So the same people from BokaTruck are now off to the races with Grate Pizza, a gourmet pizza truck offering up a fusion of awesome flavors not normally seen on pizzas. You’ll hear a lot of people walk by and say, “Ha, that’s not pizza. That looks weird!” But pay these people no mind, because they are missing out. Joining the ranks of my favorite Pizza Tonight, please welcome Grate Pizza to the Richmond food scene.
Sometimes, when I’m eating something delicious, I think about how, with no consequences related to health or body, I could eat something everyday and not get sick of it. Sometimes the flavors are just too perfect. So here is my list of…
Things I’d Eat Everyday (If It Didn’t Make Me Fat…Or Dead or Diseased or Smell Funny):
(in no particular order)
Despite all the great reviews and my high hopes, I had a less than pleasant experience at Xtra’s. Between the mediocre food and service so bad I questioned my tipping standards, I don’t have the best review to give…and that saddens me because I remember when Xtra was working at Corner Cafe. She’s a fellow Wahoo and an attentive bartender and the food at Corner Cafe was actually pretty good (particularly the veggie melt and the bruschetta, but not the brunch) so I expected to have a similar experience, just “classed-up”.
The sweeping staircase you have to climb really just means that you’re probably keeping out babies and grandparents. When you walk into the dining area, you’ll see a nice open space and a sweeping bar. The natural light comes in nicely from the heated patio, which is where we ended up sitting and eating.
The garlic cream pasta with shrimp was highly oversauced and the pizza was covered with so much cheese you could barely tell it was pizza anymore. My brother liked his pizza just fine but I didn’t try his. The pizzas are a good size for individual ordering though and a fair price.
Xtra's Cafe, Carytown
The beer selection is good and I love the fact that your choice of protein is included in your meal price (more places should do this!). They are very vegetarian and pescetarian friendly which is also great if you have a diverse group.
However, in addition to the sub-par food, the service was terrible. I knew who this waitress was as I’ve had her at another establishment and we have some mutual friends. For that reason, I’ll leave her name off of this post, but I honestly haven’t had service that slow in a long time and it wasn’t that busy. We literally waited 20 minutes for our checks to come out and another 20 minutes for them to be picked up and I had to bring the credit cards inside only to find my waitress twirling her hair and flirting with a guy by the bathrooms. I probably won’t be recommending it and my friends said they probably wouldn’t return. It was just mediocre and I’m sad to say that because I had hoped for better, especially with all the rave reviews on Yelp and UrbanSpoon.
Alas, in typical Richmond fashion, a new restaurant opens up and everyone flocks there, saying it is amazing, without actually paying attention to the food or the quality of the service. Or at least that’s my impression.
Okay, that’s all. Go ahead and throw your tomatoes…
The other day, I made these yummy little mini pizzas out of leftovers I was trying to chuck from Thanksgiving before they got gross. I had some leftover vegetable tofu loaf that I wanted to get rid of asap, tons of good cheese and these weird Pepperidge Farm 7 Grain Deli Flats that I picked up as a quick, easy, low cal substitute for a veggie burger bun. I also had a jar of Puttanesca sauce that had been opened and some onions.
Vegetable Tofu Loaf
So as I was in a tremendous hurry and starving (or maybe I was only in a hurry because I was starving), I popped two deli flats in the toaster oven to crisp up while I got the other ingredients out of the fridge. After they were relatively firm, I topped them with the Puttanesca, tofu loaf crumbles, raw chopped onions, red pepper, other herbs, salts and spices and then an aged white cheddar that I sliced up thinly. I popped them back in the toaster oven until the deli rounds were crispy and the cheese was melted. I think I actually hit them under the broiler for a second, too, in order to even out the doneness. I can’t remember. Anyway, I pulled them out, threw them on a plate and added a little fresh basil for flavor and garnish and BAM! Dinner in ten minutes!
Mini Tofu Pizzas
Recipe for the Veggie Tofu Loaf after the jump!
Something I do on a regular basis is make my own pizza. I like to change it up and I have probably never made the same pizza twice. Tonight, I was craving veggies because my good friend made me an awesome salad for lunch and I wanted to recreate that feeling of freshness and nourishment, but I was really cold and wanted a hot comforting meal. So I decided to make a veggie pizza.
Even though I had red sauce, I decided I wanted a white pizza and so I decided to whip up a garlicky white truffle cream sauce as the base. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any ricotta, mozzarella nor parmesan on hand so I made my white sauce with neufchatel, olive oil, white truffle oil, garlic and herbs. From there, I added baby spinach, mushrooms, white onion, green pepper, cherry tomatoes from my friend’s garden and then topped it all off with freshly grated asiago and feta crumbles. Absolutely delicious.
What are your favorite pizza combinations to make at home?
