wordplay: Ben Simkins
images: Jonathan Shoup
Ever found yourself sitting on a couch with a bag of Cheetos watching a marathon of VH1’s Behind the Music? One thing I've always found universal in ‘Rockumentaries’ is the...yes, drugs, but also the subjects’ tremendous drive to succeed. Like these Rock Gods, rarely does anything fantastic come from complacency. When I parked at Marco’s Coal-Fired Pizza, I wasn’t expecting something fantastic. A pizza place mere blocks from Coors Field? Even a phone it in “hut” could still pull a decent post-game crowd.
From the moment I stepped into Marco’s, I got the impression that this place had sent complacency for a swim in concrete boots. Old world wrought iron sculptures, exposed brick walls, and paint-stripped wooden beams play off the more contemporary-colored glass tile, clean lines and strikingly muted tones. Marco’s boldly expresses they’re cutting corners or following any current 'it' restaurant trend. Instead, they’re giving customers a truly attractive place to spend the 60 seconds it takes to cook their take-out pie, or bring a date for a night out. This place means business, and my conversation with owner Mark ‘Marco’ Dym only underlined that fact.
Marco’s makes authentic Neapolitan-style pizza, and Dym has worked this out to a science – down to even the most basic of ingredients. Flour isn’t just flour; he uses 00 Flour--the cream of the crop (according to aficionados). It’s white as snow, but hasn't been bleached. All dough needs water, right? What does Dym use? Not San Pellegrino, but close. People have always said pizza from The Big Apple tastes better because of the water. In the spirit of doing things right, Dym had samples of water from three NY boroughs analyzed, then had the good properties (no estrogen) added to the agua he uses. Additionally, all cooks have been trained and certified by the APN (Neo’ pizza big wigs) to make true Neapolitan-style pizza. Every step of the process, from ingredients to equipment to technique, are as authentic as you can get in this modern day and age, all the way to the two honking ovens.
Is the effort worth the result? You bet your sweet rump it is! Two characteristics that make Neapolitan pizza so special are both in the crust. It should be crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside (not easy for such a thin crust) and Marco’s excels in both with its Hickory wood-cooked version. Dym isn’t about to overshadow his hard work, either. Although you can build your own pizza with two toppings of your choice, the real choice is among the menu selections. Don't ask to substitute - Dym says that’s for Domino’s to do, and he’s right. The selection is so well-balanced that there really isn’t any point, with each pizza having a few select top choice ingredients that perfectly compliment each other as well as the crust: you’d be making as big a mistake as putting ketchup on a high-end restaurant’s aged steak... it’s not a good idea for you or your taste buds.
As if pizza wasn’t enough, Dym even stretches his clinical precision to Marco’s chicken wings, too. Marinated in lemon and spices, slow-cooked in a convection oven for 45 minutes, then finished with fresh rosemary in the coal-fired to crisp them up, these wings are lean, mean and oh so good. Somewhere between game-time finger food and duck a l’orange, these bad boys go down easy, especially when they’re accompanied by the caramelized Sweet Vidalia Onions and freshly baked Focaccia Bread. To close out, I’d like to make a suggestion: now, I’m a person who rarely dabbles in the dangerous world of desserts (I don’t care for either ice cream or chocolate) but I plan to visit Marco’s just for their Nutella (a popular Italian chocolate & Hazelnut spread) dessert pizza. And at prices under twenty bucks for a 12’, Dym doesn't want to make you pay for his Neo’ obsession, a big winner in my book. Come on, their wine selection is well crafted and even the post-dinner espresso is manually made (take that SBUX).
2149 Larimer
(303) 296.7000
MarcosCoalFiredPizza.com