Sometimes you want a big ole pizza pie dripping with grease and packed with toppings. Sometimes you want a lead-footed, pimply-face teen to deliver that pizza to your doorstep. Let your freak flag attached to a bent car antennae fly, I say.

Then again, sometimes you desire a pizza pie that appeals to your more refined taste - cue: Paesan Kitchen and Bar in Tacoma.

This intimate joint on Dock Street serves artisan-style pizza with crispy, almost flatbread crust teeming with creative, tasty toppings such as kalamata olives, Pomodoro cheese and fresh seafood. My favorite journey through its fun flavorful pizza pies stars and ends with Paesan's Pancetta and Pear Pizza ($15). This delightful number includes fresh garlic oil, mozzarella and Gorgonzola cheese, caramelized onion, thyme, arugula and sliced pear and crisp bits of pancetta. Le sigh!

The tart Gorgonzola, smoky onion, salty pancetta, peppery arugula and sweet pear provide a lovely matrimony of flavor that keeps your taste buds alert and wanting another slice.

I'm a little obsessed with this fresh take on a college bender favorite. I'm not knocking the pizza joints serving up the two-for-one deals, but sometimes you simply need to nosh outside the box - not in the pizza box - and, of course, pair it with a craft cocktail.

PAESAN KITCHEN AND BAR, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 7 a.m. to midnight Friday, 8 a.m. to midnight Saturday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday, 1715 Dock St., Tacoma, 253.301.2396