Okay, so I stopped by the new Denver Pizza Company yesterday, which, as you've no doubt heard (or read), is the pie-hole of kicked-to-the-curb bachelor Mark Huebner, the 27-year-old contestant on this season's The Bachelorette, who got robbed of a rose back in June.
Bummer. Anyway, Huebner, a Chicago native and University of Colorado grad, held a soft opening of his pizzeria, located at 309 West 11th Avenue, over the weekend. But at 3 p.m. on Sunday, when I stopped by to see Huebner in the flesh, he wasn't there -- which, I guess, really wasn't all that surprising.
The only sign of life was some dude behind a register who looked bored out of his skull. And when I asked to see a menu -- there was only one in the entire joint, apparently -- it came with a list of ingredients, scrawled in pen, that had already been 86'ed: buffalo mozzarella, Alfredo sauce, eggplant, red peppers, fresh garlic, Parmesan and ricotta. "One more slice and I'm completely out of cheese," admitted the counter guy.
When I reached him later, Huebner had an explanation for the dearth of ingredients. "People love our pizza, and we sold more than we thought we would," he told me, then added that his place "probably won't be running out of anything moving forward." And that includes the spices and spice mixes he's getting from the Spice Boys of the Rockies, the former tenant in the storefront space that Huebner's spot now occupies.
A space, by the way, that's all kitchen area. This is a carry-out/delivery-only operation, people, and Huebner intends to keep it that way, although he does have plans to put picnic tables out front.
He's less forthcoming about his time on The Bachelorette. "It was a great experience, but not one that I'd do again," he offered, before quickly changing the subject back to -- what else? -- pizza.
