Super Bowl-Inspired Pizza Topped With Hot Dog, Fritos And Chili

BAYSIDE, QUEENS -- It's one of the few places where you'll find pigs in a blanket, bacon chili, Fritos and pizza packed onto the same plate.

No, that wasn't a reference to every Super Bowl party ever this weekend - though that's probably also true. But for a limited time, those ingredients are packed onto every slice of the Super Bowl-themed pizza served by a Bayside eatery that's famous for its crusted creations.

Vishee Mandahar, owner of Krave It Sandwich Shop and Eatery, is serving up a "Battle of the Pigskins" pizza through Super Bowl Sunday in honor of what he says is favorite holiday. The specialty pie is packed with Super Bowl snack essentials, including pig-in-a-blanket crust and bacon chili on top.

"I love sports, and this is a big day to get together," Mandahar told Patch. "(The Super Bowl) is probably one of the biggest days for people to sit down and stuff their faces with comfort food without worrying about dieting."

The Battle of the Pigskins has become Krave It's most popular pizza since it debuted two weeks ago, Mandahar said.

The specialty pie starts off with pigs-in-a-blanket crust, made by lining the edge of the pizza with whole hot dogs, folding the dough over the dogs, and twisting and slicing it. Mandahar adds mozzarella and cheddar cheese to the pizza, along with sesame seeds and butter to its crust, before popping it into the oven to cook.

When the pizza comes out, it's loaded with more sliced hot dogs, chili con carne and Fritos before being drizzled with chipotle sriracha, onions and scallions.

"It's a must-have," Mandahar said of his work.

The Super Bowl pizza has exploded on social media in the two weeks it's been available, getting shout-outs from popular foodie Instagram accounts like Food Beast and Food God - which has a whopping 2.4 million followers.

"It's all over Instagram," Mandahar said.

Thrillist Food and Drink called the pizza "everything you ever need for the Super Bowl" in a video posted to its Facebook page that amassed more than 500,000 views in a day.

This is far from the first crafty crusted creation to come out from Krave It's oven, which has become famous for its Instagram-friendly pies. Mandahar's past holiday specials include the "Cran-Slam" pizza topped with a three-course Thanksgiving meal and a July 4 pizza topped with burgers.

For him, it's all about serving traditional comfort food in extreme ways - and few days of the year are better for comfort foods than the Super Bowl. Mandahar said the inspiration for his latest specialty pie came from his own Super Bowl staple foods growing up.

"Just growing up watching football, I thought about the different comfort foods I ate," he said. "I figured, why not try something different with the crust?"

The result? Touchdown.

Lead photo courtesy of Krave It.