With a name like Z Pizza, it's hard to determine just what type of pizza you might find at the newest Ward Centre food tenant, but you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Moments after biting into the Moroccan Rustica pizza ($11.95), I started doing a happy dance in my seat, which drew a big-eyed look from a friend just because it almost never happens. Don't get me wrong. I do like food, but the downside of eating for a living is that one encounters few surprises or “;Hallelujah”; moments.

I don't know if Z Pizza's combination of basil pesto, thin rounds of roasted eggplant and feta cheese with pine nuts really makes a fitting homage to Moroccan cuisine, but all those ingredients work for me and associations are an important part of the culinary experience. The sprinkling of pine nuts was sparse but nevertheless so full of their distinctive flavor that it reminded me of traveling through the Taos, N.M., mountains with a couple of Taos Pueblo dudes, stopping for deer and gathering and eating pine nuts—what they call pinon—off the ground. Prior to that, I'd only had them shelled and sold in tidy, sanitized specialty food packages.

What struck me as being most different about the Z Pizza was the freshness of its thin crust and its nongreasy appeal. Yes, there was oil to be expected of the pesto on the Moroccan pizza, but otherwise the paper beneath other pizzas was remarkably dry and toppings free of oil saturation sang with purity. This is something Hawaii seldom sees, and as I read the takeout menu following the meal, I learned about the company's roots in Laguna Beach, Calif., and its aim to build a lighter, healthier yet still delicious pizza.

Fast-forward more than 20 years, and the rest of the world is only now coming 'round to ideas Z Pizza had embraced since 1986. Among their practices is using 100 percent certified organic wheat dough, 100 percent certified organic tomato sauce and Wisconsin low-fat mozzarella. At that point I knew how I had managed to pack away my share of three pizzas and walk away without a tummy ache.

THE PIZZAS, even without that extra dose of grease, are not dry at all, yet some, weaned on fast-food pizzas, apparently can't live without it. When I came in, the first thing I saw was staffers delivering little cups of liquid to some of the diners. They were cups of chili oil meant for dipping or drizzling over the pizzas.

Geez, does anyone really need to add more fat to their diets? There was a time I wrote this column from my finicky, upscale perspective alone, until I realized there are so many ways of experiencing food that it might be better to accept there's no way we will ever be on the same page at once, and let all know they have such options to have food conform to their own demands. Restaurants can try to send a healthy message, but in the long run the customer is always right.

Those who do prefer a healthier outlook might want to start with one of Z Pizza's six or so tempting salads. I saw a pear and gorgonzola pizza ($11.95) on the menu, but I prefer pizzas to be savory rather than sweet, so I opted for the combination as a regular gourmet salad ($8.50 small/$10.95 large that feeds three if also ordering pizza) with mesclun, candied walnuts and balsamic vinaigrette. It's something I'd order again and again.

It's a shame soon-to-be President Barack Obama stayed in Kailua most of his time in Hawaii. Otherwise, he might have come out for Z Pizza's baby arugula salad ($7.95/$10.95), also with candied walnuts, plus caramelized onions, cucumbers and shaved Parmesan.

Other salad options are a Greek salad, chicken Caesar and ZBQ Southwestern-style salad with BBQ chicken, cilantro and chipotle ranch dressing. There are also a couple of pasta dishes and sandwiches, but they pale in comparison with the main-attraction pizzas.

Other pizzas come in three sizes: a 10-inch small, 14-inch large and 18-inch extra-large. To experience more flavors in one sitting, you can order two flavor combinations on two halves of your pizza on large and extra-large orders.

Toppings come first for me, so when I saw artichoke hearts I was there. Before I knew it, I had ordered two Moroccan pizzas. One was the Casablanca ($12.95/$22.95/25.95), with its combination of roasted garlic sauce, mozzarella, balls of ricotta, mushrooms and artichoke hearts. As good as it was, my favorite was the one-size Moroccan Rustica pizza, referring to its rectangular, free-form crust.

The Provence ($12.95/$22.95/ $25.95) is one of the basics, made with organic tomato sauce, homemade roasted garlic sauce, mozzarella, artichoke hearts, basil and the salty zing of marinated capers.

One of the more unusual offerings is a rustica pizza of chicken curry and orange yam ($11.95). It's one for those with a sweet tooth because the curry flavor is nil. What stands out is its sweet coating of mango chutney with raisins and a touch of cilantro.

Similarly, I didn't taste much of the peanut sauce on the Thai pizza ($12.95/$22.95/$25.95) topped with chicken, cilantro, shredded carrots and bean sprouts. I preferred the standard Mediterranean flavors to any of the more exotic pizzas.

Rather than using raw onions, Z Pizza caramelizes their onions, resulting in sweet pizzas, which is not my preference, although a couple of my friends also said they only like their onions cooked. So, as a popular move, I guess they're right on that point as well.

For those who can't afford the full pizza, slices of simpler styles are available at $3.25.