it was ridiculously good

 

[srams21]

Have you had the puerco loco from Lopiez? It actually might be the best pizza in the QC, and ya'll know I usually reserve that title for Uncle Bills. But cot-dam is it amazing.

Puerco Loco: Pepperoni, sausage, ham, bacon and chorizo.

The amazing thing is it has all those high-fat content meats on it, but it manages to NOT be greasy at all. Don't know how they do it.

I know some people will be aghast, but I actually have them add pineapple to this one, as the sweet of the fruit offsets all the salt and spices perfectly.

This is why I can't be skinny, lol.

I love pineapple on pizza btw.