Another build-your-own pizza place opened in the Madison area, a chain restaurant in Fitchburg called MOD Pizza, in the space where the Hemingway cigar bar once stood.
I was reluctant to review this place, only because how different could it be from Dell’s Pizza Lab or Lotsa Stone Fired Pizza? Turns out, not much.
One thing that was immediately apparent is that the staff needs more training. Here are two examples:
- The employee making our salad didn’t even know what size it was.
- The pizza had the expected char, but only because an employee didn’t know how to get the pizza out of the oven and had to call for help.
The pizzas comes on a very thin crust and in mini (6″ for $4.87), mod (11″ for $7.87) and mega (double 11″ for $10.87) sizes. Salads fall under the same pricing.
Nine “classic” pizzas–as in, the toppings are pre-decided, but you can still add more–lead off the menu. The Tristan was relatively light in flavor, even with the generous portion of roasted red peppers and mushrooms (I added spicy sausage). I actually didn’t miss the lack of pizza sauce, thanks to the pesto drizzle.
Other classics include the Calexico (grilled chicken, jalapenos, Gorgonzola) and the Dillon James (garlic, tomatoes, fresh chopped basil). Toppings include garbanzo beans and anchovies; finishing sauces include hot buffalo and balsamic fig glaze.
On the same crust are the garlic and cinnamon strips. The 6″ garlic strips ($2.97) don’t look like much, but they have a satisfying garlic flavor. They’re even better with some sri-rancha sauce on the side.
MOD Pizza is open every day for lunch and dinner.
The Sunset Bowl ($7.50/$9.50) has a blend of pineapple, mango, strawberries, unsweetened coconut milk and MAQ 7 (“a unique blend of nature’s most powerful and exotic superfruits around the world,” according to Bowl of Heaven) and is topped with flax seed granola, shaved coconut, strawberries, kiwis and honey. Obviously, your mouth will experience a breadth of flavors in every bite–for example, the mango brings brightness, and the coconut lingers in your mouth–yet they all harmonize very well.
A special bowl for Madison is the UW Badger Bowl ($7.99/$9.99), which is topped with strawberries in a pattern resembling the Union Terrace chairs. For all bowls, you can add “boosts” such as fresh mint or fresh ginger.
One part of Bluephies became Miko Poke, and the other part is now 
“Things on Toast” is actually a section of the menu, and I ordered the seasonal mushroom toast ($11). It’s a minor point, but I liked that the semi-sour, (marrow) buttery toast had slits cut into it to make it easier to pull apart and eat. The abundance of mushrooms, which included shiitake and crimini, captured the flavors of the garlic and herbs with which they were sauteed.
