September 3, 2008 E-MAIL PRINT

The hills have pies

by Brion O'Connor/

The Flatbread Company in North Conway, N.H., showcases organic pizzas that come out fresh from the brick oven in the center of the restaurant.

The Flatbread Company in North Conway, N.H., showcases organic pizzas that come out fresh from the brick oven in the center of the restaurant.

Pizza has been called the perfect food, and who could argue? I’d go a step further, and suggest it’s the perfect après-ski snack. Even your basic pie features grain, dairy, protein, fruit (tomatoes!) and perhaps vegetables. With almost limitless toppings, you can create your own smorgasbord, healthy or otherwise. If you’ve been carving turns all day and your metabolism is running high, you don’t even have to worry about burning off those extra calories.

Whether you prefer your pie deep-dish style, round or square, thin crust or thick crust, pizza is truly the meal of the everyman. Sure, some chi-chi places try to spruce it up (am I the only person who thinks “gourmet pizza” is an oxymoron?) to the point where “pizza” can mean just about anything with a bread base. Still, variety is a good thing. The challenge, of course, is picking a few favorites out of the dozens I’ve visited over the years.

So, to make sure I sidestepped any personal bias, I enlisted the help of two dozen skiing pals and got a nice sampling of prime pizza parlors across New England’s northern tier. Are they the best? Impossible to say, since everyone has different tastes. But the odds are you won’t be disappointed with any of these.

Vermont

The one unanimous choice in my admittedly unscientific poll was American Flatbread (802-496-8856; americanflatbread.com), where organic crust meets the upper crust. The original bakery, which becomes a restaurant every Friday and Saturday, is attached to the Lareau Farm Country Inn on Route 100 in Waitsfield, near Sugarbush and Mad River Glen. If you want a seat, get your name on the wait list early (they don’t take reservations). At the risk of contradicting my “gourmet pizza” comment, I’m relieved that these scrumptious creations are called flatbreads. That way, I can enjoy them without thinking they’re really just pizza’s version of the Bentley. No, the breads created in these primitive ovens, featuring locally grown produce, aren’t the first thing I think of when “pizza” pops into my gray matter. But they are, without question, delicious. You also can visit American Flatbread in Middlebury and Burlington, or find their frozen offerings in numerous supermarkets.

If you don’t mind traveling a bit out of the way, the best, pure Italian-style pizza is served by the Cartularo family at Buono’s Italian Restaurant (802-985-2232; buonos.net) on Route 7 in Shelburne, just south of Burlington. “The place is a classic little Italian joint, right down to the checkered tablecloths,” says Leslie Tenhope, an avid skier from Massachusetts. “The owner’s grandparents are off-the-boat Sicilian, but their specialty is the thin crust. The recipes are ‘ancient family secrets,’ and amazingly good.”

Being a New Jersey native, I occasionally crave true New York-style pizza, and there’s none better than the bare-bones Wicked Good Pizza (802-228-4131; wickedgoodpizza.com) in Ludlow, near Okemo. If I’m feeling iron-deficient, I go for The Roadkill, smothered with pepperoni, sausage, meatball, ham and bacon, but my all-time favorite is Loaded For Bear, with pepperoni, sausage, meatball, onion, mushroom, green pepper, broccoli, black olives and tomato. No one goes home hungry. If you’re already home, they deliver.

Another top-notch pizzeria that will bring the pie to you is Outback Pizza (802-422-9885) on Killington Road, where the brick ovens never rest and the pizza is always fresh. Situated “out back” of the Tabu Nightclub, it features a roaring, circular fireplace to warm whatever chill the pizza doesn’t chase. Add a fine selection of brews and live entertainment most nights, and I can’t think of a single reason you’d rather order out. If, on the other hand, you’re on the way back to Interstate 89, you can uncover a hidden gem in Ramunto’s New York Pizza (802-296-7700) on Route 4 in Quechee.
To the north, near Burke, the Trout River Brewery (802-626-9396; troutriverbrewing.com) in Lyndonville has lip-smacking pizza and no-frills, Northeast Kingdom charm. Couple a pie with a Rainbow Red Ale and you’ll find heaven in this small venue. To the south, Grizzly’s (802-297-4185; stratton.com) at Stratton is a wonderful après-ski bar masquerading as a superb, slope-side pizza joint.

