Review preview: Pizzeria Basta

Mark Manger

It's been a banner year for pizza in Boulder: Between January 2010 and January 2011, three ambitious pizzerias opened their doors, all with wood-fired ovens baking renditions of Napolitano or Napolitano-inspired pizzas.

Kelly Whitaker, chef and owner of Pizzeria Basta, says the competition has actually helped; his restaurant's numbers were up the weeks that Pizzeria da Lupo and Pizzeria Locale joined the Boulder lineup.

I've been eating at Pizzeria Basta since the place opened, watching the menu evolve and watching Whitaker and Alan Henkin, Whitaker's partner, constantly work on improving their offerings -- which just snagged the Best Pizza award in the Best of Denver 2011.

For this week's review, I returned to Basta to eat my way through a board that merges Italian tradition with a regional culinary focus. Was the rest of the food as good as the pizzas?

Find out tomorrow when the review is posted here.