Pizza Meets Sliders
After over five years of serving huge pizzas, Fat Boy's Pizza on Metairie Road has been joined by Michigan-based Savvy Sliders to create a co-branded restaurant with way more options than before. This is the very first of a new co-branded concept that will expand across the nation rapidly with several restaurants already in the works.
Fat Boy's Pizza owner Gabe Corchiani explained that the concept casually referred to as "Fat & Savvy" is "more to love."
"Fat Boy's Pizza has been a staple here. Everything's fresh, we make our own sauce, we make our own dough, and use the best cheese. And people know about that, but the new concept with Savvy Sliders has nine gourmet sliders that are fresh, too. Everybody can get a little bit of everything. If you like pizza, if you want a chicken slider or a burger slider, you want a fish slider, you want chicken tenders that are fabulous with dipping sauce, you can have it. Then you've got to finish it off with a custard shake. Not many people down South know about custard. Custard is a much richer version of a milkshake. It's more to offer, we call it more to love where we're able to, if you have a family and you're going out and they don't necessarily want pizza you have other things to offer them. That's what our objective was coming in here with two brands instead of one," Corchiani said.
Walking into the new version of the restaurant, you'll notice two separate menus that delineate Fat Boy's from Savvy's. You order everything from one cashier, however. Fat Boy's Pizza actually added more items to their menu since the change with a slew of stuffed calzones, but the brand new menu of sliders has an interesting lineup of burgers to suit everyone's taste.
Savvy's sliders range from angus beef, fried chicken, and falafel to premium English cod and rib eye. Along with Fat Boy's pizza, chicken tenders are also on the menu. I tried out Savvy's Classic Angus Beef slider to start, which is the perfect burger for the purist. Angus beef is accompanied by good ol' American cheese, tomato, pickles, lettuce, mayo, and ketchup. The Original Savvy is nearly the same but has grilled onion instead of lettuce.
Next up was The Boomin' Chicken, which is a good segue between a burger and tenders. The fried chicken sandwich is called Boomin' because of a dollop of Boom Sauce. This is a slightly spicier version of the housemade Savvy Sauce; both of the signature sauces are rich and flavorful, and I definitely enjoyed both. The Boomin' Sauce may be more noticeable with the additional heat, but it's not spicy to the point of being painful, so I definitely recommend sampling both. The Boomin' Chicken was made complete with crunchy pickles and lettuce, which made this a symphony of good flavors.
My most anticipated meal was next; the Spicy Chicken Tenders did not disappoint and had a low, smokey heat that lingered until well after they were gone. There was a black pepper note that went so well with dips into the Boom Sauce. Chicken tenders cannot be eaten without a load of fries, and Savvy's creates the most fluffy crinkle-cut fries that beg to be dipped in the Savvy Sauce. Of course, you have some flavor options for them: house seasoning, lemon pepper, or Cajun. I thought Cajun would be best for the spice I was already enduring, and indeed it was.
While Corchiani loves a great slice of pepperoni pizza, one menu item comes in a close second. "As far as Savvy's, I love the Big Signature." Even the most loyal Fat Boy's Pizza lovers will want to check out Fat & Savvy's because it's the best of both worlds.
