While the Pandemic has certainly slowed down the adventures of a travelling Pizza Snob, I also have not taken this as an opportunity to mop up my list of local joints I have yet to visit. Although Mrs. Pie didn’t exactly jump at my idea for a long overdue Friday “date night” in the mighty metropolis of Kingston Springs, TN, in the end, we both had a much more remarkable evening than either of us imagined.
Skyking Pizza had been on my list for so long that I even had forgotten from where I had first heard about the place. And although I recall that it seemed to have a good reputation, I still was quite in the dark about what we’d experience there. In checking availability, my investigation revealed morning (8-12) and evening (5-9) hours which ruled out lunch and suggested that they must serve a breakfast of some kind.
Kingston Springs is just off Interstate 40 west of Nashville and actually not too far from the Bellevue area. It was about a 40-minute journey for us Franklinites and as I expected, there wasn’t much to Kingston Springs. In fact, the “downtown” area where Skyking was located consisted of only a few buildings. Blink and you’ll miss it. Nonetheless, we found it to be a part of a fairly new small brick strip center and parked easily in the rear. We entered through the back door and were immediately excited about what we saw.
As our host took us to a small cozy table for two near the front, we walked past the big wooden bar nestled around a giant wood-burning pizza oven. A giant chalkboard on the wall told us what we wanted. A “red” one with cheese only for me (Margherita $13) and a “white” one (Selma $16) for the lady. We were also “Yelped” into ordering their specialty desert which I will tell you about later. Oh yeah, the breakfast mystery was solved when I spotted a coffee shop in the adjoining room where some pickers were busy picking.
Since it was dinner, we started with some tasty salads before our pretty pizzas were delivered without hesitation. Their size was just right to solo on, and each was cut into eight small slices. The recipe for mine was a Neapolitan style with the requisite of only scattered clumps of Mozzarella, a delicate touch of tomato sauce, a splash of olive oil and some basil leaves. What was immediately obvious was that they used that burning wood to crisp this one up more than they would over in Italy. No objection from me. One minor flaw however was that the aim of the cheese-laying guy missed two of my slices. I would soon be forgiving him after just a few bites of the incredibly delicious pizza.
Being so light and tasty, I had no trouble finishing off my entire pie. I couldn’t help but praise how delightfully crisp and thin it was. One of my first pizza moves is to flip a slice over to see how much char is on the bottom and Skyking sure passed my test. They really know how to make an expert dough and the cheese was spot-on delicious. I was so surprised to totally enjoy a pizza that was so well-cooked and made with super-fine ingredients.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. That desert was called a “Chocolate Chip Skillet” and is an essential for your visit to Skyking. So, if you live in Music City or are visiting here, make the jaunt over to Kingston Springs to check this place out. In addition to being really that good, it’s owned and operated by a local family and they deserve your support over some corporate guys that wouldn’t know a good slice of pizza if it hit them in the face. Our waitress, who was part of the family, said they served about 60% locals and 40% visitors. I say it’s time for all Nashvillians to join the 40% and visit this cool and charming place!
PIZZA SNOB RATING ****1/2 Nearer Perfection
Skyking Pizza
385 N. Main Street
Kingston Springs, TN 37082
615-952-3107
www.skykingpizza.com