By; Lynne O’Meara

Leonardtown, MD- I’ve been hearing about this great, new pizza place in Leonardtown. I made a point of checking it out, and I’m so glad I did! Owners Ken and Maegyne Held (with help from their son, John) have found the secret to making great pizza!

Ken told me he grew up in a restaurant family, back to the 1800’s in New York. So, after 30 years in the car business, they decided to open a restaurant. They started by determining what type of restaurant the area could use, then they spent a lot of time perfecting their recipes…which they have!

Their dough is made fresh, in-house, everyday. It is a cold-permutation process and proofs for 24-hours. They make their own sauce too, using the best ingredients. The cheese is from Wisconsin and has no additives or caking agents. They hand-toss the pizza and it goes on 18-inch pans. The crust is perfectly thin, which is the way I prefer it. The balance of crust and toppings is perfect!

They only sell pizza by the slice and they have all their offerings on display for you to choose from. The pizzas are cooked in the brick oven partially, then finished off in the oven after you order. Every day they have the standards…cheese, pepperoni, sausage/pepperoni, veggie, supreme, and chicken cilantro. They rotate specialty flavors.

The day I was there, they had an amazing Reuben pizza. We ordered slices of pepperoni, pepperoni/sausage, and chicken cilantro. Ken brought over a Reuben slice for us to try. It was all delicious! The crust has a great flavor (Ken said it took them a while to get the crust right). My favorite was the chicken cilantro! It’s topped with a pesto (made in-house) and it was amazing! They also have garden and Greek salads and chicken wraps.

They have a full bar, which is comfortable and welcoming, with a good selection of beer, liquor and wine, including six craft beers on tap. They did a lot of work on the inside, and it shows. Ken said they did most of the work themselves. They have some beautiful metal pieces, including a huge slice of pizza hanging over the oven. They metal work was done by a local artist, Nick (Torch) Boyd. There is seating at tables, at the bar, and outside.

The Slice House has been open for eight weeks and has sold over 32,000 slices of pizza! After tasting the pizza, I can understand the buzz about this place! They are open Monday-Saturday from 11am-8pm.

I’m already trying to figure out what day I’m going to go this week! I need to go back!

David M. Higgins II, Publisher/Editor
