Slice House by Tony Gemignani

Whenever a pizzeria offers multiple styles of pizza from a single kitchen, it’s almost guaranteed that at least one version – maybe all of them – won’t be “authentic” enough for people who grew up eating the styles in their home cities. While that statement is technically true for Slice House by Tony Gemignani, a San Francisco-based chain that opened its first Orange County location in the same Fountain Valley plaza as CIR Lounge, Le Shrimp Noodle Bar, and Sushi Koto, only the hardest-core pizza obsessives would complain after eating here. We’d credit Slice House’s pizziolo founder, whose obvious skill in the craft has resulted in both pizza-making awards and multiple successful pizzeria brands throughout California and Las Vegas.

As its name suggests, Slice House specializes in pizzas by the slice: Nine choices are offered each day, including two “slice of the day” and seven everyday options collectively representing four different styles of pizza. New York-style slices are relatively thin-crusted triangles loaded with pepperoni and cheese ($6.50/slice) or more deluxe toppings at higher prices: On one visit, a Wiseguy ($6.75) included two types of sausage, pepperoni, ricotta, mozzarella, green onions, and hot pepper oil; the next time, we had a Combo Americano ($6.75) loaded with a nice balance of meats (salami, bacon, pepperoni, Italian sausage, linguiça) and vegetables (mushroom, peppers, onions, olives, and cherry tomatoes). Each NY slice we’ve tried was delicious and extra-large – the equivalent of two standard pizza slices – though lower on both cheese and oil than typical New York slices, and decidedly crispier on bottom. On balance, we were good with these adaptations, but grizzled Manhattanites might feel otherwise.

Slice House’s take on Detroit-style pizza made up for its smaller, brick-shaped footprint with considerably thicker dough – more bread-like, and perhaps four times the thickness of the NY slices. On our first visit, the Little Italy version ($7.25/slice) had an excellent combination of traditional Italian-American ingredients: three types of cheese and tomato chunks, pepperoni, Italian sausage, mushrooms, red onions, and roasted red peppers. Rosa is a tomato sauce-heavy pepperoni version dusted with basil. Crispy on the edges and as hearty as Detroit pizza is expected to be, these slices were wonderfully acidic, salty-savory, and filling – probably our favorite slices of the bunch.

Served “Grandma-style,” Sweet Gino ($6.95/slice) was a comparatively small square of thin crust with two types of mozzarella cheese, sea salt, basil, and a sweet tomato “Grandma Sauce.” Each of these elements struck us as less appealing than Slice House’s Detroit slices at a similar price, so we didn’t feel the need to order another Grandma slice on our second visit.