Charger Features

A different kind of pizza place

Alison Palmer, Editor-in-Chief

Pano’s is a pizza shop unlike any other in Cookeville. This relatively new restaurant’s specialty is uncooked pizza. Pano’s sells what it calls “take and bake” pizza which means that Pano’s prepares the pizza and then the customer takes the pizza home and bakes it himself. The restaurant advertises its pizza as being “the hottest fresh pizza you’ll ever eat!” which is quite possibly true since the customer bakes the pizza in his own home.

Pano’s has options of nearly thirty toppings, everything from pepperoni to artichoke hearts. It also offers several varieties of crust. Its gourmet pizzas include Chicken Garlic, Italian Classic, Vegetarian, and Fresh Mexican pizzas. Pano’s also offers stuffed pizzas, with two layers of dough stuffed with toppings. Stuffed pizzas include the Chicago Style Pizza Pie which contains salami, pepperoni, Italian sausage, ground beef and mixed onions. The Big Boy Pizza Pie, containing pepperoni, Italian sausage, mushrooms, black olives and Roma tomatoes is another stuffed pizza, along with the Fresh Chicken Pizza Pie stuffed with garlic sauce, grilled chicken, bacon, Roma tomatoes and onions. Pano’s also offers low calorie and low carb pizzas for diet-conscience customers.

One drawback of Pano’s is that the prices are slightly more expensive than other pizza restaurants, with a large pizza costing around $12 and a family size costing around $14. Many, however, find that the extra money is well worth it since Pano’s has fresh dough made daily in New York and claims to use the freshest toppings available.

Aside from pizzas, Pano’s also sells salads for around $3, toasted paninis (sandwiches) for around $5 and cookie dough for $3.
Cookeville High School senior and customer Ellen Epley said, “I love to cook pizza at home because it makes my house smell good, but I don’t like frozen pizzas, and Pano’s pizza just tastes fabulous.”

Others, however, find that it is more of an inconvenience to buy and bake a pizza instead of buying it already cooked. “If I wanted to cook my own food, I would stay at home,” said Sarah Hayes.

One of the main perks about Pano’s pizzas is that they have less grease than pizzas from other restaurants, which is good news to all those who are tired of using a dozen napkins to sop the grease off their pizza. Pano’s pizza also has less sauce and more cheese than other pizza at other restaurants, which could be good or bad, depending on one’s preference.

In a town full of greasy ready-to-go pizza places, Pano’s offers pizza with a taste of fresh toppings and a home-made quality that can not be matched at any other restaurant in Cookeville.

Pano’s is located next to Bobby Q’s on North Washington Avenue in the Big Star Shopping Center.