Missing Vowel at Luigi's Pizzeria

Bruce Ward, proprietor of Luigi's Pizzeria (3700 Al­meda, 281-793-3333), seems an unlikely person to open a pizza place. After all, if you don't have a vowel at the end of your name, what do you know about cooking Italian? But while he may not be Italian by birth, he is in his attitude toward Italian food. "My wife, Luisa, is half Sicilian and half Sardinian," he says. "I met her over 20 years ago in Bay City, where she owned Luisa's Ristorante Italiano." Ward has been making pizzas with his wood-burning pizza oven on his back porch for years.

"When this property recently became available," he says, "we decided, 'We've been making so much pizza, let's open our own place.' We have a real pizzaiolo (pizza maker) from Naples...who wanted to see America. All our dough is handmade and hand-tossed, thin-crust, and we only use fresh ingredients...We also have real Italian gelato and good coffee. You should see this place when some of the Italians from the Med Center come in here and start screaming at each other, all in good fun, of course."

Tucked in a small, stand-alone building on the southeast edge of downtown, Luigi's is churning out some of the best pizza the city has to offer — crisp and superbly tasty. Try the caprese, with fresh mozzarella, olive oil, tomato sauce and leaves of basil.