When It's Pizza On a Bagel, You Can Eat Pizza Anytime

Benchwarmers Bagels

500 East Davie St, Raleigh NC

February 7, 2020

OK, so my title is misleading but I couldn't resist (thanks Dustin). Their pizza isn't really served on bagels, it's just a killer wood-fired bagel spot that now has pizza night on "Thursdayz and Fridayz." Sicilian style pizza to be specific, one of my personal favorites. I'm also a bit backlogged on posts so expect a few of these in the next couple of days. 

Benchwarmers Bagels opened up last year in our new favorite spot, Transfer Food Hall. If you haven't been we highly recommend it. They did a great job rehabbing an old building while keeping its original charm, and there are some really nice local flourishes throughout. They really kept an emphasis on that (unlike Raleigh's other food hall) and it's much appreciated. There are a wide variety of food options, from burgers to Indian, to bagels, but our favorite is definitely Locals Seafood. Check this place out if you can, you won't regret it. Anyway, on to the pizza.

 This one is hard to rate as with Sicilian style pizza it's ALL about the dough/crust and everything else is a bit of an afterthought. Here's where Benchwarmers shines though, their dough is excellent. I got a slice of cheese and a slice of pepperoni, but I'm going to rate them as one because it's my blog and I can do that.

The crust was nice and thick like Sicilian pie should be. Pillowy soft on the inside, and super crisp and buttery on the outside. The slices reheat super quick in their wood-fired oven and the bottom has that amazing crunch that you hope for. Good stuff. The sauce was barely noticeable, but that doesn't mean it wasn't good. It had a deep tomato flavor in more of a thick Sunday gravy kind of way. There were little splotches of a mild mozzarella to top things off, and it was fine.

My second slice has all the same traits as the cheese, just with an avalanche of cupped pepperoni slices. It was fantastic. Honestly, they could have just topped that dough with just pepperoni and called it a day and I would have been happy.

One last thing to note, they offer a side of house-made pickled Cayenne peppers that I highly recommend trying. They taste like Tabasco before it's made into a sauce and it added a nice vegetive crunch with a good bit of heat.

Appearance: 7/10, It's truthfully wasn't the best looking since they were just individual slices, but it gets a bit of a bump for the copious amount of pepperoni.
Crust: 9/10, Just absolutely delicious. Everything you want in a Sicilian pie. The bottom is how I usually judge this style and Benchwarmers didn't disappoint. It had a rich buttery flavor from the bottom of the pan and a killer crunch. The only reason it doesn't get a ten is that they were reheated slices and not off of a freshly baked pie.
Sauce: 6/10, It was fine.
Cheese: 6/10, It was fine.
Cook: 8/10, Overall they were perfectly cooked Sicilian slices. They were baked in a super hot wood-fired oven which gave it the crispy outside and soft inside that a good thick slive needs. I just subtracted one point as they were re-heated slices, but that's on me, not their fault. I didn't want to spend $30 for a whole pie.
Overall: 36/50,  If you find yourself hanging at Transfer on Friday night in Raleigh I definitely recommend getting a few slices from Benchwarmers. Two will leave you nice and full but not so much that you won't be able to polish off a couple pints from Burial Beer next door.

-Brian