Pizzology - Mass Ave

I hit up Pizzology on Mass Ave with a friend for lunch the other day. It was actually my first time going to the new location. Well, I guess it’s no longer the newest location, now that the one in West Clay has opened. It’s been awhile since I’d been to Pizzology and I was looking forward to seeing what was new on the menu.

The first thing we shared were the artichoke fritters ($8). I hadn’t seen them before and they were really, really good. Of course, I am a total sucker for artichokes. They were gooey and cheesy with nice bits of artichoke rolled into a ball and deep-fried. The cheese they use is goat cheese and there was also lemon in there, so they were nice and tangy, which you know is totally my thing. They were super crisp and hot and dusted with salt. They serve them with a roasted Fresno aioli—it was really nice with them too. Not heat spicy, but a nice deep chili pepper flavor combined with the creamy rich mayo.

We also shared a pizza that I had never had before—and one that was new on the menu since I had last been to Pizzology (like I said, it’s been awhile). The pizza was the rosmario ($13.50). It’s a white pizza (no red sauce). It’s topped with mild, earthy fontina cheese, wood-roasted mushrooms, rosemary and caramelized onions. It sounded like a unique and really tasty combo to me. It was good, but it didn’t have as much flavor as I expected with rosemary as one of the ingredients—the use of rosemary was fairly light. I liked the flavor of the mushrooms. You can tell they’ve been roasted in the wood-burning oven.  I think a little sprinkle of sea salt on top might complement the rosemary flavor. I do like the crust here—and we got a little taste of the red sauce too by asking for a side of the marinara to dip our crusts in—a nice way to get a little bit of both worlds. Honestly though between the two, the fritters are what stood out for me.

I like the spacious interior of the Mass Ave location—and the big open kitchen is a cool thing to watch. I wasn’t a fan of sitting on one of the bar stool tables along the window—if you sit on the window side (it’s a banquette type of bench), I was too far from the table. No problem for me, we just switched because it wasn’t that busy yet. Our server was very friendly and let us know when there was a mistake in our order and corrected it quickly. A nice addition to Mass Ave.

Pizzology

608 Massachusetts Ave

Indy 46204

317/685-2550

pizzologyindy.com  

Pizzology - Revisit

A friend asked me to meet her at Pizzology for lunch the other day, and I realized how long it had been since I had been there. Lunch is a good time to go to Pizzology because the crowds are not so intense (I have never had to wait at lunch) and they have a nice lunch special—a soup or salad, a lunch sized pizza, and a soft drink for $9.  Ok, it is going to be more than $9 if you want any other toppings besides cheese, but still, not a bad deal (my total was $11.50) for 3 things.

I had the salad—the option on the lunch menu is the house chopped which tends to be my favorite anyhow.  And even though it can be a little inconsistent sometimes in the amount of toppings (blue cheese, roasted tomatoes, shallots, sliced olives and prosciutto), this time it was pretty good—enough that you could taste them with the chopped romaine.  I like that they roast their tomatoes, especially this time of year because it makes them sweeter.  I also like the dressing—a citrus vinaigrette. Nice and tangy.

For my pizza I got a white pizza (no red sauce, just olive oil) with a farm egg and mushrooms.  I really enjoyed it—as usual I am a sucker for a runny egg. I salted the yolk a little and dipped my crust into it. There were also a lot of mushrooms which I appreciated. They are roasted and the flavor gets amped up a little because of it. As I have said before, the crust is the thing here, but it can vary between really well done and not done enough.  This one didn’t have the black charred spots that I know some of you like, but personally, I enjoyed it this way (I am not as big a fan of the charred taste).  The bottom was crisp and the crust was chewy. There was a lot of cheese on it and I was happy.

My friend had roasted tomatoes and sausage on her pizza (with red sauce) and seemed to enjoy it quite a bit as well—I never managed to try it before I realized I was really full.

One of my favorite things about the lunch experience on this visit though was our server Candice.  After some recent service debacles, it was so refreshing to have a great server.  She was good at her job and she was really friendly and personable.  We enjoyed chatting with her a bit.  She even drew a cute smiley face on my take home box. It’s amazing how much someone who cares about her job can add to your dining experience.

Pizzology

13190 Hazel Dell Parkway

Carmel, IN 46032

317-844-2554

www.pizzologyindy.com

Pizzology - Revisit

We hadn’t been to Pizzology and ages, and had never taken the kids there.  We had recently had some mediocre pizza experiences and wanted to go back and see if Pizzology could remedy that situation. It was Friday, and we didn’t want to get stuck in a wait (like I said, we had the kids with us), so we went on the early side.  By 6:00, there was a substantial wait, and when we left it was packed in there with people waiting to sit down.

