Tag: family-friendly

  • Organ Stop Pizza Is the Most Fun You’ll Have at Dinner All Year

    Organ Stop Pizza Is the Most Fun You’ll Have at Dinner All Year

    Every visitor I drag to Organ Stop Pizza reacts the same way: a confused look when I describe it, followed by pure delight when they walk in. The cavernous dining room is built around a massive Mighty Wurlitzer theater organ that rises from the floor, and a live organist plays showtunes, Disney classics, and Sousa marches all night long.

    Family-Sized Fun

    The pizza itself is honest, cheesy, and comes out on the kind of old-school metal trays I remember from childhood birthday parties. Order a large pepperoni, get a pitcher of root beer, and grab a table close to the organ.

    A Mesa Original

    Kids are mesmerized, grandparents beam, and first-time visitors reach for their phones. There is absolutely nothing else like Organ Stop anywhere in Arizona, and we are lucky to have it.

  • Novel Ice Cream: Stuffed Donut Sundaes Are the Main Event

    Novel Ice Cream: Stuffed Donut Sundaes Are the Main Event

    If you have not had a Novel Ice Cream sandwich yet, clear your afternoon. Their signature move is stuffing a freshly glazed donut with a giant scoop of house-made ice cream, rolling the whole thing in toppings, and handing it to you in a branded box that barely contains the joy.

    Small Shop, Big Flavors

    The downtown counter is cheerful and tiny, with a rotating lineup of flavors written up on the chalkboard. I went classic with Madagascar vanilla on a warm original donut, which is still the platonic ideal of a dessert sandwich.

    Bring a Friend

    These things are big. Bring a friend, bring two, and split them at the little patio out front. I watched a whole family of four argue happily over whose flavor was best, and honestly, they all had a point.