Adventure #62: Winflo Osteria

Folks, we have a contender. Let me introduce you to Winflo Osteria.

Now that I have your attention, let me tell you a story. We went here on my birthday, not to celebrate, but because adventuring needed to be done and we were in a tight spot. Our first option, Pieous, failed us. We made the trip out to far southwest Austin to take a crack at Pieous, arrived nearly two hours before they closed, and were told that they were about to run out of pizza! That revelation really harshed my birthday mellow, and I grew despondent. By the time we secured a table at Winflo, off of west 6th, I was a sourpuss.

When we left, I was joyous. Now, some of that is attributable to Karin's great company and the cute hostess, but the food did the heavy lifting. So what did we eat?

We decided to try to pizzas instead of a pizza and an appetizer. We went with a Margherita, as we do when we're expecting great things from a new place, and the Carne Italiana, Winflo's version of a Meat Parade.

Carne Italiana: San Marzano Sauce, Rosa Grande Pepperoni, Genoa Salami, Beef & Salami Meatballs, Fior di Latte, Pecorino-Romano

Margherita: Crushed San Marzanos, Fresh Basil, Fior di Latte, Extra Virgin Olive Oil

We really liked these pizzas. Both had good char on the crust, which was made in the traditional Neopolitan style. The quality and taste of the cheese on both pies was fantastic, as well. Although we liked them both, we picked our sides and came down in favor of different pies.

I thought the Margherita was fantastic. The basil was legitimately fresh, the cheese was wonderful as mentioned, and the slight spread of San Marzanos added the occasional bright burst to your bites. Karin didn't feel that there was anything exceptional about the Margherita, although she agreed it was of high quality.

Karin preferred the Carne Italiana. She felt that there was more going on, which is a given when you've got more than the standard three ingredients on a Margherita. We both agree that the meatballs are the star meats of the show, and that a pie with just meatballs and garlic would be pretty sublime here.

I'd like to add a special note about the atmosphere. On surface, this place seems a bit snooty. Reservations, a gorgeous and crowded interior, valet parking. However, the staff is incredibly nice, and the outdoor seating area is simply one of the best I've seen. The prices are a bit higher than your average pizza place, but if you sit outside and listen to the soft 80's standards* piping through an ingenious outdoor surround sound system, you'll forget all your worries. 

Especially after you get a mouthful of pizza. 

* I asked about the music, and was told that it changes from time to time; occasionally they do have the soft jazz I would expect at an upscale bistro. I was more than satisfied with Jessie's Girl, though.

Adventure to Chicago

The view from my hotel room.

Last week I went to Chicago for C2E2 and, since Chicago is home to one of the big city-named styles of pizza, I had pizza...a lot of pizza. Instead of trying to piece this together into a narrative, I'll let my pictures speak (with a little help).

Sunrise on my way into Chicago as seen from an airplane window

Giordano's, the night of the Geek Fights annual drunk episode. I don't remember much other than that I got the impression of lasagna with pepperoni and a crust on the back end.

I was briefly at the convention and this was my favorite cosplay (from the comic book Saga).

What is a vacation without friends? Jerad Formby on the left and Christie Wooke on the right.

I couldn't stop taking pictures of the art in Roger's Park

Outside of the Pegasus Players building where I was privileged to see "If You Split A Second" (I had never been to the theater before and was completely enraptured by the play, written by Dana Formby) 

The "official" pizza adventure for real Chicago style

The meat parade with delicious bacon on top and three more meats inside

Breakfast at the Bongo Room - there are fresh bananas buried in there somewhere ;)

Stopped in on the spur of the moment

Yuck

Might have been delicious as a fresh pie, the upskirt shows promise

Chicago's version of Lone Star

The last adventure of the weekend, literally the last stop before the airport

This is what I'm looking for in a deep dish pizza

Ending the vacation with friends

Adventure #61: Conans Pizza (Redux!)

We were supposed to head on a new adventure to Pieous in Dripping Springs, but we're not the most well-prepared pizzadventurers. The place was closed! What does an intrepid adventurer do? Head to the nearest Conan's.

How savagely I have missed Conan's. Since I moved out of the Crestview neighborhood and thus away from the North location at Anderson and Burnet, I haven't had the pleasure of one of my favorite pizzas in Austin: The Savage. in the Deep Pan crust: sausage, hamburger, pepperoni, green pepper, onion, mushroom, black olive, jalapeno, and the crown jewel—anchovies.

I wish I could tell you something new to add to our previous trip to Conans, but we couldn't pass up a Savage. Same pizza, same thoughts, same result - an empty pan.

One difference: we hit up the location at Stassney and Manchaca this time. The wood paneling isn't as conspicuous, but the vibe is the same. It's intimate, old-school, and makes you want to drink beer. Maybe one day we'll try something different, but until then, enjoy this upskirt.

- Ian

Adventure #60: The Pizza Bistro

 

Expectations.

It is impossible to go into a pizza adventure without them and hard to turn the ship around once they haven't been met. I think we managed to make this a good adventure, one where we are ready, eager even, to go back and give The Pizza Bistro another try. So that you don't get the wrong impression, I'm going to work each bit of it as a compliment stuffed pizza (like a compliment sandwich but more apropos to the situation).

Stuffed Pizza #1

The bar area is gorgeous. Ian mentioned that he might have a new after-work happy hour place since there is good beer, good breadsticks, and a warm cozy friendly vibe. The happy hour specials are a deal with $3 beers and a free slice of pizza with bar purchases.

