About DSP Pizzeria
by Bill Hudson, PagosaDailyPost.com

I met Daniel Willey, the new owner of DSP Pizzeria in the Country Center, while making random sales calls for the Pagosa Daily Post a couple of weeks ago. The red painted walls were decorated with various sized paintings in what might be called "Skater Style" — and Daniel was loading a hand-tossed pizza into a big brick-lined oven.

DSP's popular pizza recipe creates a classic east coast pizza — "the old fashioned way." Dough is made daily, sometimes twice a day; meats are baked and sliced every day, and vegetables are delivered daily. The sauce is a proprietary blend made on the premises — and pizzas are baked on stones in a deck oven, not on a conveyor belt or impinger ovens.

The difference — a little extra time in preparation — makes all the difference in the restaurant's great tasting pizzas. DSP has received some honorable awards of recognition such as winner of best pizza in Durango (2002 Silver Peak Award) and winner of "second best pizza in the nation" cited by the independent test in Barnett's Magazine 2004.

DSP Pizzeria was started out as an expansion of the DSP "Durango Slice Pizza" Restaurant in Durango, which opened in 1997. That Durango operation remains a very popular hangout for the Fort Lewis College crowd.

Both Daniel and his wife Wendy Crocco have backgrounds working in Italian restaurants, Daniel notes, "so it was a pretty natural fit with DSP. We kept the recipe for the pizza exactly the same since everyone around here seemed to love it, ourselves included."

Daniel and Wendy are keeping the award-winning recipes the way they are. "The only changes we are making are the addition of beer and wine, delivery seven nights a week after five, the NFL Sunday Ticket — and a lot of great art on the walls to look at. Our plan is to continually add and rotate different pieces of art from local artists. If anyone is interested in showcasing their work, they should stop in and talk to us." Wendy and Daniel are themselves artists, which certainly helps with creating an attractive restaurant.

"Lately, people have been doing art pieces on pizza boxes to hang up. It's pretty cool — eventually we want every square inch of the walls covered."

HOURS: Monday-Saturday Noon-9pm | Sunday 4-8pm
Give us a call at 970-731-0420
We offer DELIVERY from 5:00 until Closing for just $2.50 extra!

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