I had only ever visited Honeycomb in South Hamilton once before on a soft spring afternoon. That day, I went during a busy lunch shift. The line snaked out the door and the croissants I had been craving—Wenham native Lauren Moran and her husband, Billy Moran, are responsible for the laminated dough—were already sold out. I ended up leaving with a baguette after my sandwich and coffee lunch was complete.
Last fall, Honeycomb relaunched a pizza operation, originally spearheaded in the early months of Covid. Available on Thursday nights, the pizzas, made from a fermented sourdough starter named Ophelia, are New York style. On an unseasonably warm evening in February, I stopped by with my two boys to see how the pies were shaping up.
It was busy as a hive inside Honeycomb, which serves five different pies along with two salads. The cheese pie is the one that most closely resembles a New York version. It’s thin and crisp and boasts an evenly distributed three-cheese blend. (According to Moran, this includes mozzarella, parmesan, and fontina.) My boys insisted on it, and I couldn’t say no.
The pepperoni pie comes with the staple meat, of course, as well as hot honey. A margherita, any artisanal joint’s de rigueur pie, boasts rings of tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and a chiffonade of fresh basil. The final two are for those with more adult persuasions, perhaps. The sausage and broccoli rabe version features sweet Italian sausage, broccoli rabe, and garlic oil, while the so-called “Fun Guy” comes with roasted mushrooms (Honeycomb uses cremini, oyster, and shiitake), brie and parmesan cheeses, crispy sage leaves, and a garlic-cream sauce.
For those feeling virtuous, an arugula salad dips into ’90s territory, though not in a bad way, with dried cranberries, candied walnuts, goat cheese, and an orange-date vinaigrette. A more savory beet salad showcases the root vegetable, roasted, with spinach in a sesame dressing and everything bagel croutons. (Salads often change with the season.)
Pizzas take about 10 to 15 minutes to cook. Guests waiting at farm-chic tables outfitted with intentionally mismatched plates sip on beers, wines, and kombuchas. For kids, there is Mexican Coca-Cola, Spindrift seltzer, or orange juice.
The pies arrived piping hot, much to my kids’ delight. If I thought an entire 14-inch pizza was an overestimation for two small kids, I was wrong. I tried one of their slices and they proceeded to fight over what remained. It was gone in a flash. I was left to consider the margherita on my own. Reader, I couldn’t finish it, which is what the takeout boxes are for, after all.
If you have the stomach capacity, you’re welcome to peruse the dessert counter, and any diner would be lucky to feast on a Honeycomb sweet. Desserts change, said Moran, so guests can expect cupcakes, slices of pie, and lemon bars, to name a few.
I wanted to know, of course, the opinions of my two young pizza lovers. On the scale of pizza deliciousness, where did they rank Honeycomb? As it turns out, they placed it at the very top.
“It’s great,” said my eight-year-old without a hint of hesitation. “Maybe my favorite.” A child of the world, the boy knows his pizza. I’d take his word for it.