Ha Ha Pizza is practically a landmark in Yellow Springs. Its location is used for giving locations: “You know, down by Ha Ha Pizza, on that end.”
As a young Wright State college student, Sandy had spent many a night playing in Yellow Springs, hanging out with Antioch friends, making late night runs to Young’s Jersey Dairy when the munchies kicked in (long before the dining room and huge golf course were added), and getting pizza pie to go from Ha Ha Pizza.
Connie was eager to return to Ha Ha. She said it had been way too long. Gleefully, we headed to the shop on a Friday night after a long work week.
Legend has it, Ha Ha was started in the 1970s by students, thus the interesting and non-capitalistic name. The original store was just the lobby where you enter. There was perhaps just one small table that allowed customers a place to rest while waiting for the ‘za. And these days, we hear they’re expanding to another location in Xenia. Lucky Xenia.
Somewhere along the way, they opened the brightly painted and modest dining room, complete with comfy booths and seating for about 40-50.
Ha Ha Pizza doesn’t have a liquor license, and they don’t mind if you bring your own. So we stopped by a local grocery and picked up a couple brews to go with our pie and parked right out front.
What we had: As fearless foodies, we wanted a truly different pie. We ordered a half and half on whole wheat crust. Connie was curious (as always) about the unusual toppings.
“Banana?” she asked the server. “What kind of pizza do you put banana on?” she queried.
The server didn’t hesitate. “People like to go for a tropical pizza. Usually the pineapple and Canadian bacon combination,” she said.
That sounded delicious, so we both nodded in agreement.
For t’other side, we ordered banana peppers, black olives, and falafel.
“What’s falafel?” Sandy asked Cook Connie.
“Fritters made out of chickpeas,” she answered.
In this case, Ha Ha crumbles the falafel and it resembles ground beef.
The scent of the pie arrived before the pie itself. That’s one of the beautiful benefits of Ha Ha Pizza. It smells sooo good.
Noting the crust, Connie pointed out it wasn’t greasy at all. Evenly baked, no burn marks. Packed with flavor. Some folks don’t like eating the crusts — what Connie calls “pizza bones” — but the crust on our pizza was impossible to resist. The edge of the crust was rolled in (sort of like a jelly roll with no jelly) and beautifully tucked just inside the pan.
Plus, we think we’ve cracked the secret code that makes Ha Ha Pizzas so good. They don’t overload the pizza with sauce — or cheese — and let the toppings lead the way. It’s a beautiful balance, not overwhelming one flavor over another, and the toppings are also evenly and beautifully distributed — each pizza is truly a work of art. And we didn’t miss the extra-cheese-style because the amazing flavors were worth it. And a side benefit to that is less calories, for sure. Our little piece of heaven was only $16.74!
We sat at a booth near the salad bar, which is small but densely packed with good items. Next time we go in, we’ll give it a try. But on this visit, we were both glad that we decided to try the unusual toppings. We agreed the falafel was delicious. And the banana, well, Connie was considerably more enthusiastic than Sandy was. The following day, Connie texted Sandy: “I’m craving banana pizza!!!” And since that time, Connie’s been experimenting in the kitchen. Nachos topped with sliced bananas are only the beginning. About Connie’s new infatuation with savory banana, Sandy postulated: “Your fiber count will be going through the roof!”
Ha ha.
The info: Ha Ha Pizza, 108 Xenia Ave., Yellow Springs; 937-767-2131.
Hours: Monday – Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.; Sunday, 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Final musings: Sandy Collins and Connie Post have one mission. To explore strange, new restaurants. To seek out new tastes and new civilizations. To boldly go where most people wish they could go. Shoot us an email: life@coxinc.com.
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