Coal Pizza Company

Given the string of restaurant concepts that have failed to make a go of it at 36 E. Washington St. in the last few years, we were eager to see what 36 East Irish Pub & Grill might do to have more staying power in the downtown dining scene.

If you have spent any time at all with an East Coast expat, you’ve probably been apprised of the embarrassing state of pizza in Indianapolis—our dearth of pizzaioli dusted in doppio zero flour, dough spiked with mineral-rich water, and slices that fold neatly down the middle. But when a place like downtown’s Coal Pizza Company comes along, cooking its pies in a 900-degree oven in the big-shouldered tradition of America’s first pizzerias, redemption is served by the slice.