“Eat, Laugh, and Enjoy.” These suggestions are pretty basic, but nobody ever complained about doing them right. Keeping those virtues in mind — and within the acronym that serves as its name — ELE Pizza is ready to be your new go-to purveyor of to-go pies, pastas, subs, and more. It might not make you bust a gut howling, but it’ll certainly leave your belly happy.
Sandwiched between a tech repair biz and a smoke shop along the Watauga stretch of Western Center Boulevard, ELE Pizza is a tidy little spot serving foldable pies and the sort of fare that usually goes with them (think: wings, subs, salads, pasta), plus chicken tenders, some desserts, and assorted slushies. The place is too small for dining in, so there’s only delivery and pickup, but for those two services, ELE’s food is spot on.
Knife-and-fork pizza, this is not, but if you need to bring home a stack of large pies to feed a small army, ELE is superior to any of the chains in terms of flavor and price.
When I say “classic,” I mean that this is Your Basic Pizza, the kind kids draw with nothing but circles, lines, and red and yellow crayons. The toppings include the ol’ standbys, and the most outlandish add-ons are pineapple and spinach leaves. Figuring I’d enjoy a topping sampler of sorts, I went with a small thin-crust supreme. At 10 inches, it was more than enough for lunch and an afternoon snack, and I found it pretty flavorful, with its appropriately zesty sauce and the piquant chunks of ham, crumbles of sausage, and slices of pepperoni leading the way. I had to pump the brakes after a couple slices but only because I’d also ordered a sandwich.
Initially intrigued by the buffalo chicken sub, I pivoted. As a food critic, my palate’s wheelhouse lists toward sports bars and pizza joints like a guy who’s downed a beer during every commercial break in an afternoon of college football. Thus, Philadelphia’s fabled namesake cheesesteak is my preferred way of measuring whether I’d eat at a given place more than once. I can happily say that ELE makes a pretty good Philly. It came on a hoagie roll that was toasty and a little greasy but not so much that it disintegrated before I reached the end. The beef was perfectly grilled. Not too dry, it had a nice texture on the moist side of crisp. I took a couple bites of it on its own, and it was great, but along with the gooey provolone and wonderfully grilled bell peppers, onions, and mushrooms, it was surprisingly memorable. ELE’s cheesesteak might not impress a family member or friend from the City of Brotherly Love, but there’s a lot to like about it.
Order it as a combo with fries and a can of soda for an additional $4. I made the swap for onion rings and wasn’t disappointed. At a basic level, an onion ring’s batter should be crisp and the interior soft, and ELE’s hit both marks.
Now, it’s hard to mess up an onion ring, so that’s not exactly a great metric, but in addition to enjoying what I ate, I thought the service was very nice. What struck me about the good folks at ELE was that the cook said, “If I see you again, let me know what you think of the Philly.” And that said to me that they listen to their customers and endeavor to make them happy. Sure, despite a website assuring you that “Your culinary adventure awaits!,” there may not be anything terribly adventurous on the menu, but who cares? The pizza’s pretty darn good, the Philly cheesesteak is also pretty darn good, and I’d happily gamble on ELE’s other items.
ELE’s thin-crust supreme, slap-a-Philly-fan-good cheesesteak, and simple, perfect onion rings will put a smile on your face. Photo by Steve Steward
Like the pizza topping selections, the pasta dishes are basic, but there are plenty of times in life that a regular old plate of spaghetti with meatballs sounds delightful, as does your basic chicken alfredo, fettuccine alfredo, shrimp alfredo, and lasagna. Besides all of those, ELE makes a pasta manicotti and a spinach ricotta ravioli, both of which made me want to come by and pick up dinner.
ELE also does salads (garden or chicken, either crispy or grilled), chicken tenders, and basic pizza-parlor sides — garlic bread, fried mozz sticks, and parmesan bread bites — and for dessert, there’s cheesecake, turtle cheesecake, and chocolate mousse cake, as well as Nutella pizza. Drizzled in icing and dusted with powder sugar, it looks like the kind of thing that would really make a sweet tooth’s day if you brought one home.
ELE proves to be a great place to pick up some pretty good pies. The restaurant is clean, tidy, and bright, and the employees are friendly and invested. The current monthly special includes a large one-topping pizza for $9.99, and I’d argue that that’s a stellar deal for a pie that tastes way better than any $10 large has the right to. It’s the kind of I-don’t-feel-like-cooking meal that your family will get excited about rather than the familiar, floppy cardboard flavors from the chains that advertise during the Super Bowl. And though I didn’t find anything inherently comical to inspire the “laughter” part of ELE Pizza’s name, the “eating” and “enjoying” parts put a big smile on my face.
The ingredients are fresh and fabulous at ELE. Courtesy Instagram
ELE Pizza
Thin-crust supreme pizza (10-inch) $16
Philly cheesesteak w/onion rings, soda $17
Recently opened ELE Pizza in Watauga serves basic, affordable Italian fare done right. Courtesy Instagram
