DoubleDave’s Pizzaworks

FOOD

The Peproni Roll is the best place to understand DoubleDave’s. Pepperoni and smoked provolone are wrapped in the chain’s hand-tossed dough, with red sauce or ranch for dipping. They give you a particularly good reason to look beyond the pizza pans.

Stromboli develops that idea into a folded parcel. The Philly Cheesesteak version combines thinly sliced beef steak with mozzarella and white American cheese. Garlic Spinach uses spinach and crushed garlic with those cheeses, while Ham & Cheese brings smoked ham, cheddar and white American cheese. These regular-menu examples illustrate the range; buffet fillings, pizzas and desserts vary by participating restaurant.

Pizza still supplies plenty of variety. The Works combines pepperoni, Italian sausage and smoked ham with onion, green pepper and mushroom, finished with mozzarella, smoked provolone and oregano. It’s a hearty mix of meat and vegetables. A straightforward cheese or pepperoni slice gives you a simpler point of comparison.

The broader pizza menu also gives some idea of the range a participating kitchen can draw on. Meateater combines several meats, including bacon, while Classic Veggie brings tomato, peppers, olives, onion and mushroom. Dave’s Fave uses an olive-oil, garlic and oregano base, with either meatball and sausage or tomato and garlic spinach.

Chicken pizzas add a choice of sauces to the same oven-based meal. Buffalo Chicken combines wing sauce and ranch with grilled chicken and mozzarella; BBQ Chicken uses barbecue sauce instead. The distinction is pleasantly clear when you’re choosing a slice: one follows the wing-and-ranch combination, the other the sweeter barbecue idea.

Salad provides a welcome pause between the richer baked choices. Participating buffet pages place it alongside pizza, Peproni Rolls and stromboli as part of the meal, so a mixed plate can include something leafy as well as dough and cheese. It’s an easy format for a group with different appetites. Someone can return for a favorite roll while someone else gives another pizza a try.

Dessert rounds out the meal. The regular dessert menu includes Chocolate Chip Pizza, made with cookie dough and chocolate chips on thin crust, and cinnamon-sugar Cinnamonstyxz. They show the kitchen’s willingness to use pizza dough for the sweet course as well. A small sweet helping after the savory rounds feels entirely in keeping with the place.