Sully's Pub, South Ave. - CLOSED

NOTE: Sully's Pub is now closed.
At long last I made it to Sully’s Pub, which is on the South Avenue extension downtown. It’s the part of South Avenue that dead-ends, next to the on-ramp for 490 East. Maybe because of the warmer weather, Sully’s has just begun opening for lunch on Thursdays and Fridays, which made it easier for me to get over there.
Sully’s rather brief menu features pizza baked in a wood-fired oven. Although the oven is new, it seems like a good fit for this space. Several bars have come and gone in this spot, but the building itself goes way back, and has a charming, vintage industrial feel to it, with high ceilings and brick inside and out. There’s also a courtyard/patio in back, which is where my two companions and I sampled three of Sully’s pizzas: a three-cheese pizza with garlic and tomatoes, a mushroom pie with sauteed onions, and a “margarita” with pepperoni.
As expected, the crusts were thin, but not paper thin. There was a little oil at the center of my three-cheese pizza, and the tips of the slices were a bit floppy, but the crusts were mostly firm and crisp.
The crusts were formed into a thin lip at the edge, which varied in texture from chewy to very crunchy, and were a little puffy here and there. The undersides were nicely browned with a little bit of charring.
All the pizzas had good flavor. The three cheeses on my pie (I neglected to have them identified) were evident, as the pie had a complex blend of cheese flavors, and the garlic came through quite nicely as well. The bland tomatoes seemed like an afterthought, but what do you expect in early April?
I also sampled my companions’ pies. The margarita - which to me seemed more like a standard, cheese, sauce and pepperoni pie than a margherita - had a very “bright” tasting sauce, and the pepperoni slices were well crisped but not dried out.
Surprisingly - since I don’t like mushrooms - I really liked the mushroom and onion pie. The mushrooms didn’t have the rubbery texture that I find particularly offputting about mushrooms, and the onions added quite a bit of flavor that complemented the other components quite well.
As I mentioned, Sully’s menu is pretty short. They do offer burgers, cooked on an outdoor grill, wraps and a few other items, but the star here is the pizza.
And it’s good pizza. Three pizzas is a pretty good sampling, and all three of these were enjoyable, tasty and well made. I would’ve liked just a bit more crispness and maybe some toasty smokiness in the crust, but that’s about my only minor quibble. I’ll rate these an A-.
Sully’s Pub, 242 South Ave. 232-3960
Tue. - Sat. 5 p.m. - 2 a.m., Open for lunch on Thu. and Fri., 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.