We don’t usually do the whole franchise thing, but we pulled into a
little bbq place we had never heard about, and it looked deserted.
Not today deserted, long time deserted. So, on a tight schedule, we
shot up the street to a quick-service/made to order pizza place. The
place is busy, but still fast. It’s a Chipotle style service. Stroll
the counter and point out what you want on the dough that is pressed
then stretched by hand. You pick a sauce (of 6), cheese (of 5) and
then toppings (of 40). It goes in the oven and 180 seconds later,
viola pizza.
|
Pick Your Toppings |
And A Quick Bake Brings You Pizza |
||
We are first timers, so we went with a couple of their pre-designed
pies and a couple extras. The first extra was the Caprese Salad,
tomatoes, little nuggets of Mozzarella, basil, onions and we went
with balsamic vinaigrette. The bowl was more than half empty beneath
the big freshness sticker on top, which was odd as they certainly
didn’t skimp on the cheese, more cheese than anything else. The
dressing was actually nice and sharp. The serious problem with the
whole ordeal was the quarter cup of milky looking water at the
bottom of the bowl. Not sure where it leeched from, but it certainly
wasn’t appetizing and didn’t help the “freshness” of the few basil
leaves in the salad. |
|
Not Sure Why There Is A Puddle At The Bottom |
|
|
||
We also tried what is apparently a new addition to the appetizer menu, the meatballs. Three are served with a little scoop of ricotta cheese and their regular or spicy sauce. We went with spicy.
Flavor wise,
Texture wise,
They must have worked the grind to death to get the almost superball-like
denseness these orbs displayed. Like the rest of the fiery pizza,
there was good and bad about everything.
|
|
||
The pizzas were the Chicago and the Buffalo. Overall, both were
pretty good. The crust had an impressive maturity in flavor and took
on a nice crispy texture around the circumference but didn’t quite
set in the middle, which resulted in a floppy point flailing and
failing to support the rest of the ingredients. The Chicago starts
with a Neapolitan sauce and it meatified with pepperoni, sausage,
meatballs and bacon. The pepperoni had a piquant bite but the other
three meats (especially the sausage) added protein and fat but not
much taste. |
|||
|
But Windy City Butcher Would Only Take Pride In The Pepperoni |
||
The Buffalo started with a ranch/bacon sauce followed by chicken, mozzarella and romano cheeses and finished with an orange swirl of buffalo sauce. Outside of the floppy crust all of the ingredients contributed what you might expect. They had a couple different cookies, the red velvet of which caught our fancy. Chocolaty red dough, loaded with chocolate chunks of various shades, and nicely moist without being greasy, not a single complaint there.
True, it’s not Ray’s or Uno’s or Spago’s but
they do churn out a fair product, of your design, in a stunning
time. The next time our plans go belly up, we may return. |
|||
Buffalo Ingredients Better Participants |
But Center Still Soggs Down |
||
Shame, The Edges Are Well Done |
Other Oven Treats |
Ratings | |||||||
Food |
Service |
Ambiance |
What's Best |
What's Worst |
Overall |
||
C | C+ | C | N/A | N/A | C | ||
It Is Quick |