Dining review: Blaze Pizza puts your pie on an assembly line

You walk into the new joint on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena and a couple of people in the kitchen shout out “WELCOME TO BLAZE!” You step up to the counter and decide whether you want a signature pizza or a build-your-own. You waffle. The green stripe looks good; you love pesto. But the white top has ricotta. You finally pick. This one, that one and that one, and wait, one in your dining party wants a build-your-own. And when you see the toppings behind the glass you want to build your own too, but there are people in line behind you.

Blaze Pizza is one of the restaurants, mainly on the coasts, taking the assembly line approach of Subway or Chipotle and using it to build pizzas. It’s a great idea — a quality pie made in front of you with fresh ingredients of your choosing. Not just choosing and clicking on an online menu but pointing at the container of minced garlic and saying, “Yeah, I want a fistful of that.” Blaze, the creation of Wetzel’s Pretzels founders Elise and Rick Wetzel, has restaurants in Pasadena and Irvine and plans to develop more than a dozen in Southern California by the end of 2013.

Blaze fast-fires its personal-sized, 11-inch pizzas in a superheated open-hearth oven so the thin-crusted pies are done in two minutes. Even though the chefs don’t start spreading the dough for your pie until you order, you’re eating in minutes. It’s a fast-food solution that tastes anything but.

The signature styles range from the meat eater, with pepperoni, crumbled meatballs, red onion, mozzarella and red sauce, to the veg out, with zucchini, red peppers, mushrooms, mozzarella, crumbled Gorgonzola and dollops of red sauce. The white top is sauceless, with mozzarella, ricotta, apple-wood bacon, garlic and oregano, and arugula leaves piled on top. It’s light-tasting because the chefs aren’t too heavy on the cheese and the bacon gives it just the right saltiness.

The barbecue chicken pie is topped with juicy grilled chicken, mozzarella, red onion and pepperoncinis. Drizzles of sweet barbecue sauce and crumbles of rich Gorgonzola play nicely off each other. The green stripe signature pizza also has the chunks of grilled chicken with mozzarella, red peppers and chopped garlic. Tangy pesto drizzled all over and arugula scattered on top round out the tasty pie. The red vine may be Blaze’s prettiest pizza, all red, white and green. The sauceless pie is decorated with perlini mozzarella, Parmesan, garlic, tomatoes, basil and a drizzle of olive oil. It’s a crisp-tasting, with the zesty tomatoes adding a fresh pop.

To build your own pie, you choose three meats and/or cheeses, and then you can pile whatever vegetables you want on top of that. No extra charge. Your meat and cheese options are applewood bacon, grilled chicken, Italian sausage, pepperoni, salami, crumbled meatballs, Gorgonzola, mozzarella, Parmesan, ricotta and vegan cheese. Sauces are red sauce, pesto and barbecue. Veggies? You want salt and spice? Go for the Kalamata olives, jalapenos, pepperoncinis, artichokes and garlic. Sweet? Hit the pineapple and tomatoes. Fiber? How do arugula, bell peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, red onions and basil ring your bell?

The crusts (there’s even a gluten-free option) are light and crisp. Are they as heavenly as those on the pies coming out of the hand-crafted Italian brick oven down the street? No. But these pizzas start at $6.85, and you can get in and out in a spare 15 minutes before heading to Laemmle or Vroman’s a few steps away.

The only dessert so far is a s’more pie, with marshmallow and chocolate sandwiched between crisp, graham-cracker-tasting cookies. The blood-orange lemonade is a nice drink choice if you’re not pairing your pizza with wine or beer. Blaze needs to get its java mojo working. The s’more pie calls out for coffee.

Oh, you can build your own salad at Blaze too. And as soon as we’ve tried every combination on the pizzas, we might give those a go.

REBECCA BRYANT is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Newsday and other publications.

What: Blaze Pizza

Where: 667 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena

When: Open daily, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

More info: (626) 440-7358, blazepizza.com