Adventure #45 - Jax Neighborhood Cafe

Audacity has been defined by Jax Neighborhood Cafe. "Austin's ONLY Gourmet Pizza" adorns a banner in front of this neighborhood restaurant and bar. We had to check this bold claim. . .but first, we had to get beer and cheese fries:

The vibe at this place was very un-West Campus (especially for a place in West Campus). There was a crawfish boil going on, along with a karaoke competition. As we nommed on delicious cheese fries with Elgin sausage, we mused openly about what level of gourmet we should expect from such an odd place. . .

And the result? Surprisingly gourmet, yet not close to "the ONLY gourmet pizza in town" given the volume of excellent pizza in Austin. With the big reveal out of the way, let's highlight what we loved about this pizza, which was a simple pepperoni and mushroom.

- simple and bold sauce

- above average ingredients (I especially liked the mushrooms)

- amazingly light and tasty crust

I can't help but think that the pride they take in this pizza is all about the crust, which doesn't draw many comparisons with other crusts we've eaten--it's unique. It has the thick rectangular shape of the sicilian pizza at Miltos, but without any of the heavy weight from oil. A thick, yet airy and somehow crispy crust is the star of this show.

But it's still not the best pizza in Austin, gourmet or otherwise. : ) Touche, Jax, touche.

Adventure #44: Arpeggio Grill

I must admit that I've been terribly neglectful in getting this post up.  You know how it goes, you get really excited about a thing and a year later life seems to take some of the shiny away.  Don't get me wrong though, places like Arpeggio grill are what makes this whole thing worthwhile.  Before now, you'd probably think the same thing we did, "Mediterranean place that serves pizza?  Ehh, it's probably bad.  They're trying to please too many people." You'd be mostly wrong.

There have been times when the sum of the parts was greater than the whole; when good ingredients just didn't add up to a good pizza.  This is not that pizza.  Even though the vegetables were just ok, the sauce was ok, and the crust was ok, the pizza was satisfying and there weren't any complaints around the table.

We got the "Greek Pizza" which has feta cheese, tomato, onion, gyro meat, green pepper, mushrooms, green olives, black olives, and extra cheese.  The standout ingredient was the gyro meat which was delicious and just a touch crispy.

In the end, this is going to go down as a forgettable pizza, but if your car dies right in front of Arpeggios (because otherwise, you'd clearly be hobbling to House, Eastside Pies, or Little Deli, all of which are in the vacinity) or you want some pizza and your companions want hummus, go right on in!

-Karin

PS.  The staff is super-friendly!