Park Pizza already offers vegetarian and vegan options, but large stacks of gluten-free frozen commercial crusts were taking up too much storage space.

Park Circle Pizzeria decided to take a different route to accommodate the particular dietary restriction.

Park Pizza’s “Incredibowls” launched last month and have been marketed as “all pizza, none of the crust” to the gluten-free crowd.

“I was told, ‘You can’t please everyone’, and I said, ‘Well you can, if it’s pizza,’ said Leigh-Ann Gobel, co-owner of Park. Pizza and chef.

Initially, Gobel hoped to be able to turn all of the restaurant’s specialty pies into bowls: tomato sauce, cheese and a variety of toppings, just minus the crust and baked in an aluminum bowl. It didn’t quite work that way.

“It was a trial and error session,” Gobel said. “The first ones were way too runny. Then, to cook the bowl thoroughly, we burnt the bottom.”

Gobel eventually came up with five versions, each cooked in an aluminum bowl 7 inches wide and 2 inches deep and marked at $ 9.75.

The “Fiesta” – with a black bean spread, mozzarella, cheddar, pepper jack, baked chicken, pico salsa, jalapenos and cilantro – is a particular funky favorite that tastes better. nachos than pizza, Gobel said.

The bestseller is the “Classic”, made with marinara, mozzarella, pepperoni, pork sausage, mushrooms, green peppers, white onions and black olives.

The Park Pizza bowl arrived a few months after Marco’s Pizza launched a widely advertised build-it-yourself option. The chain launched its first pizza bowl in March 2020.

But long before that, a Lowcountry sports bar had already added the item to its menu for patrons adhering to the popular low-carb, high-fat keto diet, a diet that some weight loss seekers are touting although scientists have discovered. that it could increase other health risks and lead to disorderly eating.

The crustless pizza meets the criteria for keto.

LG’s By the Creek in Hanahan donated the pizza bowl in 2018 when current general manager Brandon Jones was not yet on staff. Jones said he remembered it on the menu when he dined as a guest.

“A lot of the guests were doing keto,” he said.

LG’s menu also includes keto-friendly dishes like a burger in lettuce wrap and pork skins. The pizza bowl is a favorite, however, according to Jones, and has always been offered as a build-it-yourself option.

You can also get the bar’s specialty pies in bowl form including “The Fat Guy” with barbecue chicken, red onions, bacon, mozzarella cheese and cilantro and “The Big Hinson” with beef, sausage, bacon, and ham. pepperoni.

The ingredients are stacked in a bowl and baked, then that bowl is stacked in another bowl at a cooler temperature for serving. They start at $ 8, depending on the toppings added.

Pretty simple, says Jones.

In 2019, Zavarella’s Pizza on Clements Ferry Road introduced pizza bowls for its keto customers.

“I don’t think there are a lot of us who make pizza bowls,” said owner Nick Mead. “I just had a regular who always came and asked for it that way.”

Bowls can be made from most pizzas on the menu, Mead said. Just ask for them “without the crust”, and that’s the code for the pizza bowl.

Chicken Parmesan, made with breadless chicken, is still a more popular option for keto, he said, adding that if you want to cheat your diet, you might as well get a regular pizza.

Reach Kalyn Oyer at 843-371-4469. Follow her on Twitter @sound_wavves.