Like life, pizza comes in many forms, and one of the newest pizza places around happens to be one of the best. Tony Gemignani’s Pizza Rock at Green Valley Ranch is relatively new to the Las Vegas Valley, with one other location downtown and sister outlets in Green Valley’s food court and in Palace Station, where a full-fledged Italian restaurant opened recently. Gemignani has made himself a name in the pizza universe, becoming a world champion in multiple categories. He sources quality ingredients, and has researched and perfected several styles of pizza.

The décor at Pizza Rock certainly matches its name, with a Peterbilt DJ booth dominating the scene (it even has a horn that honks). On one large circular table, a roulette wheel serves as the centerpiece, while nearby a curtain of large chains (like those you'd see on a tow truck) divide the dining room from the nearby casino.

And at one end of a sit-down counter, you’ll find what might be best described as a disco oven. A little like Liberace’s piano, the 900-degree wood-fired oven is covered in mirrored tiles, making it quite a showpiece. From this flame-filled chamber issues forth a tasty array of pies, such as the margherita. Gemignani’s version of the classic, with hand-mixed dough proofed in special wooden boxes (only 73 pies are made daily), was a World Pizza Cup winner. Sit at the counter and you watch as your pie is assembled with fior di latte mozzarella and San Marzano tomatoes, and slid into the oven. A minute or two later, a heavenly aroma permeates the area and your pie is transferred closer to the flame to add a slight char. Other pizzas made in the oven include a marinara, with no cheese at all, and the California-style Honey Pie, fragrant and slightly spicy with fried caramelized onions, Calabrese and serrano peppers, mozzarella and piave cheeses and Quail Hollow Farm honey. Seriously, one of the best pizzas ever.

That oven isn’t the only one on the premises, though. The Detroit Red Top cooks up in steel pans in a 550-degree gas brick oven; it’s thick and invites you to sink in your teeth. The Sausage & Stout combines a Guinness beer dough, beer salt, beer sausage and sweet Guinness reduction. Just 23 Sausage & Stouts are created daily, but score a deal if you order it with two pints of Guinness. Get New York style pies from a 700-degree electric brick oven.

There are more than 35 types of pizza here, but you aren’t bound to order a pizza. Classic Italian dishes such as calzone, stromboli, kobe beef burgers, house-made sausage and peppers, chicken and eggplant parmigiana, and lasagna punctuate the menu.

You might need a little dessert or a cocktail before you go, and the tiramisu here covers you for both. Tony’s tiramisu features Malibu-rum infused ladyfingers, Frangelico and shaved Valrhona chocolate—making your evening’s end so sweet.

Green Valley Ranch, 11 a.m.-midnight Sun.-Thurs., 11 a.m.-2 a.m. Fri.-Sat. 702.617.7075