Pizza Champ opens for pickup orders in Maplewood today

×

Expand

Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

In August 2020, Elmwood’s Adam Altnether and Chris Kelling created pop-up concept Pizza Champ as a way to endure the pandemic, serving a variety of take-home pizzas from Elmwood's space at the corner of Manchester and Sutton in Maplewood.

“It was a lifeboat,” Kelling says.

Today, nearly two years and many pizzas later, Pizza Champ will get its own spot, at 2657 Lyle Avenue, in Maplewood. Inaugural hours will be 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday;  and 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. After the first few weeks, Pizza Champ will be open daily, with lunch service beginning at 11 a.m. 

×

Expand

Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

For now, the pizzeria’s 800-square-foot space will be set up for counter service only, serving pizza, wings, salads, and sandwiches from a pick-up and drive-thru window. In the coming weeks, construction will begin on a 60-seat, four-season patio that can be used during the colder months.

Pizza Champ is splitting its building with Shared by Side Project, a new location from Cory and Karen King’s Side Project Brewing. Eventually, customers will be able to sit on the patio while enjoying pies from the Pizza Champ menu and beer from the brewery that RateBeer ranked No. 2 in the world.

“We really want this to be a meeting place for all kinds of people,” Altnether says. “The place that everyone in Maplewood comes to for pizza and wings.”

Pizza Champ offers three varieties of pizzas: red, white, and specialty. The 18-inch New York-style pies are baked in a brick-lined deck oven. The dough is 100 percent sourdough, fermented for 48 hours before everything but the edge crust is stretched thin and topped with sauce, cheese, and toppings.

“It’s meant to be a big, foldable slice like you would get in New York,” Altnether says.

×

Expand

Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

The Red Pies section of the menu features a number of red sauce pizzas, such as a simple Marinara (pictured above), topped with garlic, red onion, red pepper flakes, and shaved Parmesan. A Triple Pepperoni variety is made with ezzo pepperoni, and an Extra Cheese pizza is served with the tomato sauce on top. 

The White Pies section includes two pies made with a béchamel base, including the Fun Guy (featuring mushroom conserva with tomato sauce on top) and the When in Rome (topped with bacon, red onion, corn, potato, and rosemary).

Pizza Champ’s Specialty Pies section features a Taco Pizza and a Buffalo Fried Chicken Pizza, both of which are customer favorites, according to Kelling and Altnether.

×

Expand

Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

For its wings, Pizza Champ serves a selection of Buffalo Mild, Buffalo Hot, and Lemon Pepper. (The Lemon Pepper is Altnether’s favorite from childhood and the only breaded wing option). All are served with a side of ranch and celery.

The wing sauces are all made in house. The mild sauce is made from fermented fresno peppers, while the hot version uses fermented habañeros. Altnether puts a twist on a typical bar and grill wing sauce, incorporating rendered chicken fat instead of the traditional butter. “It’s a roasted chicken fat, which rounds out the sauce and gives it more depth.”

The wings come pre-tossed. Customers can specify naked wings in the order notes, however, with sauce on the side for dipping.

×

Expand

Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

In keeping with Elmwood’s charcoal-grilled roots, Pizza Champ will offer seasonal grilled salads. In the fall and winter, the salad is a Grilled Broccoli Caesar (pictured above), topped with spicy bread crumbs, crispy shallots, and dill. In spring and summer, it will be a Grilled Romaine Caesar, highlighting summer vegetables, including tomatoes and summer corn.

×

Expand

Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

Both of the chicken sandwiches, or “sandos,” on the Pizza Champ menu are made with marinated chicken thighs. The Chicken Parm (pictured above) features a panko and herb breaded chicken thigh, deep-fried and topped with mozzarella, and “huge shavings of Parmesan,” according to Altnether. From there, the Parmesan-covered chicken thigh goes back into the oven for extra crunch and gets a ladle of marinara before being placed between a Breadsmith country white sandwich bun.

With the upgrade to its own location, Pizza Champ is adding a Sweets section to the menu, which will include soft-serve ice cream (vanilla, chocolate, or swirl) and chocolate chip shortbread cookies.

“It’s a pizza joint—that’s the goal,” Kelling says. “Adam and I have always talked about a neighborhood pizza place, you know, pellet ice, pitchers of root beer, that vibe. Obviously, we won’t have exactly those things here but that vibe with the pizza.”

“We might have that here some day—you never know,” Altnether says.

×

Expand

Photography by Kevin A. Roberts