Not your ordinary pizza

Besides 14 inspired pizza pies, all on their expertly made thin crust, Penguin now offers simple pastas, a good selection of beer and wine, and, starting Nov. 7, an extensive breakfast menu. Whole wheat pizza crust is in the works as well, once they finish fine-tuning the recipe.

Our first pie was sensational. The seasonal ($9.95 medium) used roasted butternut squash puree instead of the usual tomato sauce, and dotted it with judicious dabs of tangy goat cheese, savory braised leeks, and aromatic fried sage. Nothing was excessively gobbed on. Everything belonged. The warm flavors captured the best of fall. The Aegean ($9.95) was also a careful balance of flavors. Juicy kalamata olives, crumbles of feta cheese, and tufts of julienned spinach were all held by a thin, gooey -- but not greasy -- layer of the house's four-cheese blend.

"All four cheeses -- parmesan, jack, Swiss, and mozzarella -- are there for their different qualities," said O'Neill. "First, it's got to do with taste, but second, it's got to do with how they hold together. The Swiss melts at a different rate than the mozzarella. You know how when you lift a slice of regular pizza out of the box and everything ends up on the floor? We're trying to avoid that, and the four cheeses give us a nice result."

You have to love a pizza maker who calculates even the cheese as if he were making soufflé, and we enjoyed just about every pizza we tried. The duck confit pie ($12.95 for a medium 12-inch) was a favorite with its flavorful shreds of slow-cooked duck, with sweet red onion, soft slices of roasted potato, and just enough fontina cheese to make it sing. The margherita ($7.95) was not the expected fresh mozzarella pie, but rather a simple, satisfying plain cheese pizza with fresh basil. A garden mix of roasted red pepper and broccoli with sun dried tomato and goat cheese topped the tasty pimento pizza ($9.95). The only dud was the smoked salmon ($11.95), which suffered from strong-tasting fish, too much cheese, and a hailstorm of salty capers.

Meanwhile, everything else seems to work here. The bright yellow and blue walls, funky mix of art, and pub-like vibe made for a cozy space. The wait staff was helpful and service well-timed. And the pastas were a bargain. Of the six basic pastas, served in big, white bowls, we tried two. Fettucine pomodori ($6.95) came with a delightful homemade red sauce with soft chunks of garlic and lots of fresh basil. Rigatoni all rusticana ($8.95) was a nice toss of crisp broccoli in a thin cream sauce edged with a touch of chili.

Desserts here are made to be slurped. The Penguin offers a host of all-natural smoothies ($4 each) made simply with real fruit, organic yogurt, honey, and ice. Try the madcap mango's creamy swirl of mango, strawberry, peach, and pineapple sorbet.