Dirty Water Dough Co.

You know that classic song that goes, Oh, I love that dirty water Boston, you're my home. Well, if you're looking for a creative and delicious pizza in the city of Boston, the Dirty Water Dough Company should be your new home. Every item on the menu at this place is a little bit over the top, a little bit eccentric, a little bit wild, and a lot of calories. Each pizza is more wild than the next, and it makes sense, because the name of the place is a little wacky, too.

Here's the story behind the Dirty Water Dough Company.  Back around the turn of the century, the Charles River was the primary source for water for the city of Boston, but the Charles River was pretty polluted. You couldn't drink the water. So if you were going to bake bread, you would use beer in the dough, not water.  Fast forward to today, and that's what they decided to do here with their signature pizza dough.  And putting beer inside the dough actually pays big benefits in terms of texture and taste. All those little air bubbles make it light and airy and really crispy, and you need a nice crispy crust to stand up to some truly insane flavor combinations. This location is full of great food and lots of characters, and Jackie, the manager, she's definitely one of them.

"We’re a different kind of pizza place, like for East Boston, especially because, like, you know where a town of pizza places, but we have your different options, not just your regular cheese and pepperoni. We have… all different sorts of toppings, and it's great."

This is sort of like a New York style pizza. It's very big. It's 18 inches across, definitely bigger than most of the pizza shops you're used to. That's not a big slice of pizza. It's a gigantic slice of pizza. Now this is one of the most popular pizzas here in dirty water. It's a pizza that's also a taco. It's called the dirty taco pizza. So this has everything you want in an awesome taco. You got your seasoned ground beef, you have your diced tomato, you have a swirl of sour cream… some shredded lettuce. And believe it or not, they got crushed Doritos on here. Basically, it has all my favorite food groups, beer, pizza and tacos. How could I possibly go wrong? (takes bite)The first thing you get is that Dorito crunch and you get that essence of the Cool Ranch. Yes, I just said the phrase essence of Cool Ranch. There's some really good taco shops here in East Boston. I gotta say this is one of the best tacos in the city, and it's a pizza.

It should come as no surprise that they are Big Red Sox fans in this place. So of course, they had to make a Fenway Frank pizza. Hot dog's here!. Get your hot dog pizza! So yeah, you got chopped up Fenway Franks. You have some mustard, you have sweet relish, and you got some sauerkraut stacked up with some cheese on their pizza dough.

"Do you know how many people order the Fenway Frank thinking they're getting a hot dog that I pull out a box of pizza, I give it to them. They're like, I ordered a hot dog. I'm like, No, you ordered a Fenway Frank. We don't sell hot dogs."

This is my favorite slice, and it's named after my Favorite Red Sox player, the Big Papi. This is made with sliced sweet Italian sausage, broccoli rabe and their homemade pesto.  Come here, Big Papi, you're looking good. This slice is clutch.

This is the Mac Cheesy Pizza, yes, get ready for a carb explosion like East Boston has never seen before. Starts with a layer of dough, then cheese, then pasta, then more cheese, then, believe it or not, a combination of Ritz crackers and Cheez-Itz. I mean, sometimes I say to myself, could this be too much cheese? And then I take a bite and I realize, no, I can still handle that much cheese. I'm a professional. That's how cheesy I am.

There are lots of great sandwiches on the menu here too. This one is called the Eastie. It's the neighborhood's favorite sandwich. It's a chicken cutlet with roasted red peppers, fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, little olive oil… all in a braided seeded roll. Perfect sandwich. But if you want a sandwich that's really special, you got to try the Phantom. Yeah, that's right, the number one selling sandwich here is named after the Phantom Gourmet himself. To make this. They have a huge pile of home roasted turkey. They add some roasted red peppers, some onions, baby spinach, mozzarella cheese, throw on some pesto mayo, throw all that goodness inside, and you have a massively satisfying turkey sandwich, Italian style.

So the next time you're down by the river, down by the banks of the river Charles, you can say to yourself, Boston, you are my home, and you're also the home to the Dirty Water Pizza Company.

"I think it's a nice environment. The staff and everybody is good. The food's excellent… I do love that dirty water."