Big Ed's Pizza

A few years back I was in Oak Ridge, TN doing some work at the National Lab in town. Being from out of town I was not sure what places were good to eat at. As I asked around one place always popped up in conversation with local people, it was Big Ed’s Pizza. I thought to myself, not another pizza place. I’d been to many different pizza joints in my travels across the country, and I wasn’t sure if this could be any different than the many others I tried. By the way, this was before the pandemic hit. I remember walking in and sitting at the counter and ordering my pineapple and ham pizza, I can hear the “ughs” now. Anyway, it was my pizza and I happen to like pineapple, but I digress, and that discussion is for another article. From the first bite of the pizza, I knew this was no ordinary pizza joint. I promised myself if I ever start of a website about food, then I would come back to Oak Ridge, TN and write about the places I love the most here.

Leap forward about 5 years, and I’m back in Oak Ridge, and ready to talk a little more about Big Ed’s Pizza. After 5 years, I was so happy to see that Big Ed’s made it through the pandemic and still churning out the same great quality pizza I had previously. One thing about Big Ed’s is they only do one thing, and that is pizza. You won’t find chicken wings, cheesy bread, not even dessert. The only thing you’ll find at Big Ed’s is pizza and beer. They focus on pizza, and because of this they produce some of the best pizza I’ve every had, and trust me, I’ve had a lot of pizza around this country. If you have the time you can read about the history of Big Ed’s Pizza as it started in Alabama, but it eventually made its way to Oak Ridge, TN.

I was with a friend this particular day and we ordered 3 pizzas, two small and one medium to be exact. The medium was your standard pepperoni pizza, except for me there was nothing standard about it. I’m not sure where they get their pepperoni from, but the flavor of it was heavenly. The cheese is made to their specification and shipped in from Wisconsin where it is shredded daily. I’ll talk about the crust in its own paragraph and won’t cover it here. If you are a pepperoni lover, then you are going to love this pizza. The second one was a small sausage and mushroom pizza. The sausage is made in store so they can control both the quality and the spice mix in the sausage. I also have to mention that the tomato sauce is made in store as well for the same reason almost everything is done instore, quality control and freshness.

The third and final pizza was special for me since I love pineapple so much. This was a small pizza with ham, Benton’s bacon, and pineapple on it. If you don’t know what Benton’s bacon is let me tell you about it. It’s a hickory smoked bacon, with a very intense smokey flavor to it made in Madisonville, TN. Before the bacon is smoked it is dry cured for about 3 weeks, the spends about 72 hours in the smoker. You can find out more about Benton’s and even order some of their products from the Benton’s Bacon website. It is considered a premium topping so you will pay a little more for it to be on your pizza, and well worth the money. I like the idea with such intense flavors, of getting a pop of sweetness from the pineapple. Plus, you have that whole salty/sweet game going on. I’ll neve be convinced pineapple doesn’t belong on pizza, especially if it’s done right.

The crust for the pizza has such a great bite and chew to it. It’s thin, but it holds up so well to all the ingredients you can put on it. The bottom of the crust is beautifully brown with a great crunch and it doesn’t droop when you pick a slice up. There is both strength and tenderness in the crust and you can tell it’s a superior crust due to its chew factor.