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photo by Talia Hodge
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photo by Talia Hodge
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photo by Talia Hodge
At Totally Baked Pizza, nontraditional pie toppings, from short rib and chocolate chips to Genoa salami and honey, are tailored to adventurous eaters with the munchies — as the shop’s name cheekily implies.
“People who are very indulgent in the cannabis industry,” says chef and owner John Taylor, “... a lot of our pizzas are named after those type of people.”
Totally Baked features hybrid pizzas — pies that highlight unconventional ingredients and combinations.
“If you take one strain of one form of cannabis and then another strain and bring them together … that’s a hybrid. So, our hybrid pizzas … are going to have different, unique flavors,” Taylor says. “Our flavors, bases and sauces, you won’t find in a lot of other pizza shops.”
The Danny Trejo ($14-$22) is a Mexican-Italian hybrid, named in honor of the legendary Mexican American actor.
“I really wanted to come up with something that was more authentic, had more Latin flavors,” says Taylor, who shares new pizzas with his staff for taste tests. “We worked on this pizza for about two months.”
The Trejo received such rave reviews as an exclusive special that Taylor added it to the regular menu. First, salsa verde is slathered on locally-made dough, baked in a double-deck stone oven. Then, Totally Baked piles on pork carnitas, a four-cheese Italian blend, house-made corn salsa and cotija cheese. Finished with house-made lime crema, cilantro and lime wedges, the pie is akin to an open street taco.
“It’s very fresh. It has that citrus flavor from the lime and the salsa verde, and then that corn salsa gives you that nice little bite because it has six jalapenos in it,” Taylor says.
The crema topping, drizzled generously over the pizza, adds an extra element of indulgence. Crafted with sour cream, the zest and juice of three limes, garlic and salt, it’s so popular that customers take it home on its own.
“We literally have a gentleman who comes in here once a week, orders the Danny Trejo and gets three full-size sides of lime crema because he loves it so much,” Taylor says. “That’s what happens when you make your product in-house, fresh daily, and you take pride in it.” // CG
18 N. High St., Akron, 234-678-0421, totallybakedpizza.net