New Hampshire

Not to be confused with American Flatbread in Vermont, The Flatbread Company (603-356-4470; flatbreadcompany.com) at the Eastern Slope Inn on Route 16 in North Conway, is another superb wood-fired oven establishment offering organic fare. The Homemade Sausage flatbread features “nitrate-free maple fennel sausage” — I have no idea what that means, but it’s absolutely mouth-watering. Same goes for the Co-Evolution mix of Kalamata olives, red onions, roasted red peppers and goat cheese. If you are traveling from the north country, you can also find Flatbread Company locations in Portsmouth, N.H., Portland, Maine, and Amesbury, Mass.

In Jackson, there always will be a special place in my heart for The Shannon Door (603-383-4211; shannondoor.com), not only because of my Irish heritage but because it was one of the few places I could afford while a ski bum in college. That’s still true today. The location is ideal for skiers coming from Wildcat, Tuckerman’s, Black, Cranmore and even Attitash. The no-nonsense, thin-crust pizza is served big, with big, fresh flavors, and complemented nicely with 14 brews on tap (and every Sunday is 2-for-1 pizza night).

Heading home from the Mount Washington Valley when those hunger pangs hit? In Center Ossipee, the rustic Pizza Barn (603-539-2234) on Route 16 takes the “quality and quantity” approach to pizza-building, and the large pies here will typically satiate a family of four. Plus, the service couldn’t be friendlier and the arcade is a great distraction for road-weary little travelers. Likewise, the out-of-the-way Poor Peoples Pub (603-522-8681; poorpeoplespub.com) in Sanbornville is one of those innocuous little eateries that developed a great reputation by simply serving tremendous food at a fair price in a fun atmosphere and then letting its customers spread the good word.

On the other side of the White Mountains, in the Lincoln area close to Loon and Cannon, Elvio’s (603-745-8817) at the Lincoln Square North Shopping Plaza on Main Street gets a tip of the ski cap thanks to its consistently excellent New York-style and Sicilian pies (though my daughters love the white pizzas). If you prefer your pizza Greek-style, you’ll also find GH Pizza (603) 745-6885) on Main Street, at the intersection of the Loon Connector Road. Both are good values, to boot.

Maine

In Maine’s lake region, near Saddleback, The Red Onion (207- 864-5022; redonion5022.com) in Rangeley rules! Housed in a non-descript, Swiss-style storefront on Main Street, the homemade fresh dough and tomato sauce are the foundation of several local masterpieces, including an award-winning Mexican (chili, peppers, onions, black olives, tomatoes and pepperocini) and the region’s ultimate Vegetarian (black olives, mushrooms, onions, peppers, broccoli, carrots, eggplant, tomato).

Over in Carrabassett Valley, I have enjoyed many a fine pie and pint at The Bag & Kettle (207-237-2454; sugarloaf.com) at Sugarloaf. This funky, slope-side establishment, better known simply as “The Bag,” serves up legendary, wood-fired, brick-oven pizza in one of the best après-ski environments found anywhere. Not to be outdone, just down the road on Route 27, on your way back to civilization, the Italian eatery Tufulio’s (207-235-2010) also serves up a mean pizza. My wife is a fan of two of Tufulio’s signature concoctions — shrimp and artichoke, and crabmeat and asparagus — while I’m partial to more traditional pies and the restaurant’s fun-filled Happy Hour.

Sud’s Pub at the Sudbury Inn (207-824-6558; sudburyinn.com) in Bethel serves up the best pies within a snowball’s throw of Sunday River. No, it’s not mountainside, but you won’t be thinking about that when you take a big ol’ bite of either the meat-lover’s Carnivore (pepperoni, ham and sausage) or tangy BBQ Chicken pizzas. The accompanying menu of draught beers is exceptional, from Newcastle Brown Ale (a personal favorite) to local brews Gritty’s Irish Stout and Allagash White. v

Brion O’Connor grabs his slices in ski country for the trip home to Massachusetts.

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