A pizza the rectangular pie in Rio Rancho's underserved area

RIO RANCHO — Restaurants and vendors have been slowly filing into The Block in Enchanted Hills and Rio Rancho’s underserved northern parts are happier for it.

In one of the most anticipated openings, Thicc Pizza has drawn in the masses with its Detroit-style pizza.

Co-owners Seth Beckley and Felicia Meyer opened their first location in Albuquerque but say there are major benefits to having a Rio Rancho location.

“We were invited to the 505 Central Food Hall in downtown Albuquerque. We were asked to do our wood-fired concept, which was not something we were able to do there for a lot of reasons,” said Beckley. “So, we decided to come up with something that would be a little more unique, given the space of that location. It’s super tiny. We have a 330-square-foot kitchen. ...So, we thought ‘let’s try doing a deep-dish pizza there’.”

As a kid, Beckley says he was a huge fan of the “Meat-Lovers Pan Pizza” at Pizza Hut. One of the concepts at the first location was something similar in deep dish style.

“What I made for them that day was not a Detroit style. It was just a thick pan pizza. It was really good though. My partner, Felicia has always wanted to do Detroit style. I didn’t even know what that was,” Beckley recalls. “I mean, I’d heard of it being offered by some of the franchise places as limited time specials, but I didn’t remember there’s a lot to Detroit-style that makes it different from just a [pan pizza].”

Beckley says he and Meyers did their homework to make sure they stayed true to the style.

“Felicia did extensive research to make sure we were doing it right... Almost nobody does it with the exception of those franchise. ...So, as far as we know, we’re the only one that full-time does Detroit-style pizza, at least in this part of the state,” he said.

Detroit-style is a thick, rectangular pan pizza rather than the usual round pie. It also has a crispy crust that is partly made by the overflow of cheese burning on the sides of the pan. The center is “gooey”.

“Other thing that I think comes into play is it’s harder than other pizza. You don’t just toss it and sauce it and cook it. It takes time. It requires a lot [smaller] wares. I think here we have a hundred blue steel pans, and we need that to get through a busy night. So that means you gotta scrape them, clean them, season them, rotate them, and there’s a lot of them. It takes a lot more than just making a pizza and throwing it in the oven,” Beckley explains.

The blue pans have significance as well. Beckley explained they took a page from the original Detroit-style pizza, which came from Buddy’s Pizza in Detroit, Michigan. The blue pans and the length of time it takes are part of the experience for Beckley.

The quality of the ingredients used is another reason Beckley gives for people to wait for a good pizza.

“We’re a non-GMO kitchen. We’re higher end in our ingredients and it takes a lot of work to track down stuff that fits our requirements,” he says. “Felicia does a ton of research finding the right products. We’ve brought products into New Mexico that were previously unavailable. For example, Bianco Di Napoli Tomatoes are a fantastic offering ...and they were unavailable previously from any food distributor.”

Making a Detroit style pizza at Thicc Pizza Co. can take 12 minutes, when business is slow, and up-to-30 minutes when it’s busy.

“You can order online. You can call ahead and have it done. Or if you’re coming to The Block and you have other things that you want to see, come by and make your order right away, then go out and see what’s going on,” Beckley suggests.

Rio Rancho was the optimum location for Beckley and Meyer for that reason and a few others.

“The invitation to come out here, we were super excited about. There’s a lot of challenges to doing business in downtown Albuquerque aside for the space being so small. You have to worry about parking, you have to worry about a plethora of things that we don’t have to worry about here. Just an ideal place to come,” he said.

Beckley adds that a major attraction was the unique concept and opportunities offered at The Block.

“We were here early enough that we got to pick our container. We could have been in in the food hall area but we wanted a little bit more space. We wanted to be able to sell our own beer and wine. We don’t have our permit yet, but we will. So, we’ll have local beer and wine on tap, that is different from what they’re serving anyplace else here at The Block,” he says.

Despite the hot opening, Beckley says he is content with opening slow.

“There was a lot of anticipation where we were trying to get things ready, and we did not open officially when The Block opened up. We’re training and getting our finishing touches... wrapped up.”

The opening has been received well so far, but one question that Beckley gets is if people can get Thicc Pizza delivered. The answer is “yes”, if people go through third party delivery vendors (like DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats.)

They are also working on the New-York-style side of the menu and gluten-free options.

For more information visit thiccpizzaco.com.