Photo by Leslie KellyThe toppings were the highlight of Domino’s Artisan Pizza, especially the pickled banana peppers.Should Serious Pie and Delancey be worried that Domino’s has launched an “artisan pizza”? (Insert snide snorting sound.) Oh, hell no.But, this $8 pie didn’t suck as much as I thought it was going to.I probably never would have even heard about this new initiative by the home delivery giant except I read on Eater that some Top Chef reject was shamelessly shilling this pie. Like, maybe, we should expect more from the star of a reality show? Really?Read about how this bad boy tasted on the jump!The thing you gotta love about Domino’s is that when they say your pizza will be ready in 10 minutes, it’s ready in 10 minutes. Which doesn’t seem like a whole lot of time to craft an artisan pizza.Even before taking that first bite, I got a huge kick out of the message printed on top of the box: “We are not artisans. We don’t wear black berets, cook with wood-fired ovens or apprentice with the masters in Italy. Though we may not be artisans in the traditional sense, inside this box you’ll find a handmade pizza crafted with the kind of passion and integrity that just might convince you we are.”Hmmm. Well, the artisan who crafted my pie was munching on a cookie and hitting on a girl at the counter when I stopped in to pick up. The toppings were definitely the stars of this pizza, the Italian sausage and peppers delivering a spicy kick. I loved the pickled banana peppers. But it went downhill from there, the sweet, paste-y sauce and the crust that had as much personality as the cardboard box in which it was served. Undercooked, almost gummy, the crust wasn’t even as tasty as a freezer pizza. What the corporate suits who dream up these campaigns don’t get is to achieve artisan goodness — I’m not even talking greatness — you don’t need berets or wood-burning ovens, but you’ve got to do something to make that dough have some character. And then, you’ve got to cook it long enough to get a nice bit of char on the bottom of the pie. Still, my far-less-demanding husband put things into perspective when he ate most it, saying: It’s a perfectly good $8 pizza.Follow Voracious on Twitter and Facebook.