Crazy’s Dough’s Pizza Opens on Thames Street With Award-Winning Slices

In 1999 Doug Ferriman opened his first pizza shop in Boston. His concept was to offer grilled pizza by the slice, a first for the pizza industry. Fast forward to today and he’s expanded to five locations in Boston and, most recently, he opened another location here in Newport on Thames Street.

Crazy Dough’s Pizza has been open for just about three weeks and Ferriman says it’s going well.

“Not only have we received positive feedback from our customers about the selection of pizza, but we’ve had a great response about offering it by the slice, which no one out there is really doing.”

Unlike other pizza restaurants here in Newport, Crazy Dough’s offers a variety of slices daily. For example, yesterday at noon about 10 different pizzas were on display and waiting for the lunch crowd to order pizza by the slice. There were the traditional flavors, like plain and pepperoni, but there were also a number of gourmet variations, like the staff favorite Balsamic Glaze & Ricotta, the award-winning Nutty Tuscan, and, the favorite amongst the Newport crowd so far, the Potato Bacon Cheddar.

Because of the small space, each morning the crust is brought down from Boston for the tradition al Sicilian style pizzas. Ferriman said it's important to us high quality ingredients as part of his vision for the business. He also sources the highest quality cheese available from American Dairy Farms, flour from North Dakota, and tomato sauce is from California.

“We also use a high quality olive oil and when you add this to the crust and then throw it on the grill, it adds a very unique flavor,” he said.

In 2004 and 2007, Crazy Dough’s was awarded the #1 Pizza in America at the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas. In 2011, the pizza placed second in the World at the International Pizza Challenge, also in Las Vegas. 

Crazy Dough’s is open seven days a week, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Mondays and 11 a.m. to 2a.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. The late evening hours have been a concern for neighbors but, according to Ferriman, it’s not because of the noise but more so for the trash.

“We have a clean-up policy and each morning we pick up the trash within 100 yards of our restaurant,” Ferriman said. “The other morning a shop a few doors down had pizza sauce smeared on its steps and we were down there scrubbing it first thing in the morning. We are conscious neighbors and are controlling the things we can control.”

In addition to pizza by the slice, Crazy Dough’s also offers two sizes: a large Fire-Grilled (20 inches), which ranges from $16 to $22.50, and a Sicilian style, which ranges from $32 to $42 and is the equivalent of two large pizzas.

“I grew up on Cape Cod so the ocean has always been an attraction for me,” he said. “Not to mention the people here in Newport are so much friendlier!”

Crazy Dough’s is located at 446 Thames Street. More information, including their menu, is available on their website: www.crazydoughs.com.