I was tempted by the Northside Nights menu—it was a great deal, one of the few places that really seems like a bargain (I like that they include 2 glasses of Prosecco with the meal), but as soon as our server told us about the special gnocchi ($12), we knew were getting it.  It was their version of a carbonara-- black pepper and parsley gnocchi that were seared and served with seared sliced green olives, and little crispy dices of pancetta.  The whole thing was topped with parmesan and an egg yolk.  As soon as we got it, we broke the egg into it making a creamy, eggy, sauce.  I like carbonara in general, but I loved the slices of green olive in this to give it that extra slightly briny flavor that rounded out all the rich ingredients.  I think I liked this more than hubby though, who thought they egg was just a little too much for him, and made the dish just a little too eggy. We also got an order of breadsticks ($5)—there were 4 of them, and they were clearly being made in house of the same dough the pizza crust is made with.  They were slightly charred and had that lovely chewy, yeasty flavor I really like.  The kids really liked them.  I also liked that they gave you not only a tomato sauce, but a cream based (and slightly cheesy) Mornay type sauce as well.  But honestly, with the sprinkling of Parmesan on top of them, they were good on their own as well.

Hubby and I split “The Saint” pizza ($13) which is a white pizza (no red sauce) with roasted wild mushrooms, onions, peppadew peppers, provolone cheese and sea salt.  We enjoyed it and the crust was cooked perfectly.  I think hubby missed his red sauce a little though.  I liked the salty kick from, well, the salt, and the peppers and onions added a little spice to the rest.  The provolone was a little heavy in spots, but I loved the mushrooms—there were plenty of them and they really had a nice deep roasted flavor. The crust is the thing here, and we appreciated it so much more after eating some not so flavorful crusts elsewhere lately

The kids just had a red pizza with mozzarella (we couldn’t get them to vary) ($11).  Honestly, I think I would just get the 4 cheese for them next time and not tell them, because this one wasn’t quite cheesy enough for them or me.  But again, the crust was cooked perfectly, and other than wishing it had a little more cheese, it was pretty much perfectly executed.  Exciting? No.  But that is my kids and food for you.

We also got the special dessert form the Northside Nights menu—the zeppole ($5).  I found these kind of addicting once I started eating them.  They were basically another version of the dough, in smaller pieces than the breadsticks that are baked and then covered in cinnamon and sugar and a bit of honey.  Again, I really like the flavor of the dough anyway, and then you go and make it sweet and you can’t really go wrong.  It is certainly a large enough portion to share among several people as well. Sadly, they couldn’t guarantee they were nut free (not sure why) so my son couldn’t eat them.  Apparently they were a hit in the restaurant though, and have since been added to the regular menu.

Anyway, it was nice to go back to a pizza place and have a good solid meal—like I said I have had some not so impressive pizza lately, and this redeemed my faith.

Pizzology

13190 Hazel Dell Parkway

Carmel, IN 46032

317-844-2554

www.pizzologyindy.com

Pizzology - Revisit

Sometimes you just have to go back to places you like so you don’t go totally insane you know? So it was a Saturday night, and we had just finished my son’s birthday party with like twelve 4 and 5 year olds running wild. We needed wine. Fast. Luckily, I had planned ahead and realized by the end of this day, we would certainly need some adult time, so I had wisely planned for a babysitter. We were so brain dead we couldn’t decide where to go but we knew we wanted something causal and good. We decided Pizzology sounded like a plan.

I really enjoy the wine list at Pizzology. I know I don’t usually talk about the wine, but Pizzology has a great menu of Italian wines that you don’t often see in restaurants (thanks mainly, I think, to Neal Brown's wife Lindy who is a Certified Sommelier). We knew we would be happy in this regard and we weren’t disappointed. We quickly ordered a bottle and began the debate over what to eat.

We started with “Tony’s Fritters.” These were something that, up to now, we hadn’t tried, but always meant to. They are zucchini fritters with fresh parmesan grated over the top and served swimming in a little bath of truffle oil. These were superb. We really liked them. The zucchini flavor was delicate and nicely highlighted by the truffle oil. There wasn’t so much of the oil that you were annoyed by it overtaking the other flavors and the fritters had just the right amount of crispness on the edges, but were still moist and light in the middle. These little fritters would be hard to pass up in the future.

