Every time I'm forced to eat chain-brand pizza at a party or after some late-night excursion when we shouldn't be driving and don't have the patience to wait an hour and a half for delivery, I feel like a real blasphemer. A heretic. Like I'm spitting in the face of all the masterful pizza-makers that have come before me, just because I happen to have a coupon for some sub-standard soulless hunk of bad bread and tasteless sauce.

When I find an unassuming, out-of-the-way place like the Pizza Art Cafe, I feel a little bit worse. Pizza Art Cafe is not your standard deep-dish or pan joint. Nor is it a loud, boisterous Italian-style place with rock and roll or swing standards on the stereo. A few tables, low lighting, and the scent of the wood-fired oven are all this small storefront has for ambiance. Although it doesn't need much more than that.

Chef/owner Jasmin Bekto has put together a neapolitan pizza place by way of Central Europe. Brick-oven pizza shares menu space with Adriatic specialties like cevapcici (beef sausages served in homemade pita) and pljeskavaca (beef patty in pita with cheese). Pizza selections include your standard margherita (mozzerella and basil) and the more daring Frutti di Mare (mixed seafood, herbs and mozzarella). My Napolitana came straight from the 800-degree oven, white-hot, super-thin and laden with super-salty anchovies, oregano, olive oil and tomatoes. Antipasti plates, white bean and chicken noodle soups and salads are available on the side.

When you consider how little you get in quality and quantity for a personal-sized Domino's pizza or a from-the-freezer specialty, the $10 average that Pizza Art charges seems cheap by comparison. Considering that it's just steps from the Rockwell Brown Line, it's worth a stop. Even taken to go, you can order, run across the street to the Time Out Bar or down to Rockwell's Grill for a drink, and then wander home with your meal. Just don't count on delivery; it's not an option.

Centerstage Reviewer: Karl Klockars