GRUB SCOUT

Pizza Hoss serves upper-crust flavor, beers on tap in Karns | Grub Scout

Grub Scout
The Knoxville News Sentinel
This half-and-half pizza at Pizza Hoss is a hybrid of the BadMamaJama and a chicken-bacon-ranch concoction.

My latest venture was the second in what is turning out to be a series of late-summer pizza runs for The Grub Spouse and me (more to come in the next several weeks). I learned about Pizza Hoss via a Facebook comment and decided to visit the Karns location of the local chain (there’s one in Powell too) on a recent weeknight a couple of weeks back.

The cavernous main dining room and bar area was buzzing with energy when we entered. Every table was either occupied or vacant and not bussed yet. The Spouse and I took a seat at the bar, where the volume of chatter and conversation seemed to be swelling to a dinnertime crescendo.

Pizza Hoss has a respectable selection of beers on tap as well as enough shelved spirits to mix up most any drink you’d prefer instead. We passed on the alkyhol altogether that night and dove right into the menu. We mulled appetizers like garlic knots, cheese bread and fried pickle chips before ordering up some Southwestern cheese curds ($6.5).

Non-pizza menu items include five- to 40-piece wing orders (both boneless and bone-in), calzones, salads, fries and pasta bowls. Items of interest include chorizo and tomato pasta bowl and the Texas fries, which are crinkle fries smothered in nacho cheese and topped with bacon, onions, tomatoes and jalapeños, with a drizzle of barbecue sauce.

On this night, The Spouse and I decided to focus exclusively on pizza. You can build your own pie on crusts ranging from 10 inches to 20 inches. They have some 18 toppings to choose from, all familiar pizza items. You can add extra cheese (a “cheese blanket”), extra crushed red pepper and hot sauce (a “heat blanket”) or a garlic Parmesan crust, all for an upcharge.

The menu lays out 14 different specialty pizzas, including The Big Hoss (all meats), the Mediterranean (grilled chicken, diced tomatoes, basil and garlic), The Fear (spicy ingredients) and Kitchen Sink, which is their equivalent of a supreme plus a layer of extra cheese.

The Spouse and I wound up splitting a large pizza ($17), divided evenly between the BadMamaJama and the chicken bacon ranch recipes. The former (my half) is made with pepperoni, onions, jalapeños and Italian sausage. The latter (for The Spouse) features grilled chicken, bacon and chopped garlic on a ranch-based sauce.

The cheese curds came out first, and we were grateful, because we were having a later-than-usual dinner and were starving. This iteration of deep-fried cheese was par for the course, but we still wolfed the crusty-gooey nuggets down in short order. They were legitimately enjoyable, however, with and without the accompanying marinara dipping sauce.

When our pizza arrived, I noticed that pineapple chunks had been added to my BadMamaJama half. I brought this to the attention of the bartender, who immediately offered to have the kitchen make us a small version of the same pizza at no cost to us. I appreciated the gesture but opted to just pluck out the offending pineapple chunks and forge ahead. No harm, no foul. (For the record, I love, love, love pineapple, but I really don’t want it on a pizza.)

But our meal surely was tasty going the rest of the way. Often, pizza cheese is a bland mass of goo, but the mozzarella they use at Pizza Hoss was rich and flavorful and doled out in generous portions. The toppings were good, and I especially liked the consistency of the crust: not too thin, not too thick — chewy but with just a slight essence of crispness. The Spouse’s half struck a nice balance of savory bacon and tangy ranch flavors. We finished all but two slices of the eight-slice, 14-inch pie.

I recommend Pizza Hoss for anyone in the Karns/Hardin Valley/Oak Ridge area, whether you’re simply in search of tasty ‘za or looking for a lively atmosphere in which to eat and imbibe while watching televised sports with the gang. As far as local pizzerias go, I think this place belongs among the upper crust.

Pizza Hoss Neighborhood Sports Pub

Food: 4.25

Service: 4

Atmosphere: 3.5

Overall: 4

Address: 7664 Oak Ridge Hwy.

Phone: 865-851-8504

Full bar service

Hours: 4 to 8 p.m. Sundays, Tuesdays through Thursdays; 4 to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays

This Karns-area pizzeria and pub serves up delicious pizza in a lively, sports-loving atmosphere.