That Pizza Place in Carlsbad has anchored the El Camino Real corridor since 1978, when founding owner Mike Pfankuch opened the pizzeria as a community gathering spot for North County families and youth-sports teams. After closing in 2020, four childhood friends — John Chavez, Chris Chiarappa, Troy Guerra, and Thadd MacNeil — purchased and reopened the restaurant, preserving original recipes while adding eight rotating local craft-beer taps including a TPP House Blonde brewed by Burgeon Beer Company, a tap-forward program that differentiates the parlor from dine-in pizza competitors such as Knockout Pizza on the same strip. Thin-crust and deep-dish pies run from the loaded House Special — carrying every available topping — to the South of the Border with jalapeños, meatballs, olives, and onions, all served in a dining room lined with generations of local sports photos and team pennants. Community fundraiser Donation Nights direct a portion of proceeds to Carlsbad youth-sports organizations and school groups, continuing a philanthropic model the original ownership established over more than 40 years — a giving structure visible in the same corridor neighborhood where Lola's 7 Up Market & Deli serves its own regulars. The deep-dish pepperoni bakes a thick, pan-risen crust under a layered cheese-and-sauce assembly — one of the few Chicago-style builds available in the Carlsbad pizza market.