Take one look at the photos on the Mootz Pizza Instagram account and you’ll see why checking out this new concept was high on our list, pandemic be damned.

Mootz comes from the Adkisson brothers: Collin, the brainchild behind the pizza; and Kane, who many of us know from the high-end Kano pop-up series he ran all over town pre-pandemic. (Oh, how I await the return of things like a Kano pop-up.)

Mootz is their new version of a pop-up, and the pies come topped with seasonal, local ingredients. “Mootz” is Collin’s childhood nickname.

Omahans can get picky about pizza — I think back to the arguments on social media about some pizza stories I’ve written over the years, for example.

Mootz is hard to argue with, no matter what style of pizza you prefer.

The naturally leavened, wood-fired crust has that lovely crisp-chewy base with a bubbly, airy edge. It’s the kind of pizza I love. We tried two flavor combinations: the meat lovers, topped with tomato, Fior de Latte Mozzarella cheese, cups of crisp pepperoni and garlic sausage prosciutto. Delicious, spicy, deeply meaty.

Garlic confit starred on the pesto and oyster mushroom pie, its depth of flavor dominant but not overpowering on each slice. Just-crisp oyster mushrooms and earthy pesto made this one my personal favorite.

Don’t worry about carbs; order the damn dinner rolls. Seriously. The Ruth’s dinner rolls on the menu are some of the best rolls I’ve ever eaten, period. The house-made ranch dressing that comes with the farm green salad is also great, even for a self-proclaimed Ranch hater like me.

The Adkissons always bring their A-game, and their pandemic pizza pop-up is no exception. Order from Mootz. It’s a reminder of the creativity and innovation our food scene is capable of, even in tough times.

The how-to

To order pizza delivery, which is available on the weekends, and which the Adkissons are delivering personally, visit https://www.exploretock.com/kano/. We ordered two pizzas, a side salad and dinner rolls, and the order arrived at our door promptly at the time we’d selected.