We also shared a large chop salad (we were informed you get much more “bang for your buck” sharing one large ($8) rather than getting two smalls (at $4 each)). So I really enjoy the acidity in this salad mixed with the ingredients that come together to make what is essentially an ideal chop in my mind (because I really like the ingredients). There is chopped romaine, prosciutto, blue cheese, shallot, olives, and roasted tomatoes with a citrus vinaigrette with a nice kick. I will say though, this salad is not always super consistent. While 75% of the time, this salad is dead on, I have had one that was so acidic I couldn’t finish it and I have also noticed a change in the proportion of other ingredients to lettuce. It used to be that there was almost too much of the other ingredients as compared to the lettuce. Now, there is a lot less of everything else (other than maybe the blue cheese) and much more of the well dressed leaves. I don’t necessarily think this is a bad thing; I am just still trying to figure out exactly where the salad is going to end up.

Anyhow, it was also a tribute night to Jimi Hendrix at Pizzology. Certainly something I can get behind, so we went with the special pizza created in his honor. It included Purple Haze goat cheese with lavender and fennel pollen, purple basil, and two kinds of mushrooms... roasted trumpet and portobello I believe. It sounded interesting so we went for it since it was only offered that night. It was good. Maybe not my favorite pizza toppings ever, but quite tasty. I liked the way you got a kick of the goat cheese along with the mellow richness of the mushrooms. The purple basil added a super fresh herby crunch. But really, the real star of this show is the crust. The freshly baked, slightly irregular and a little charred crust is what makes this pizza for me. It is chewy and crunchy at the same time. The pizza is consistently good at Pizzology.

So the place was quite busy, although we got a table as soon as we walked in (one of the last though). The service was a little stressed, but ours did not suffer too much. But like I said, sitting with our bottle of wine, we were perfectly content after the day we had. As we sat there though, we discussed the fact that hubby had not yet been to Napolese (the other Neapolitan style pizza place in Indy) and that I really needed to do a revisit there as well. So guess what? That is exactly what we decided to do. Look for my revisit to Napolese next week. But in the meantime, what are your favorite Pizzology menu items or pizza toppings? I was so glad I expanded my horizons on this visit, I want to try something else new next time.

Pizzology

13190 Hazel Dell Parkway

Carmel, IN 46032

317-844-2554

http://www.pizzologyindy.com/

Pizzology- Lunch

We decided to hit up Pizzology for a quick lunch the other day just to see if we still liked the pizza as much as we remembered. The short answer is yes—that crust still does it for me for sure. We shared the lunch special, which was a slightly smaller version of the Napoli pizza with a chopped salad and a drink for $7 and we also had a half order of the pasta carbonara.

Like I said, the crust is my favorite part of the pizza by far, it is perfectly thin and crisp yet a little chewy too. The Napoli comes with a tomato sauce (and not too much of it), fresh mozzarella and oregano. You could also add any extra ingredients for half the price listed on the menu. My guess is they use the Napoli as their lunch choice a lot because it is a great base for adding other things. I just went for it as is, to taste the restaurant’s combination of flavors. While it was simple, it was very good. And the generous amount of oregano added a nice flavor. And I like that the pizza isn’t over-topped, which would detract from that crust (although last time we had one that was maybe slightly under-topped, but that’s another story). I had to fight hubby to get my fair share of the pizza and I think I could easily eat a whole lunch pizza no problem.

The chopped salad (which came before the pizza) was really tasty too. This is the third type of salad I have had there and I think it was the best. (I have also had the grilled romaine and the spinach salad). The lettuce is chopped into nice bite sized pieces and served with chopped pieces of olives, roasted tomatoes, gorgonzola crumbles, prosciutto, onions, and sliced parmesan on top. The dressing was appropriately tangy (described as a citronette) and between the two of us, we certainly ate every bite (although it is appropriately sized for one person I think—which was what it is intended to be).

The pasta, I thought, was just okay. It was spaghetti with thick pieces of pancetta and more of the olives (both green and brown olives). I don’t think I have ever had olives in carbonara. Not that I mind, because I love olives, and they did add a zing of saltiness that was nice. But the sauce was just sort of runny and didn’t have a lot of eggy flavor, even with the pancetta. Carbonara I have had in the past has been a bit thicker I guess. It wasn’t bad. It was just okay. Hubby was disappointed because he liked the last pasta we had so much.

They are getting ready to open up their patio (they were working on it when we were there). It looks like it will be a great patio; it has huge garage door windows looking into it as well as being screened in, which is a nice added bonus in Indiana. I am wondering how much staffing up they are going to have to do. Our server told us it could seat an additional 50 customers which would what, double the size of the restaurant? Which is great for the fact that I have heard there can be a bit of a wait at dinner time, but I am wondering how the kitchen will handle it. Only time will tell I guess.

I tend to agree that Pizzology is serving some of the best pizza in town, and I think it is because of that crust. Lunch is a great option for a great deal and so far I have not seen a wait at lunch time.

