Coned Pizza in Boise is holding their Grand Opening Week right now. This will culminate in the official Grand Opening Celebration on Saturday, March 6. Tyler and Marina Blake, owners and founders of Coned Pizza, spoke with The Boise Beat about how the idea came about, the history of Coned Pizza in the Treasure Valley and what to expect during this Grand Opening Week.
Marina described what Coned Pizza is, saying that it is “Pizza in a cone. Each cone is about two to three slices of pizza; and we fill the cone with cheese, sauce and toppings throughout the cone; it’s layered. You can walk around with it around town or at our food truck events it’s great. We just wanted to have a portable pizza that didn’t require plates, boxes or anything like that”. Tyler added, “I definitely recommend eating them as is. If you want to add red pepper or parmesan to your personal preference you can, but we take a lot of pride in the ingredients we use. Obviously, we are a novelty product, but we use very high quality mozzarella”.
Coned Pizza in Boise is not just having a Grand Opening, but an entire Grand Opening Week. Tyler talked about it, saying, “With the Grand Opening, we want to spread it out over the week due to COVID. Usually with a Grand Opening it’s one ‘Ah-Ha!’ event to try to get as many people in as possible, but what we wanted to do was be a little more creative with it and create a casual flow rather than a huge thing to really promote a lot of people in this tiny space. Throughout the week we’re going to do a few different things; we’re doing 50 cent PBR cans, we’re doing double punches and the first five customers on each weekday will get a voucher for free cones for six months.
Then on Saturday, we’re upping the ante a bit. All the things I just mentioned, except it’s going to be the first fifteen customers who get the free cones. The we will raffle of a free trip for two to Disneyland. Two round-trip tickets and two entry tickets. Each cone purchase gets you a raffle ticket. We’ll announce the winner at the end of the day. It’s a really popular promotion that we ran at our Meridian location. Obviously we’re aware that travel isn’t really allowed right now, nor is Disneyland open, but we figured it was something to look forward to. Kind of a ‘bright spot’ with the past year to give people just something happy, you know?”.
On the first official day open, I gave Coned Pizza in Boise a real test. I came in, purchased a Sausage Coned Pizza To Go and got ready to see what happens. It was interesting to watch as the fillings were layered with the sauce and cheese, then placed in the custom oven to bake. A few minutes later, it was ready. He wrapped it in paper and foil and bagged it for me and I ran to my appointment. There, I did something I had never done in all my years and had never expected to. I ate pizza in my car. After the 10 minute drive, it was still piping hot all the way through. The crust had a nice golden brown finish, with just a little bit of delicious char where the cheese meets the dough. Best of all, I was able to eat it all with no mess—a first for eating pizza on the go.
On another visit, Tyler graciously made some of his favorite Coned Pizzas for The Boise Beat to try. The first was one of their most popular Coned Pizzas, the Pepperoni. Layered throughout with slices of pepperoni, cheese and sauce, the last layer of pepperoni purposefully peeked over the edge of the crust. This, Tyler explained, was to crisp a bit of the pepperoni for extra flavor and texture. It really made a difference and made for some very enjoyable bites.
The second popular Coned Pizza he made for me was the Meat Lovers. This was layered with cheese, chicken, pork sausage, pepperoni and red sauce. Topped with a dollop of red sauce made from Escalon tomatoes. Like the mozzarella, Coned Pizza uses premium ingredients for all their products. Finally, the third Coned Pizza was Buffalo Ranch. Tyler customized this by upping the spice level with sliced jalapenos and also adding bacon for a delicious flavor profile. This Coned Pizza was nothing short of amazing, with so many different flavors but all of them able to stand out to the others. For anyone who like some spice this is strongly suggested as a must try.
Tyler suggested I try two of their dessert cones, a really interesting idea. Describing them, he said, “Bavarian Cream, it is very similar to a doughnut custard, something you might find inside of a Maple Bar. If you’re into that sweeter, custard-esque taste it’s a nice touch inside of the dough cone. They’re half the size of our normal cones. If you tried to fill up a big cone with that it’s just a little too much! You’ll still find something that size pretty rich. The S’mores cone has marshmallow fluff, Nutella and graham cracker and it is layered very similarly to what you would see in our pizza cones. That’s our most popular one, just because of the different flavor profiles and the dough cone. It seems to be a really good flavor mix”. Indeed, both were so good that there were no leftovers.
Marina had a shout out to all in Downtown Boise, saying “Come on down and Get Coned! A lot of people know who we are because of our two food trucks Pre-COVID, we’d be at BSU games or 
Idaho Center concerts—literally at any festival we were probably there, but I have learned that a lot of people who live in Boise don’t have a reason to come out to Meridian to find a restaurant there. It’s going to be interesting to see how many new faces we actually get to see in Boise”. When asked about the reaction so far at the Coned Pizza in Boise, Tyler added, “It’s been good! People seem to really enjoy it. Our main goal was always to be downtown so we’re really happy to be here. It wasn’t necessarily planned—-opportunity knocks at strange times; and this is definitely a strange time. Opening during a pandemic is just craziness, but a really great opportunity came along and we couldn’t pass it up! But the reception’s been good, we’ve been very happy with it”.
Tyler told the story of how Coned Pizza in Boise came to be. He said, “My wife and I love to travel; and many many years ago we were traveling out in Italy and we saw the concept out there. We were fascinated with it, so we figured everything out and brought it out here about five years ago, started a little food cart in that awful winter; we’re talking single-digit temperatures all winter long, two feet of snow, it was brutal. That was when we decided to open a food cart! 10 by 10 tent and we went out to the Botanical Gardens for the Lights and that was our first event. It was a tough beginning, for sure. Then we graduated into the food truck and we opened our first location in Meridian about three years back and we’ve slowly been expanding since then. This is our second location, we’ve got two stands in the Boise State Stadium as well. We still have the food cart; it’s just not super-convenient to set up so we pick and choose the events for that one”.
Marina finished by saying, “We always wanted to be in Downtown Boise when we started four or five years ago. It just wasn’t something that we could do. Boise happened right before COVID hit. I was just scrolling through random listing sites in the middle of the night and I saw that this spot became available. I sent it to Tyler and the next week we signed the lease. Then of course COVID hit and here we are! It was too late to back out but it was also something we’ve always wanted so I guess you can say we’re taking the risk and see where it goes”.
If the first tastes from Coned Pizza in Boise are any indication, they will go far in Downtown Boise. Located near the corner of 10th and Main, they are walking distance from shopping, art galleries, bars, restaurants, music clubs and coffee houses. Coned Pizza really is ideal as something to grab and then just walk around with, especially since it will stay warm as you walk. My first one stayed warm for over 20 minutes. Try that with a slice! Coming up in Downtown Boise is First Thursday, a good reason to walk around. Coned Pizza is an excellent way to enjoy a bite and walk at the same time. Of course, you do have the option to sit down inside or on the patio, relax, enjoy a soda or beer or even a salad. There is also a kids menu available.
Tyler summed up things by saying, “Our favorite thing to do when we travel is eat. We wander around and we find cultural food, that’s the best part of travel for us. This was no exception, we were just walking around and we stumbled across something and we said ‘Let’s give that a try!’. We just walked around with it and in the end, it was this fascinating concept. In the end, we figured everything out; and Boise being the unique place it is, we felt that people would really enjoy it out here”. Now it is Boise’s turn to try the unique treat that is Coned Pizza.
Coned Pizza
Downtown Boise
103 N. 10th Street
Boise, ID 83702
(208) 985-8596
Meridian
2976 E. Overland Road #110
Meridian, ID 83642
(208) 805-5812
