Everything you need to know about Casey's Dugout Pizza on Lincoln Avenue
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EVANSVILLE – Hometown Evansville athlete Casey Keown took his love of pizza and his love of sports and rolled them into Casey’s Dugout, a sports-themed pizza restaurant and beer and wine bar now open on Lincoln Avenue. It was a highly anticipated restaurant and has been incredibly busy since opening. Here are all the facts.
Who is Casey Keown?
Keown grew up on Lincoln Avenue across the street from Memorial High School, where he played three varsity sports – basketball, baseball, and football. He says his whole family has always been immersed in sports, and it's been a dream of his to have a sports-themed pizza restaurant on the East Side.
The building was converted from a medical office and had extensive remodeling, but Keown and his wife Elizabeth "Bissy" Keown got it all done in five months. Most of the memorabilia came from their house.
“It brings back memories of sitting with my family after dinner and watching Don (Mattingly) play," Keown said. "It’s not even as much about baseball as it is about those memories.”
There’s a lot of Don Mattingly stuff in there
Mattingly is an Evansville native who also played baseball for Memorial before famously going on to play with the New York Yankees and to manage the Los Angeles Dodgers and Miami Marlins. He’s now a coach for the Toronto Blue Jays. Keown grew up with Mattingly’s son Taylor and they played travel baseball together. Mattingly was at the restaurant’s ribbon cutting; The Hitman pizza is named after him; and merchandise from Mattingly’s charities is for sale in the shop with proceeds going back to the charity.
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How’s the business so far at Casey's Dugout?
Casey’s opened its bar at the first of March and started serving pizza a couple weeks later. It’s been slammed.
“It’s been so busy we’re scrambling,” Keown said. “We didn’t think we could do 100 in five hours but we’re doing 100–120 a night. People are just lined up and we tell them it’s an hour wait and they say, ‘no problem.’ I mean, it’s a good problem to have.”
Right now, if you want to get a Casey’s Dugout pizza you have to walk in and order it at the counter. You can carry it out, but it’s so busy with in-person traffic that phone and online orders have not been implemented yet.
The bar at Casey's Dugout
The bar sells beer and wine only. The venue is family friendly and there is a kids menu.
On the menu at Casey's Dugout
The menu at Casey’s Dugout concentrates on pizza, pizza oven sandwiches, bread-based appetizers and other goodies from local chefs. The meats come from the Old Fashioned Butcher Shoppe, and vegetables will be sourced from local farmers in season.
Specialty pizzas at Casey's Dugout
The crust at Casey’s Dugout is made in house. It’s not the typical Evansville Una style, but it thicker and softer. The pizzas are offered in 10’ and 16’ sizes and cut into eight triangles. You may build your own or choose from one of the specialty pizzas, a few of which include:
The Hitman – Made the way Don Mattingly himself likes it best, with sausage, mushrooms and extra cheese.
The Graham Slam – Named after Keown’s son Graham, this is the loaded pizza with sausage, pepperoni, beef, ham, bacon, onions, green peppers, black olives, mushrooms, and pepperoncini.
Harper’s Hot Honey Hawaiian – This one’s named after Keown’s daughter Harper. It’s topped with ham, pineapple, brown sugar, red sauce and Mike’s Hot Honey.
The Tater Swift – Potatoes, bacon, garlic butter, cheddar cheese and chives top this pizza, which is served with a side of sour cream or tzatziki sauce.
The Utopian – This creative pie is topped with grilled chicken, mushrooms, truffle, bacon and mozzarella cheese.
The Angry Bird – Buffalo chicken, red onions, blue cheese crumbles top the pizza with a drizzle of ranch.
Mary’s Little Lamb – A gyro pizza, this one features gyro meat, feta and mozzarella cheeses, red onion and tomato and is served with a side of tzatziki sauce.
Sandwiches at Casey's Dugout
Pizza oven sandwiches include:
Stromboli – Filled with stromboli sausage, pepperoni, diced onion, green peppers, red sauce and mozzarella cheese.
Veggie Strom – Filled with green pepper, onion, mushrooms, marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese.
Evansville BBQ Strom – This one has stromboli sausage, barbecue sauce, onion, cheese and a dusting of BBQ Grippos.
Hot Ham and Cheese – Locally produce ham, shaved, and gooey mozzarella cheese
CBR – Chicken, bacon and ranch.
Other good stuff at Casey's Dugout
Chef Doug Rennie of Just Rennie's is supplying lasagne, which is available on Monday and Tuesday only, and special-recipe chocolate chip and sugar cookie dough made just for Casey’s which is baked up in house. On Friday and Saturday nights, locally-smoked pulled pork barbecue sandwiches are on the menu with pickles and onions.
Casey's Dugout
Location: 2900 Lincoln Ave.
Hours: Monday–Thursday, 5-10 p.m.; Friday, 5 p.m. to midnight; Saturday, 3 p.m.-midnight. Closed Sunday. Closing times may vary slightly.
Website: caseysdugout.com
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Casey's Dugout Pizza opens on Lincoln Avenue in Evansville
