30 E. Georgia StreetOur trips to Indianapolis don’t usually see us staying downtown. We got a new boss and he insisted on booking the rooms himself.
We stayed in downtown Indianapolis.
That opens a lot of possibilities when it comes to food…well, for most people it would. We did what we could do before 7:00 then we kind of got in to a holding pattern waiting on a couple of phone calls. We didn’t want to go sit down somewhere in case we got one of those phone calls and had to run somewhere.
My colleague went back to his room to do some work and I headed to mine. I didn’t have as much to do and I was hungry. It was Friday night, so you know what that means.
It’s pizza night!
We were staying at the Hampton Inn in downtown Indianapolis so I looked to see what was close. There were a few pizza options but there was one that didn’t have much of a wait time. The others were all pubs so there was more of a wait.
Hot Box Pizza is a chain of take out pizza places around Indianapolis. There are about two dozen locations with most being in the Greater Indianapolis area.
The one I picked is the downtown location near Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The small take out spot is on the bottom floor of the Harness Factory Lofts on Georgia Street just to the west of Pennsylvania Street. The pizza place is in the corner spot next to a conveinence store so I was able to grab a couple of Pepsi’s before I went to pick up my pizza.
I knew I was going to be late getting back to my room Saturday night so I made sure to order enough Friday night that I would have leftovers. I didn’t know how late I was going to be but I knew it’d be after midnight and by that point, it was just easier to have something already in my room waiting for me.
I put in an order online for a large Porky The Pie with “skinny” crust and added an order of Stix with nacho cheese dipping sauce. The cost was about $35 before tip.
The walk was much shorter than I thought it was from my hotel. I got there a little bit early and decided just to go in and see how much time was left.
The restaurant is set up like most pizza places. There’s a large order counter where you order or, in my case, pick up the pizzas.
There is a small dine in area. It’s not much. Just a couple of tables, but if you’re downtown and need a bite to eat, it’s a perfect spot to grab a pizza then go back to whatever shenanigans you’re up to.
I grabbed the pizza box and the bag of Stix and walked back to my hotel. It was only a block or so away via the alley next to the pizza shop.
I started with the Stix first since they wouldn’t really be great leftovers. Indiana seems to have it’s own style of bread sticks. These are hand rolled pieces of dough. They’re long and skinny in the middle but thicker on the ends. They’re a good kind of dipping bread sticks. I ate four of the six and I was right about them on Day 2. They weren’t great cold. I should have gone with my gut and ate them all Friday night.
The dipping sauce I chose isn’t new to me but it seems it’s an Indiana thing. I never realized nacho cheese isn’t something that’s offered at pizza places all over the place. I grew up going to Monical’s Pizza and those bread sticks, which are pretty similar to these, come with marinara and nacho cheese to dip them in. I always loved the cheese. My family would fight over the small cups they would give us. It’s the same kind of nacho cheese you get at the stadium when you get nachos but it’s such a good dipping choice for bread sticks.
For the pizza, I went with the “skinny” crust which is just another way of saying thin crust. The crust is a really thin crust pizza cut in to squares and topped with a lot of meat. I ordered the Porky The Pie. It’s pepperoni, ham, bacon, sausage, and extra cheese.
I love the way the sausage and bacon are all chopped up pretty small so you got a lot in every bite. The crust is super crispy. I really liked this pizza. Much more than I thought I would. I ate about half of it Friday night and left the other half for post work Saturday night.
As an added bonus, and a little post meal treat, they included a handful of Tootsie Rolls in the box as well.
I would absolutely order this pizza again. I was really just trying to find a quick pizza. I found that but I also found a really tasty pizza. I really like thin crust pizzas and this one, cut in to squares, is exactly the kind of pizza I like.