American pizza in Wirye, not too salty, with dill ranch: Jackson Pizza

Jackson Pizza Wirye Branch: is it hard to find?

Jackson Pizza Wirye Branch is that American pizza place a famous chef supposedly recommends, on the ground floor of the shopping complex at 104 Wirye Gwangjang-ro. I paid it a visit.

The building is big, so I worried the shop would be hard to spot, but if you just follow the location on the map, you'll get there.

Is Jackson Pizza as salty as American pizza?

The pizza at Jackson Pizza Wirye Branch is American in style, but it isn't salty and is tuned to Korean tastes. Having eaten pizza in the US a few times while traveling, the biggest thing I noticed personally was how salty it was. The dough felt crispy and low in moisture, and the toppings often hit with each flavor really strongly in a single bite. So when I think of American pizza, I think of crispy dough, strong toppings and quite a lot of salt. Compared with that, Jackson Pizza Wirye Branch is the approachable kind.

It keeps the crispy-baked dough and generous toppings that American pizza is known for, while the seasoning is clearly adjusted to Korean tastes. Nothing bothered me, and it was easy to eat.

Interior and service at Jackson Pizza Wirye Branch

The interior is neat and seems to be going for an American feel.

Hehehe, I also took part in the receipt review.

The notices are well written all around, and the service is better than I expected.

What we ordered: Greekology regular and Dr. Pepperoni

This time at Jackson Pizza Wirye Branch I ordered the Greekology (regular) and the Dr. Pepperoni. For reference, the smallest pizza size and the deep-dish pizza are about the same diameter.

I had them with the ranch sauce and pickles that come by default, and added crushed pepper, Parmesan and Tabasco hot sauce to taste. The pizza arrives in about as long as the oven takes.

Veggie pizza Greekology: is it boring?

Greekology is a tomato-sauce-based pizza loaded with different vegetables, introduced as Jackson Pizza's pet project. At first glance there are so many vegetables it looks like a vegan pizza with no meat at all. But once you eat it, it's much tastier than I expected. You can really taste the savory depth coming from everything from eggplant to the other vegetables, and the cheese ties the flavor of each ingredient together.

With a veggie pizza, it's easy to assume it'll be bland since there's no meat topping, but Greekology breaks that prejudice pretty well. Since several vegetables go on it, the flavor shifts a little even within one bite. In one spot you taste the eggplant, in another the tomato sauce and cheese come in stronger. So it's a bit different from a pizza that simply piles on vegetables, and it's fun to eat.

What's the Jackson Pizza dough like?

The Greekology dough is crispy outside and soft inside, with plenty of air pockets. I liked the dough too. It comes out baked crispy, but look inside and there are more air pockets than you'd expect. So it isn't just hard, dry dough; a certain softness remains when you chew. Crispy, yet soft inside. It keeps the crispy dough you expect from American pizza without making it too dry, which I personally liked.

Does Tabasco go with Greekology?

Tabasco hot sauce went quite well with the Greekology. I normally prefer hot sauces with a more rounded sweetness over Tabasco, but here I changed my mind a little. With the varied flavors from the vegetables, a moderate sweetness and the cheese, Tabasco's signature sourness doesn't stick out on its own. Instead that sourness hits just right and seems to tidy up the whole pizza. So I sprinkled on crushed pepper, Parmesan and Tabasco, a bit of everything, and that was pretty good too.

Jackson Pizza ranch sauce: why is it a must?

The ranch sauce at Jackson Pizza Wirye Branch is a house-made sauce with dill, and it's much better than I expected. Dip into the ranch while eating the pizza and the direction of the flavor clearly changes. The pizza itself is rich from the cheese and tomato sauce, but the fresh note of the ranch makes it much lighter to eat.

In particular, the crispiness of the dough feels new again without being heavy. The flavor was so fresh that I asked whether there was dill in it, and they said yes. Sure enough, when I looked into the kitchen there was a huge pile of dill. A sauce made by hand and used right away really does seem to differ, starting with the aroma.

Jackson Pizza Wirye Branch also has crushed pepper, Parmesan and Tabasco hot sauce, so you can adjust the taste to your liking. I like sprinkling a bit of everything, and Tabasco especially suited the Greekology. With so many vegetables the flavor has many layers, so the sourness of the Tabasco doesn't stick out alone; the overall sweetness and the cheese take it in.

What does the Chicago-style Dr. Pepperoni taste like?

Dr. Pepperoni is a Chicago-style pepperoni pizza built on tomato sauce and mozzarella. In a word, it's closer to a pizza you drink. You may wonder what that means, but the juiciness of the tomato sauce is considerable. Bite in and the tomato sauce and cheese come in abundantly and spread moistly through your mouth. That said, the strong saltiness typical of American pizza doesn't come up.

The seasoning is at a level where you can keep eating comfortably. And the heart of Dr. Pepperoni is, after all, the cheese. The pepperoni is really just a supporting actor, haha. True to Chicago style, there's so much cheese that it spreads through your mouth in one bite. The salty pepperoni, tomato sauce and cheese come together, and the cheese has a serious presence. The dough is baked crispy in a cast-iron pan, so the texture at the bottom is good too.

Careful: the cast-iron pan is hot

When the Dr. Pepperoni came out, the cast-iron pan was so hot that the staff warned us to be careful, and it really is too hot to touch, so take care while eating too. Coming out crispy from such a hot pan seems to bring out the dough's crunch even more.

Overall verdict on Jackson Pizza Wirye Branch

The dough at Jackson Pizza Wirye Branch is definitely crispy. The toppings are generous and the flavor of each ingredient is distinct. Dr. Pepperoni has plenty of cheese and tomato sauce, and in the Greekology the flavors of the various vegetables layer over each other so every bite tastes a little different. And yet the seasoning isn't excessively strong.

This time I only had the Greekology and Dr. Pepperoni, but now I'm curious about the other pizzas and sides. If you eat in, the ranch sauce can be refilled once, and it's a must, a must, haha. If you're looking for a well-balanced pizza in Wirye, I think Jackson Pizza Wirye Branch is worth stopping by at least once.