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Marco's Coal Fired Pizza
Marco's Coal Fired Pizza opened in Denver's Ballpark neighborhood in 2008, founded by Mark and Kristy Latorraca Dym around a specific and fairly narrow goal: build true Neapolitan pizza in Denver the way it's actually made in Naples, rather than an Americanized approximation of the style. That commitment paid off with real certification — Marco's became Colorado's first Vera Pizza Napoletana-certified pizzeria, an official designation that requires meeting strict standards on ingredients, dough, and cooking method set by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana in Naples. The kitchen leans on imported Italian ingredients and certified pizzaiolos trained specifically in Neapolitan technique, producing a pizza the restaurant describes as having a crisp, chewy crust with a softer center — the specific textural signature the VPN standard is built around. That certification has also earned Marco's a spot on the Italian Top 50 Pizza list, notable recognition for a pizzeria operating well outside Italy. Beyond the core Neapolitan menu, Marco's has built in enough range to function as a full restaurant rather than a pizza-only counter — limoncello chicken wings, salads, and a solid list of gluten-free and vegan options sit alongside the certified pies, along with house-made desserts that round out a full dinner rather than just a quick slice. For a Denver pizza list, Marco's Coal Fired Pizza is the essential "certified, by-the-book Neapolitan" entry — Colorado's first VPN-certified pizzeria, built on imported ingredients and traditional technique in Denver's Ballpark neighborhood since 2008.
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Blue Pan Pizza
Blue Pan Pizza opened in 2015 in Denver's West Highland neighborhood, founded by Michigan natives Giles Flanagin and chef Jeff "Smoke" Smokevitch as an intimate, 18-seat pizzeria built around a style Denver hadn't seen much of before: Detroit-style deep dish, with its thick, square crust and famously crispy, caramelized cheese-to-edge crust. The founders brought that pan-pizza tradition directly from their home state rather than adapting a more familiar Chicago or New York format. That Detroit square format is the whole draw — a rectangular pie baked in a well-oiled steel pan, producing a crust that's simultaneously airy in the middle and deeply crisp along the edges where the cheese caramelizes against the hot metal, a genuinely different eating experience from the round, thin-crust pizzas that dominate most of Denver's other pizzerias. Since opening, the restaurant has kept that Detroit-style focus as its core identity even as the menu has grown around it. National attention followed the local reputation Blue Pan built in its original 18-seat space — the restaurant has been featured on Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, recognition that's helped support real expansion beyond the original West Highland storefront into a Congress Park location and, eventually, Golden. For a Denver pizza list, Blue Pan Pizza is the essential "Detroit-style done right" entry — a thick, square-cut, crispy-edged deep dish from two Michigan transplants who brought a genuinely different pan-pizza tradition to West Highland in 2015 and have since grown it into a small, Food Network-recognized local chain.
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