With that said... Oh my god the menus. Sigh. Kevin (our guest on this adventure) and I both have been watching too much Kitchen Nightmares on Netflix (stick with me here, this place was only like any of those horrible restaurants in this one nitpicky area, everything else looked clean) and the second that we were handed two large jam-packed menus we made the confused puppy face and when Ian arrived he was very much in agreement.

There is just too much stuff. Pizzas (six kinds of crust, six kinds of sauce, and over twelve inches of specialty pizzas) on one large menu with a large double-sided menu to go with it for everything else was overwhelming. To add to the clutter, there are these large wooden propped-up boards (I wish I had gotten a picture) on each table that had nothing on them. When we asked the waiter what they were for (and why they stopped using them) he indicated that they used to keep the pizza menu on there and then hand out the "other" menu, but the owners decided to change it up. I fully acknowledge that I am not a restauranteur and that this may truly be working out better than the old way, but the idea of having the pizza menu already there (or getting rid of the boards) seems like it must be better than having blank wooden boards on the tables taking up my precious eating space.

On the other hand, in big neon letters on the wall is FOOD IS LOVE and I like that sentiment a lot. When we get to the bread portion of this blog you'll see where the love went in to this food.

Stuffed pizza #2

The bread. I am in love with the bread, not just the garlic breadsticks which were piping hot and clearly cooked to order, but the pizza crust as well. The breadsticks were perfectly soft with a light dusting of garlic (I'll be honest that I prefer to be smacked in the face with my garlic, but can still appreciate it when it is subtle). The pizza crust was crusty like the outer edge of a perfect loaf of home-made bread. By the time I was full I just wanted to scrape all of the stuff off of the remaining slice of pizza and eat nothing but the crust.

We were not impressed with either the marinara (that came with the breadsticks) or the pizza sauce (on top of the pizza). The marinara was bland, with visible chunks of onions and other things, but without their flavor. The pizza sauce was overly salty instead of having the robust herby tomato flavor that I expected (there we go with expectations again).

Uhhhh....Can I talk about the crust again? Look at it up there! Look at how amazing the inside bend of the outer edge looks bready and delicious.  Look at the next picture down and before I talk about it just stare at that outer edge and let your salivary glands start their engines.  Forget about all five of the other crusts (though the new york style pizzas we saw going to other tables looked pretty good), you don't need to try them, they can't top this. 

 

Stuffed Pizza #3

For the pizza we ordered the Italian Sausage and Ricotta, which also includes roasted garlic.  The ricotta was excellent and when I bit into the milky pocket of deliciousness I couldn't help but feel the love.

There wasn't much italian sausage to be had (nor roasted garlic). We expected this stuffed pizza to be stuffed with them, instead it was 95% mozzarella (blend, I think, just for clarity) and very little italian sausage or garlic. If we spotted them and picked them out we could taste them, but blindfolded I don't think any of us could have told you what was in this pizza since the topping flavors were completely overwhelmed by the cheese and sauce. This pizza is marked with the little "this is our best" peace sign on the menu, so I'm not sure what to think of the rest of the menu, though...

...there seemed to be a large variety of alternative pizzas on the menu which may not have the issue that we ran into with this one. For example, the carnitas pizza with tomatillo sauce, seemed like my next pizza destination. Our waiter (who was excellent, by the way) recommended the Texas BBQ Brisket pizza and I have to say that it seems like it would be a hell of a good meal.

***

Overall, we will be back. We will be checking out more of their menu, looking for consistency and hoping that we choose pizza with a better topping distribution and balance. If for nothing else, we will be back for beer, breadsticks, and love.

-Karin

Adventure #59: Spartan Pizza (Redux!)

Spartan Pizza, how long it has been! We visited Spartan when they were one location, far down south next to the Red Shed tavern. They remain there, but have also expanded into a food trailer court on East Sixth. How does their fare fare these days?

We sampled two pies! Let's talk about this one first.

The Medusa: Roasted garlic spread, caramelized onion, bacon, blue cheese

No sauce, just spread. This pie, just right. Meaty meaty bacon leads the way here. It's more chewy than crispy, but not in a bad way. I think crispier bacon wouldn't work well with the crust here. With the soft onions and chunks of blue cheese, the experience is mouthful after mouthful of chewy taste explosion. I know that chewy is a derogatory term to some, but really, I don't mean it that way! This pizza is delicious.

And so is this guy:

The Cyclops: Tomato sauce, pepperoni, white onion, feta cheese.

One interesting thing about Spartan Pizza is the way they approach sauce. If it's going to help the pizza, use it. If something else (like a garlic spread) would work better, use that. It's this flavor combo-centric approach that makes this place special.

The Cyclops utilizes that tomato sauce to add a mild element against the white onion. The white onion is there to contrast its crunch with the soft chunks of feta cheese, and the pepperoni is there to chill and let the savory out. It's a simple arrangement that showcases every ingredient.

Speaking of other ingredients, let's talk about the Garlic Cheese Sticks:

True garlic, true cheese, and the same crust from the pizza that provides a solid backing for all flavors. These are some of the most well formed cheese sticks in town, and they come with a big cup of marinara. Three years ago, almost to the day, we wrote this about the marinara here:

Marinara, my friends. Marinara. The small ramekin of marinara may be the greatest investment of 50 cents you can make in your life. We took turns just smelling the container after opening the lid. It turned a stick of burnt pizza crust into a delicacy, covered in herbs and a sweet and tangy tomato acidity. We loved it.

Still true.