Specialty Pizza Nashville: Pies With Names on Broadway

If you’re hunting for specialty pizza in Nashville, here’s the short version. At Two Boots, 1925 Broadway in Midtown, a specialty pizza is a pie with a name, a personality and a set topping combination you couldn’t build by ticking boxes. Think spiced shrimp, crawfish and andouille on a crisp cornmeal crust, or a Cajun bacon cheeseburger pie that answers to The Dude.

Two Boots started in 1987 on Avenue A in Manhattan’s East Village, and the name comes from the two “boots” of Italy and Louisiana. Nashville is the only Two Boots outside New York and New Jersey, so this is where New York pizza meets Music City, with a strong pull from the Louisiana side of the family.

Key Takeaways

• A specialty pizza at Two Boots is a named pie with a fixed, signature topping combo, as opposed to a plain cheese or a Create Your Pizza build.
• The Bayou Beast is one of the two foundation pies from the original Two Boots and a favorite of founder Phil Hartman.
• The lineup runs in lanes: Cajun-Italian, Italian classics, white pies, veggie and a deep vegan bench made with Daiya non-dairy cheese.
• Order online from the Nashville location page, or use the Nashville catering page to mix specialty pies for a group.

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What Turns a Pizza Into a “Specialty Pizza”?

Ask ten people what a specialty pizza is and you’ll hear the word “supreme” a lot. In plain terms, it’s a pie with a set, signature combination of toppings the kitchen has already worked out for you. You order it by name, not one topping at a time.

At Two Boots, every pie that isn’t a plain cheese has its own name, and most of those names will ring a pop-culture bell. “Specialty” isn’t an official menu category (the site sorts pies into Veggie, Meat and Vegan), so think of it as shorthand for “our named pies.”

Three things set the Two Boots version apart:

• Cajun-Italian on the same crust. Crawfish, andouille, tasso ham, Creole chicken and jalapeños sit next to sopressata, ricotta and basil pesto.
• A cornmeal crust. It’s crisp, with a texture you’ll notice on the first bite.
• Names instead of numbers. You don’t order “the number four.” You order Cleopatra Jones or The Meg.

If you’d rather go your own way, Create Your Pizza starts with a cheese pizza base. But the named pies are where the personality lives.

Specialty Pizza Nashville: The Louisiana Lane Comes First

Nashville sits a lot closer to New Orleans than Avenue A does, so it makes sense to start on the Cajun side of the menu.

The Bayou Beast is the headliner: spiced shrimp, crawfish, andouille, jalapeños and mozzarella, marked spicy on the menu. According to Two Boots, it’s one of the two foundation pies from the original restaurant and a favorite of founder Phil Hartman. If you only try one named pie at 1925 Broadway, this is the one with the deepest roots in the brand.

The Dude is the menu’s self-described “Cajun bacon cheeseburger pie”: ground beef and andouille, tasso ham, cheddar and mozzarella. You might recognize the name from a certain bowling-obsessed film. Either way, it’s a pie that takes it easy and still fills you up.

From there, the lineup branches into Creole chicken and Italian classics.

Pie	What’s on it	Pick it if…
The Bayou Beast (Spicy)	Spiced shrimp, crawfish, andouille, jalapeños & mozzarella	You want the foundation pie and a taste of the bayou
The Dude	Ground beef & andouille, tasso ham, cheddar & mozzarella	A cheeseburger and a pizza are fighting for your vote
Mr. Pink	Creole chicken, plum tomatoes, fresh garlic & mozzarella	You like Cajun seasoning without jalapeños
Big Maybelle	Creole chicken, Zoe’s all-natural pepperoni & fresh garlic on a white pie	You want Creole chicken with no red sauce
Meat the Mets (Spicy)	Sweet Italian sausage, Creole chicken, Zoe’s pepperoni, jalapeños, ricotta & mozzarella	Your table can’t agree on one meat
Cleopatra Jones	Sweet Italian sausage, roasted peppers, red onions & mozzarella	You want a classic sausage-and-peppers pie
Tony Clifton	Wild mushrooms, vidalia onions, sweet red pepper pesto & mozzarella	You want an earthy, meat-free pie

A note on heat: the menu marks The Bayou Beast, The Divine, Meat the Mets, The Bird and Night Tripper as spicy. We’re not ranking them. The jalapeños speak for themselves.

Red Pies, White Pies and the Top-Sauce Twist

Once you’ve picked a lane, the next question is sauce. Two Boots runs three styles.

Red pies put tomato under the cheese. The Bayou Beast, Mr. Pink and Cleopatra Jones live here.

White pies skip the red sauce and let cheese, garlic and toppings carry the show:

• The Meg, “our very white pie”: provolone, parmigiano, ricotta, mozzarella, roasted garlic and oregano.
• Larry Tate: organic fresh spinach, plum tomatoes and fresh garlic.
• The Newman: sopressata and sweet Italian sausage. (Yes, a certain mail carrier may come to mind.)
• Mel Cooley: sun-dried tomatoes, roasted peppers and basil pesto.
• The Bird: Buffalo chicken, blue cheese dressing, scallions and jalapeños, marked spicy.

