Dave’s Pizza
Photo by Madoline Markham.
Dave's Pizza
Dave’s Pizza general manager Brett Morrison, pictured with manager Imagine Boney and the top-selling Renaissance Pizza, has been with the restaurant since it opened 21 years ago.
The original Dave’s pizza was… a cinnamon roll.
The operation started as a bakery in an Oxmoor Circle warehouse. Dave Morrison didn’t realize his ovens were pizza ovens until a distributor asked if they had baked up the Italian favorite in them. Dave decided to give it a try, bought pizza ingredients at Bruno’s and served the pie to the HVAC company next door. The next day the company asked for another, and soon marinara and cheese had replaced muffins and rolls.
In 1993, the pizza pickup and delivery business moved to the old Homewood Taxi building in downtown Homewood, across from the former Huffstutler’s Hardware. There they built an open-air dining room on top of a parking lot and opened for business.
Morrison’s son Brett, then a high school junior, painted the black and white checkers on the walls and worked with his dad to assemble the kitschy glass chandeliers that hang from the ceiling. Together they raised I-beams, installed ceiling fans and planted trees in the courtyard over the years, as Brett cultivated what would become the iPod playlists that now play in the restaurant.
Today, Brett is the general manager and still eating two slices of Dave’s Meat Lovers pizza a day.
“I can’t believe I haven’t had a heart attack, but my doctor says my cholesterol is okay,” he said.
Another “regular” around Dave’s is Elvis. Years ago, photographer Britt Huckaby stole a painting of the King of Rock and Roll from Dave’s bathroom and toured around the world with it. Every once in a while, a new photo of the painting posing a landmark would arrive back in Homewood. Today the picture has returned to Dave’s wall and sits on display along with marks of its journey in photos.
Dave’s makes its marinara sauce and dough each day, slices its own vegetables and smokes its own tenderloin. That makes for pizza that is completely preservative free, Brett said.
“Its shelf life is 15-20 minutes,” he said. “Past that, I’m not a huge fan of it the next morning.”
The Tuscany is among the most popular classics, topping marinara with onion, spinach, roma tomatoes, mushrooms, chopped bacon and feta cheese. They also sell a lot of the Renaissance, which adds onion, zucchini, artichoke hearts, roasted red pepper, feta and sundried tomato to a pesto base.
Every year Brett’s team looks at the menu and come up with new ideas “to keep up with changing taste buds.” Recently they have added the Hot Chick, which tops Frank’s Hot Sauce, grilled chicken and chunks of blue cheese on a white crust, and the Classic Margarita, a thin crust drizzled with olive oil and finished with garlic, roma tomatoes, cheese and fresh basil.
On Tuesday nights, UAB’s eight-piece jazz band provides a set of tunes to go with customer’s pizza and beer, and classically trained guitarist Grover Sheffield takes the stage on Wednesdays.
Twenty-one years into the journey, Brett said the key to Dave’s longevity is people. He rattles off name after name — a longtime server, the original delivery driver who is now his best friend and countless others who have become a part of Dave’s over the years. He is sure to list regulars-turned-friends like the Champignys, Ragsdales, Dimmits and McClains who come in at least weekly and use the space to host family events.
From the restaurant, Brett has seen babies who are now old enough to vote, witnessed least three marriage proposals and countless first dates, and watched the construction of SoHo and Hallman Hill.
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have the community support,” he said. “And I hope to be here another 21 years.”
