Wednesday
Feb022011

Wig & Pen Pizza Pub - Ankeny

What is it about Friday nights and pizza? It seems like if it's Friday night, I think I should be having a beer and eating a pizza. Which worked out perfectly for us last Friday when we visited the Wig & Pen Pizza Pub in Ankeny.

Located at 2005 South Ankeny Blvd, Suite 300, in Ankeny (right across from DMACC), the Wig & Pen is part of a local "chain" of sorts, with additional locations in Iowa City and Coralville. We arrived at the restaurant around 8pm, prime time on a Friday night. After we put our name in with the friendly hostess, we wandered into the busy bar area to acquire that aforementioned beer.

Somewhat amazingly, that friendly young hostess was ready to seat us before we even had a chance to order at the bar! The servers really bustle around at this place and keep the waiting list moving. We were seated in a nice booth in the dining room, which is a inviting space with a few TV's and lots of wood. Love the big Wig & Pen sign on the wall.

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We finally did order that beer and had a look at the menu. Lots of good stuff going on here. In addition to the pizza, which we will discuss in a moment, the Wig & Pen offers quite the variety on their menu. Great appetizers including the more traditional wings, cheese sticks, and poppers - but they also feature bruschetta with fresh mozzarella and fresh hand cut onion rings.

You'll also find a nice selection of salads and soup, some unique sandwiches like an Italian Grinder and and Italian Beef, plus they bread their own tenderloins! Pasta is another choice, and the choices are many - Wigatoni, Spinach Lasagna, regular Lasagna, it all sounds wonderful.

We decided to start with an order of onion rings. These thin crispy strips of breaded onion are Grant's favorite and I had to agree that they were quite tasty. And you get a bunch.

We also shared a dinner salad - fresh salad greens topped with a few veggies and a spicy pepperocini. The creamy parmesan dressing was awesome.

So, about that pizza. The Wig & Pen offers three choices for your pizza dining pleasure. Their Real Italian Pizza is a thin crust pizza, The Flying Tomato is a pan style version of the thin crust pizza with your choice of ingredients, extra cheese and slices of fresh tomato, and The Chicago Style Stuffed Pizza is a big, thick crusted beauty stuffed with cheese and your chosen ingredients. All pizzas come in small (10"), medium (12"), or large (14"). They also offer several special house pizzas with cool names like The Union Jack, The Picadilly Circus and The Twickenham. So Britishy.

Our choice for the night was a Real Italian thin crust pizza with Canadian Bacon, Ground Beef and Onion - yeah, it was my turn to choose or we would have been having the Grant special full of peppers and Italian sausage. It was a bit cheesier than normal, but still the best stuff you can eat on a pizza Friday night!

Plus, I love that the Wig & Pen cuts their thin crust pizza into squares. It reminds me of my favoritest pizza joint ever - Dave's Pizza in Bemidji, MN - a Sunday night supper in my family for years. Seriously, squares taste better.

So make your plans now to visit the Wig & Pen Pizza Pub in Ankeny. Friday night is coming right up!

Wig & Pen Pizza Pub

2005 Ankeny Blvd. Suite 300
Ankeny, IA 50023 (across from DMACC)

515.963.9777

Hours

Tuesday - Sunday Open at 11:00am

Monday Open at 4:00pm

Dine-in and Pick-up Only

More information and menus at www.wigandpeneast.com