Top-sauce is the third style. On The Buckminster, marinara goes on top of organic spinach, roasted garlic, parmigiano, provolone and mozzarella, so the sauce is the first thing you taste.

Then there’s Grandma Bess: organic San Marzano tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, basil, Parmigiano and mozzarella on a thin, square Sicilian crust. It’s the pick for anyone who likes pizza in squares.

A simple rule for a group of four: one red, one white and one wildcard. You’ll cover more ground than three versions of the same thing, and everyone gets to try a new character.

Vegan Specialty Pies That Aren’t an Afterthought

Two Boots has a whole bench of named vegan pies made with Daiya non-dairy cheese, so Nashville’s plant-based crowd gets a pie with a name too.

• V for Vegan: artichokes, red onions and wild mushrooms with a criss-cross of sweet red pepper pesto and basil pesto.
• Earth Mother: organic spinach, roasted garlic, roasted peppers, wild mushrooms, red onion and marinara, with no cheese at all.
• The VCBGB: vegan chicken, broccoli, garlic and basil pesto. It’s the plant-based twin of The CBGB, which shares a name with a certain East Village club.
• Super Vegan: broccoli, artichokes, red onions, shiitake mushrooms, both pestos, Daiya and vegan ricotta.
• Vegan Cleo, Vegan Tony Clifton, Vegan Larry Tate and Vegan Mr. Pink let vegans share the same named pies their friends order.

There’s also a Vegan Calzone and a vegan House Salad, and the Marinara, Jalapeño Pesto, Sweet Red Pepper Pesto and Basil Pesto dippers are all vegan.

Where Specialty Pizza Fits Into a Midtown Nashville Day

Two Boots sits at 1925 Broadway, on the Midtown stretch between downtown and West End. Music Row’s studios and offices are close by, Vanderbilt’s campus is just up the road, and West End Avenue leads out toward Centennial Park and its full-scale replica of the Parthenon.

That brings in a real mix: students fueling up between classes, people working on Music Row, families coming off the Centennial Park lawn, and visitors who came for the music and want something besides another plate of hot chicken.

Nashville occasion	Specialty pick	Add-on
Study group near Vanderbilt	Meat the Mets plus Earth Mother	Garlic Knots for the table
Music Row lunch meeting	Mr. Pink or The CBGB	Caesar Salad
After an afternoon at Centennial Park	Grandma Bess plus Pizza Face for the kids	Chocolate chip cookie
Visitors who want Louisiana in Music City	The Bayou Beast	Cajun Ranch dipper
Game day at a friend’s place	The Dude plus Super Newman	Meatball Parm sliders
Mixed vegan and non-vegan crew	V for Vegan plus Cleopatra Jones	Basil Pesto dipper
Friday or Saturday night out	The Divine or Night Tripper	Hot Knots

A few local notes:

• Campus crowd. Vanderbilt groups love to argue about toppings. Named pies settle that fast, because nobody has to negotiate a build line by line.
• Music Row regulars. If your day is stacked with sessions and meetings, ordering online from the location page and grabbing a pie on the way back is the low-effort move. Mr. Pink and The CBGB travel well into a meeting room.
• Park days. A long afternoon walking Centennial Park and touring the Parthenon builds an appetite. Grandma Bess keeps the grown-ups happy, and Pizza Face gives the kids a pie that smiles back at them.
• Weekend plans. The Nashville shop stays open late on Friday and Saturday. Earlier in the week, plan on dinner rather than a late bite.
• Out-of-towners. Friends visiting Nashville who want New York pizza with a Louisiana accent will find it on Broadway.

Ordering Specialty Pies for a Nashville Group

Feeding a team or a party is where named pies earn their keep. Instead of polling everyone on toppings, pick a mix of pies with clear personalities:

1. One foundation pie. The Bayou Beast gives the spread a centerpiece.
2. One crowd-pleaser. Cleopatra Jones or Mr. Pink.
3. One white pie. The Meg or Larry Tate.
4. One vegan pie. V for Vegan or Super Vegan.
5. One for kids or cautious eaters. A plain cheese via Create Your Pizza, or Pizza Face (small only).

Then fill the table with Garlic Knots or Hot Knots, sliders on house-made garlic knots (Chicken Parm, Meatball Parm with andouille meatballs, or Eggplant Parm), a Caesar or House Salad, a few dippers and the Gluten-Free Brownie for dessert.

For office lunches and campus events, start with the Two Boots Nashville catering page.

New to the shop? Browse the full Two Boots menu, pick by mood (Louisiana, Italian comfort, white pie or vegan), and remember Two Boots serves both slices and whole pies, so a slice is an easy way to test a named pie. Our earlier post on the Two Boots pizza restaurant in Nashville covers more about eating at 1925 Broadway.

Conclusion

Specialty pizza in Nashville doesn’t have to mean “supreme” or “deluxe.” At Two Boots on Broadway, it means pies with names on a crisp cornmeal crust, split between two boots: Italy and Louisiana. Start with The Bayou Beast, the foundation pie Phil Hartman loved, or let The Dude talk you into a cheeseburger pie. Bring the vegans, the meat lovers and the white-pie loyalists, because each of them has a named pie waiting.

Ready to meet the lineup? Visit the Two Boots Nashville location page and hit Order Online.

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