Student Driver Pizza

A combination driving school/pizza delivery service is one of those high-concept restaurant ideas that can either be ludicrous or laudable. In the case of "Student Driver Pizza," the pendulum is fortunately stuck at fantastic.

I recently ordered a large pizza, anchovies only, no cheese, from "Student Driver Pizza," and I was pleasantly surprised. First, by the website. While the site did feature grainy black-and-white footage of the aftermaths of auto accidents, it was otherwise user-friendly and fun. Easy to navigate, the site allowed me to order the pizza within seconds, without any tiresome "logging in" or "registering."

I must admit that the pizza took quite a while to arrive. In fact, when the pizza arrived, I was no longer hungry, having availed myself of whatever leftovers I could assemble into an omelet. I wasn't upset, though--not a bit! Safety first is my motto, in food safety and in driving safety. These are student drivers, remember! They're supposed to drive slow. Slowly.

The delivery person arrived at the door with a beefy older man in a short-sleeved shirt in tow. He must have been the driving instructor/supervisor. He shepherded the delivery person through the entire process of unzipping the thermal pouch (more important than ever when the driver is a student!), handing me the receipt and pen (which the supervisor kindly uncapped for me--marvelous!) and processing my credit card. The instructor even had his own credit-card machine so he could stop the transaction instantly if the worker made a mistake! The whole operation took only a few minutes, and compared to the six-hour wait I had patiently endured, the time flew by like mere seconds.

How was the pizza? Well, I must say that I was heartened that "Student Driver Pizza" did not succumb to the temptation of shaping the pizzas like road signs: Stop signs, Yield signs, Merge, Railroad Crossing, and the like. Well, it was shaped like a Railroad Crossing sign, but that was unavoidable in a pizza.

The pizza tasted wonderful, with a piquant surface of anchovies laid down like hot, salty tar on the concrete-crunchy crust. Amazing! Call me a fan. I not only like them, but I "like" them (you Facebook fanatics will know of what I'm talking about. Of? About? Hmm).

Overall, then, if you are patient enough to wait for a long delivery time, I believe you will love Student Driver Pizza. What a fabulous service the owners are providing for the youth of today, lending them both employment and needed, practical instruction in the art and craft of operating a motor vehicle. A glance at the company website shows that a new restaurant concept is in the works--Community Service Driving School Pizza, which apparently will combine punitive, community-service style driving lessons with pizza delivery. I for one can't wait!

For their anchovies, and for their vision, I give Student Driver Pizza--five Green Lights!