Pizzology
13190 Hazel Dell Parkway
Carmel, IN 46033
317/844-2550
www.pizzologyindy.com

Pizzology

I have been reading all the chatter about Pizzology both before and after it opened, particularly on twitter, and have been intrigued to try it naturally. Pizzology is the new project of Chef Neal Brown formerly of L’explorateur (which was one of my favorite restaurants in Indy when it was open). This is a totally different concept (pizza), in a totally different land (Carmel) and although pizza isn’t something that gets me terribly excited, I figured if some place could pull it off, it would be here.

So these pizzas are cooked in an 800 degree wood burning oven –there are pizzas with red sauce (rossa) and pizzas without sauce (bianca). They are all the same size (about 13 inches). There are several set pizza combinations or you can make your own from a list of ingredients. Certainly more cost effective to go with one of the house combos though. There are also several salads as well, and about 6 kinds of pastas and a risotto of the day. (Can I just say again how much I love that the pastas are offered in half order and full orders? Because if I was faced with a full order, I would be overwhelmed, but the half orders are a really nice size).

It was a cold night, but we wanted a salad, so we started with the warm spinach salad. It was fresh spinach with basil, capers, fairly large dices of pancetta and a poached egg on top. The dressing was a warm pancetta and red wine vinaigrette. I really enjoyed it—I thought the flavors were great, and I loved the addition of the poached egg to add even more richness. (Ok, maybe a poached egg on just about anything makes me happy—I love a good egg) But the capers and the dressing (which was tossed with the salad, hallelujah) balanced it with the right amount of acidity. Most of the capers and pancetta sunk to the bottom of the salad though, so you had to make sure to spoon them all out to make sure you got all the flavors. I really enjoyed the salad, although hubby wasn’t as excited about it. He liked it, but he didn’t love it. I saw several of the chop salads come out as well—they looked nice and also come in a half order size, which is nice if you don’t want to split with someone.

So originally we were going to get two pizzas, one red and one white, but once we saw how large they were, we changed our minds and just added a half order of one of the pastas. So we went with the mushroom pizza, which was red sauce, wood roasted wild mushrooms, olives and cacciacavallo, which is a type of cheese, made in a style similar to mozzarella (sorry about the pic, it was my phone). The cheese was fairly mild in taste, but was good with the pizza. The only disappointment was the mushroom topping. They tasted good, but the mushrooms were pretty sparse (there was one piece that just had one 'shroom on it. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like an over-topped pizza, but I sort of envisioned a mixture of several types of mushrooms and a few more of them—I am not sure that there was anything other than diced portabellas on there, but I could be wrong. The olives were very good, and were cut into at least half, which I liked because you didn’t get too much in one bite, and they were strong cured olives, not the flavorless canned black olives you see on most pizzas.

The best thing about this pizza though, clearly, was the crust. The menu touts that it is made with wild yeast, spring water and Caputo Pizzeria “00” flour. I am not exactly sure how all that translates into good dough, but man, it does. The crust is thin, but not so thin that you don’t get a bit of the flavor with every bite. It is crispy on the edges, and still nice and chewy on the inside. Seriously, I can see why so many people were ordering breadsticks (I am assuming they are made with the same dough). I think my favorite part of the meal was taking the crust from the edges of the pizza and dipping it into the leftover sauce from the pasta we got. I could eat that for days.

Speaking of the pasta, we had the penne with artichoke, prosciutto, and olives. Hubby thought this was amazing. (“This pasta freakin’ rocks!”). I thought it was good—the artichokes were roasted (they are clearly making good use of that wood burning oven) and they make most of the cured meats in house I believe. The prosciutto was nice—and more of those olives—yum. I think some of the pasta is freshly made, but not the penne I don’t think. The sauce on it was not a heavy sauce, nice garlic-y olive oil type sauce that turned a bit creamy with the cheese on top. Like I said, dipping my crusts in the sauce at the bottom of the bowl was my favorite part of the meal.

I will certainly go back, and apparently a lot of people feel the same way. At just after 6 on a Wednesday night with the snow and cold weather, nearly every table was taken. We didn’t have to wait, but got one of the last tables. And they were turning tables the whole time we were there.

They have a great Italian wine list as well, with slightly more unusual wines—and the pours by the glass are generous the first go round, which is unusual in most places (you know how they always give you smaller pour on the first glass to make sure you order the second one, and then they give you a decent glass?). But not here. Both glasses were generous and there is a nice selection by the glass.

Next time I really want to try the white pizza with the clams…for sure. Or maybe one of my own combos with an egg on top—that was one of my favorite things in Italy. Or maybe those fritters….

Pizzology
13190 Hazel Dell Parkway
Carmel, IN 46032
317-844-2554
www.pizzologyindy.com