Friday afternoon I drove by, and there it was-- the sign that said "Opening Friday at 5!"

Of course I was ecstatic.

A little background-- I have always loved pizza. When I was growing up we didn't really eat fast food, with the exception of pizza. It was always a special treat, so much so that I'd often eat it for breakfast when there were leftovers, which didn't happen often due to my father's voracious appetite. But I'd often eat a slice cold in the morning, a choice that always amused my grandpa Moe. I think because he lived in New York until retiring to Florida, pizza never seemed like a novelty. But growing up in Maine, good pizza was for me like the holy grail; unique and difficult to find.

Then, in college, I worked for at Jimbo's Pizza for a couple of years, and ate it more frequently than is healthy, probably. I also got a good sense of what goes in to a good slice-- as hard as it is to believe, Jimbo's served up tasty thin crust pizza in the middle of Iowa. (Don't even get me started on so-called Chicago style pizza. Blech.)

Later, living in New York, I was lucky enough to live around the corner from a great, classic, joint. Super-thin, crispy, plain slices-- heaven.

So the move back to Maine has been something of a let-down. Ricetta's is pretty good, but far away and fairly expensive. Flatbread is good, but suffers from the aforementioned service issues. So the impending advent of Bonobo has been pretty thrilling.

(As an aside, there was a fascinating article in the New Yorker last week about the eponymous apes which said that their predilection for crazy sex may be overstated. Fascinating.)

OK. I just realized I am rambling, while what everyone wants to know is: how is the damn pizza?

The answer is, happily, pretty damn good. Not classic New York style, but crispy, thin, and tasty, with some delicious toppings. Otis and I headed over there about six, and the place was full, of both customers and staff. It seemed like they were training all the staff in one fell swoop, since there were about ten people milling around with no idea what they were doing. Everyone was lovely and sweet, however, and seemed excited to figure out how to best serve all of the pizza-craving customers.

Yesterday was about 90, so the place was mostly full of people waiting for take-out, since it wasn't air-conditioned. We sat at the bar to wait. Sadly, the beer and wine license is not finalized, but we enjoyed some delicious watermelon spritzers instead, which were refreshing and not too sweet. We also got a great view of the inside of the wood-fired oven, which was fun.

The pizzas are 13 inch; a plain is $9 and most of the specialty pies around $14. We opted for two: the Greek, with feta, kalamata olives, spinach, and red sauce; and the sausage, with homemade sausage and caramelized onions.

By the time we got home and settled in to watch our recorded episode of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (oh, Ramsay, you're such a funny man!), the pies were the perfect temp.

The Greek was ever-so-slightly undercooked, but the flavors were perfect-- just enough of each topping, and there was an overall muted garlic flavor which went perfectly.

The sausage, though, was the real star. The sausage was perfectly cooked and in nice little piles of crumbles rather than slices of links, with a great spice and smoke flavor. The onions on top were browned perfectly, and the mozzarella and red sauce were perfectly proportioned. Best of all, the pizza itself was perfectly cooked; thin, crispy, and brown around the edges.

All in all, considering that it was their first night in business, I think Bonobo will be a resounding success. Go check it out! I know we'll be back, probably more often than is good for us.