OUT TO EAT

Pizza increasingly plentiful near IUPUI

By David Lindquist
david.lindquist@indystar.com
Blaze Pizza will fulfill a give-away promotion on Tuesday and Wednesday.

College students and pizza never should be estranged, and new restaurants near the intersection of 10th Street and Indiana Avenue are keeping IUPUI attendees in close contact to pie. Blaze Pizza and Toppers Pizza have joined a party that includes established brands Pizza Hut, Papa John's, Donatos and Marco's. Blaze -- a neighbor to Pizza Hut, Papa John's, Donatos and Marco's in Lockefield Commons -- will celebrate its opening by giving away free pizzas on Tuesday, Feb. 11, and Wednesday, Feb. 12.

>> Blaze Pizza

Pictured is Blaze’s Red Vine pizza, made with Ovalini mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, parmesan, basil, red sauce and olive oil drizzle.

913 Indiana Ave., BlazePizza.com, 1013indianapolis@blazepizza.com.

To qualify for a free 11-inch pizza, "like" the Blaze Pizza Facebook page. At the restaurant, you'll be asked to show a mobile-device screenshot of your "like" (or a hardcopy printout will suffice). The offer runs from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day. Founded in Southern California in 2012, Blaze restaurants specialize in pizzas that cook for less than two minutes at 800 degrees. Customers select toppings in assembly-line fashion.

>> Toppers Pizza

The menu at Toppers includes "Chocolate Baconstix."

910 West 10th St., Suite 12, Toppers.com, (317) 672-7777.

This restaurant that opened last month in The Avenue building is the first Indianapolis location for Toppers, a company founded in Champaign, Ill., in 1991. The Toppers menu isn't limited to pizza, as the accompanying image of "Chocolate Baconstix" proves. Other innovations in Toppers history include pizzas accented by tater tots and macaroni noodles (but not on the same pie). The Indianapolis Toppers follows a Carmel store, 12545 N. Meridian St.

>> Al Basha Restaurant

The owner of Al Basha Mediterranean Restaurant & Grocery in Fishers is preparing to open an Indianapolis restaurant.

910 West 10th St.

Although a future neighbor of Toppers in The Avenue building doesn't specialize in pizza, Al Basha Restaurant will bring Mediterranean flavors to the edge of IUPUI's campus. Owner Mario Abdel said he hopes to open Al Basha by March 1, when a Monday-through-Friday buffet will be offered for $9.99. Al Basha will be is a sister restaurant to Al Basha in Fishers, which combines a restaurant, grocery store and bakery in one location. "This is strictly a restaurant," Abdel said of the Downtown Al Basha.

Call Star reporter David Lindquist at (317) 444-6404. Follow him on Twitter: @317Lindquist.