ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – There’s no better feeling than finding a good restaurant for the first time. At a hip Roanoke spot, people are still getting to know the pizza at Bobby’s Hot & Cheesy nearly a decade after it opened! We’re grabbing a slice in this week’s Hometown Eats!
“Oddly enough, one of Roanoke’s best-kept secrets,” said Robert Lusk, owner of Bobby’s Hot & Cheesy.
“It has completely changed the pizza industry,” said regular customer Josh.
You’ve seen it, but you didn’t even know it was there. Friends and neighbors, I’m here to tell you, this pizza is the real deal. Welcome to Bobby’s Hot & Cheesy at the Towers Shopping Center in Roanoke.
“I just wanted a good pizza,” Lusk said
Owner Rob Lusk was born and raised in Roanoke. He worked in restaurants across the country, even working under the management of Emeril Lagasse for a while. Eventually, he and his wife Lisa, a trained pastry chef, returned to the Star City to get into the mortgage business, and then BAM! the economic bubble burst.
They drew on their culinary skills and in 2009 Bubblecake was created, which now shares the premises with the pizzeria.
“They see Bubblecake. It’s like they don’t even see me. They’re getting sucked into the pink wall,” Lusk.
When Rob was tinkering with pizza recipes in 2017, he first realized something while taking his family to their favorite local pizzeria.
“That Saturday I took my kid and had a slice of pizza, and it was a bad day for her. The next Saturday we went in and I thought to myself, no, I’ve been eating bad pizza my whole life and didn’t know it,” Lusk said.
“We’ve been coming here for about two months and have probably been here 12 times in that time,” Josh added.
And even seven years later, new customers come to him every day, like Janet, who came out here with two huge bags and exclaimed: “I’m so happy!”
Lusk joked: “I hear that a lot. We didn’t even know you were here. This is our first time here and I say, ‘What took you so long?'”
The first question you probably ask when you walk into this pizzeria is: Why are the walls covered in skateboards? Rob and his wife, from Los Angeles, grew up loving skateboarding.
“The goal was to have Venice Beach meets Appalachia. It was the fusion of us. A lot of the boards on the wall were ridden and shredded by local riders,” Lusk said.
And like the unique style of many of these boards, the pizza here is also unique.
“We do a different pizza every week by the slice and by the special, and we have pizza flights. You get three different pizzas in one order, which comes out to about a medium pizza, so if you can’t decide… so people are happy with that,” Lusk explained. “This week’s special pizza came from a customer I spoke to on Saturday, the pickle, bacon, ranch. It’s a white sauce with mozzarella, parmesan, pickles, bacon and we top it off with ranch that we make here that has pickles in it.”
The specialties are fun, but the classics are the measure of all things. At Bobby’s, pepperoni is the best seller.
“People ask us if we’re New York style or New Haven style. I don’t have an answer to that. It’s a bakery style. It’s a little thick, a little thin, a little crispy and a little chewy,” Lusk said.
“I’m not a pizza expert and I wasn’t a big pizza fan before, but now it’s my absolute favorite food,” Josh said.
Don’t fancy a slice? Then go for the pasta. Spaghetti with meatballs or the Bolognese, which Lusk says is the best thing on the menu when done right. Or maybe you’re looking for a sandwich? Bobby’s Italian could cater for lunch and dinner. Light lunch? The salad with daily pickled onions will get you through the workday.
What started with experimenting with pizza recipes has developed into a passion for Rob that inevitably rubs off on his employees and customers.
“My only job is to make sure they understand what I’m doing and have everything they need to do it and that I’m 100 percent there for them. We bring excellence and passion to this every day,” said Lusk.
“I give it five out of five,” praised Josh.
Bobby’s Hot & Cheesy, a hidden hometown spot whose secret is out!
Bobby’s Hot & Cheesy is located at 2071 Colonial Ave SW, Roanoke, VA 24015. Hours are Monday through Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
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