TINY'S PIZZA JOINT
Hoppen Hierarchy:★★★⭑
Districts: Aksarben
NY-style pizzeria
Perfect For: Casual Dining; Lunch; Takeout
Standout Dishes: Hot Girl Pizza; The Stacy Pizza
Knowing that Sam Laughlin cut his culinary teeth as a cook at Au Courant, the fact that his first solo venture resulted in Tiny’s Pizza Joint is a bit of a surprise.
Au Courant is one of Omaha’s premier fine dining restaurants, featuring carefully planned tasting menus, exquisite plating, and ingredients few other restaurants serve. To go from that background to New York-style pizza feels like a hard left turn.
But once you taste the pizza at Tiny’s, it all starts to make sense. No, Sam is no longer plating foie gras and caviar. But he’s now pouring the same thought and intentionality he did on those refined plates into pizza, elevating it to a level most pizza joints can only hope to reach.
Tiny’s (named after Sam himself, a giant who earned the nickname as an ironic joke) brings to the Inner Rail Food Hall what the multi-vendor space has long needed: elite-level pizza. And Sam put in the work to bring the dream to life.
He spent over a year developing the concept and recipes. He consulted with David Losole, the pizza master behind Virtuoso Pizzeria. He researched nearby farms and purveyors to find fresh, local ingredients to take his pizza to the next level.
But, like all great pizza, it starts at the base. And Sam’s research gives Tiny’s pizza a very good starting point.
The sourdough ferments for over 24 hours, enriching the dough’s structure. It’s then hand-streched, dusted in cornmeal, and baked in a deck oven. The result is a dough that thin and crispy but has a wonderful chewy consistency. Though the slices are quite large, they barely flop when you pick them up, displaying great integrity, and the cooking process produces random bubbles and beautiful leoparding (dark pockets of flavor).
The outer crust is the highlight, as each pizza’s outer rim is finished with a brushing of garlic butter and a drizzle of grated parmesan. You basically get to eat a slice of pizza, then finish with a delightful breadstick.
The red sauce is more tangy than sweet and is a bit mild, accenting the ingredients rather than dominating the flavor. And the shredded Grande cheese adds a rich, buttery flavor with a touch of salt.
These elements come together to make excellent pizza, as brilliantly showcased by the Plane Jane. Aptly named, this basic cheese pizza is as simple as it gets, yet it showcases the way the dough, sauce, and cheese play together excellently.
It’s one of 6 signature pizzas at Tiny’s, which offers pizzas by the slice or as full 16″ pies. Diners can also build custom pies using a roster of 12 ingredients.
But the pro move is to go with Tiny’s signature creation, the Hot Girl (shown in the header photo). Pepperoni and hot honey have become a popular pizza combo, but his slice showcases their duality especially well.
The slice is liberally covered in tiny char-n-cup pepperonis, which curl up and trap all that delicious pork grease during their time in the oven. Locally sourced honey adds a touch of sweetness, while red chili flakes bring some heat to find the perfect balance.
The Sneaky Link employs an ingredient rarely found on pizza: chicken sausage. The crumbled sausage has a little spice but is pretty mild. The star of this slice is instead the roasted red peppers and caramelized onions, whose pops of sweetness play well with the nutty cheese.
If you’re a fan of white pies, The Stacy is right up your alley. Most white sauce pizzas have a base that’s so creamy and rich it’s almost an alfredo, but Tiny’s version is smoother with a subtle garlic taste. When paired with whipped ricotta, fresh basil, and sweet roasted garlic, it makes for a great slice.
Sam Laughlin is no longer putting together tasting menus or serving duck confit, but he’s taking the fine dining elements and incorporating them into humble pizza. Every aspect of these pies is thoughtful, from the creation of the dough, the oven they’re cooked in, and the balance of toppings.
Fine dining is often considered a form of art. Tiny’s shows that pizza can be art, too.