Don’t Go Hungry

“Feeding a Hungry Nation.”

That happens to be the outlandish slogan of Pit Fire Pizza Co., a highly visible, terminally hip restaurant at the corner of a busy NoHo intersection. The thing is, the place is so engaging you can almost envision this flashy newcomer living up to the boast, at least if it ever blossoms into a McDonald’s-scale chain.

It specializes in pizzas cooked in a huge wood-fired grill, on a Rube Goldberg-like device the chefs lower toward the smoking embers by turning a wheel. The cracker-thin crusts are heated until slightly black on the bottom, then they’re brushed on top with olive oil to make them even crisper.

From that point on, the pizzas follow the usual course: a light brush of heady marinara, liberal sprinkles of fresh mozzarella and finally the toppings of your choice. The results are impressive. Pit Fire Pizza Co. turns out pizzas to rival anything in town.

The restaurant has the spare, diffident look of a NoHo Arts District hangout. The blond wooden chairs look vaguely Danish; the plain wooden tables have jet black tops.

Perhaps the owners, two guys described on the menu only as Paul and Dave, were being purposefully minimalist when they hung the restaurant’s lone bit of art--a blown-up black and white photo of a sink full of dirty dishes titled “Midnight Mission on Christmas Eve.” Most of my guests found this rather stark photo a puzzlement, but the young adult in our group pronounced it terribly chic, and she seems to be the demographic target Pit Fire is aiming at.

My favorite pizza was Dixie chicken: shredded white meat with roasted red bell peppers and pasilla chiles, Jack cheese and a smoky tomato sauce. NoHo garlic shrimp pizza has a dazzling topping of grilled shrimp, roasted garlic, lemon zest and a little more olive oil than the other pizzas.

The cheesiest pizza has to be Cheese X 4, where judicious amounts of mozzarella, Fontina, Gouda and Parmesan are blended with a teardrop of marinara and a fair bit of roasted garlic. The only pizza I wouldn’t order again is that traditional favorite, pepperoni; it has a great crust, but the sausage is nearly undetectable.

Pizzas are not the only things worth a try, by the way. Pit Fire’s menu also spans pastas, salads and “rollzones,” the cute name for wraps that the owners have copyrighted.

Entree-size salads are served in deep paper dishes and complement these pizzas well. The house salad may have a bit too much pungent Asiago cheese, but the mixed greens and chopped romaine are fresh, the herbed croutons fragrant and the balsamic vinegar dressing surprisingly restrained.

The Pit Fire tuna salad presses a number of fashionable buttons, but with minor success. The seared ahi tuna, in a nicely tart sesame oil dressing, has little flavor.

I’m not a big fan of wraps, but I generally approve of Pit Fire’s rollzones, based on huge flour tortillas. The Cuban steak rollzone appeals to grown-ups with its filling of grilled flank steak, tomatillo sauce, pasilla chiles and avocados.

On the pasta list, there is an offbeat version of linguine Bolognese with a meaty sauce of beef, turkey and chicken, but in my book, the best pasta is Mac 5, a decadent, crumb-topped macaroni and cheese made with five cheeses.

For the end of the meal, there are sumptuous homemade fudge-frosted brownies and rich chocolate chip/peanut butter cookies. The nation isn’t going to be hungry for long if it pays a visit to Pit Fire Pizza Co.

BE THERE

Pit Fire Pizza Co., 5211 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily. Dinner for two, $14-$23. No alcohol. Parking in rear lot. MasterCard and Visa accepted. (818) 980-2949. Suggested dishes: Dixie chicken pizza, $6.25; NoHo garlic shrimp pizza, $7.25; Cuban steak rollzone, $6.95; Mac 5, $5.75; house salad, $3.95.