Business Spotlight: New pizza pie rolls into Carson City

There's a new pizza in town and it's got wheels.

Rollin' Pizza Pies took to the streets of Carson City at the end of April, said co-owner Desiree Kagan, and is fast becoming a local icon.

"People are coming up to us and asking about our truck," she said, referring to the grape purple delivery van converted into one of the region's most recognizable food trucks. "Once you see our truck, you'll never miss it."

Constructing the mobile kitchen from scratch, Kagan said she and her business partner, co-owner Chef Karole Denning, also painted the truck themselves.

"We had built our truck from the floorboards up," she said. "Sixteen cans of bright purple spray-paint later, we have a Purple Pizza Phenom."

Though fascinating, the purple paint job isn't what makes Rollin' Pizza Pies such a hot local item after just three weeks in business.

It's the pizza.

The recipes thought up by Denning have people lining up for a truly unique curbside pie.

Rollin' Pizza Pies are a fusion of California and Colorado styles, Denning said, featuring raised crust on the ends that is crunchy on the bottom and soft on top.

"He (Karole) has found a way to somehow make the crust crispy on the bottom with a chewy crust," Kagan said. "The basic pie is not New York Style, or Chicago."

It's more like Chef Karole Style, his own creation perfected over a quarter century of pizza making.

Denning also has a flair for the dramatic, shooting from the hip as he comes up with recipes on the fly.

"We needed a vegetarian pizza," he said. "So I put one together featuring a variation of red and green tomatoes."

Calling it the "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" Pizza — a nod to the 1978 science fiction film parody of the same name — Denning and Kagan have developed a knack for attaching household names to their memorable pies, too.

Other popular titles given to pies on the menu include the "Beetle Juice! Beetle Juice! Beetle Juice!" and "Don't Call Me Shirley."

There is instant recognition in names like that, as well as curiosity over other titles on the menu like "Man Hole Cover," "Mister Green Jeans," and "The Ballad of Ricky Bobby."

"We find it thrilling to bring an imaginative menu to people," Kagan said. "We have a commitment to making the pies fast, super fresh and always creative."

But there is much more to Rollin' Pizza Pies than what's in a name. The ingredients make all of the difference, Kagan said.

"We use as many local ingredients as we can get," she said, "to make for a pie that truly has love and intent in every bite."

The food truck enterprise is a first for Kagan and Denning, both experienced brick-and-mortar restaurant chefs. Although the food truck venue has its challenges, the partners recognize the love affair that diners have with meals on wheels.

"Preparing food in a mobile environment is challenging yet immensely more creative than it once was," Kagan said. "We get the opportunity to bring our craft to the people, and it makes us feel grateful as we know how excited people get. They appreciate the experience a food truck brings."

Competition in the food truck world is about drawing the consumer's attention first, and then offering eats that stand out in a crowd.

Rollin' Pizza Pies accomplishes both of these, first with the instant curb appeal of the truck's eye-catching purple color and second by the passionately made pies themselves.

"Pizza is the ultimate vessel for flavor and experimentation," Kagan said. "We have the opportunity at any given moment to create a flavor profile that will make people not only feel nostalgic but also curious."

Kagan and Denning are hoping natural curiosity for something different and imaginative, though, develops into a passion for the kind of gourmet pizza that Rollin' Pizza Pies has introduced to Carson City.

"We would love for people to know that we truly want to be an accessible part of Northern Nevada," Kagan said. "Our good fortune for being able to create our dream profession is not lost on us. We care deeply about contributing and promoting other business as well."

To learn more about Rollin' Pizza Pies and to find out where the purple truck is parked each day, follow it on Facebook here. Visit the pizza maker's web site here.