Tag Archives: pizza

Rogue Morimoto’s Imperial Pilsner

Posted on by
1

I found a hidden gem in an offbeat section of Troy, New York: DeFazio’s Pizza.

I had stumbled upon the place using Yelp (or some other such app) on my iPhone. I was very skeptical at first having never heard of it before yet it had great reviews online. It also noted it as a BYOB. So, I gave them a call to check them out and they were very nice, suggested reserving us a table and said that we could bring our own booze. Perfect! I was ready for an adventure and I wanted to try the Rogue’s Morimoto Imperial Pilsner Al gave me.

It was a bit hard to find on a rainy Saturday evening, but I was not deterred. The place was small. Very small. The décor was…scant. My wife said the parking was scary. But they were very nice, gave us personalized service, and the pizza was high quality gourmet. We were going to the theater that evening and there were a few other people we suspected had the same agenda. Others brought several bottles of wine and looked like they were going to make it their entire evening.

My biggest complaint would be that they didn’t provide glasses, so I had to have my pilsner in a plastic cup. But that didn’t ruin it for me, nor the beer. This pilsner was in-your-face hoppy. This is basically an IPA brewed as a lager. But it also had good depth, meaning it wasn’t just hops, with a strong body of malted barley to back it up. Excellent all around; thanks Al.


Baba Louie’s Pizza

Posted on by
2

If you are ever traveling through the Berkshires in western Massachusetts and you are looking for a fun lunch you should seek out Baba Louie’s in Great Barrington.

Baba Louie’s serves up wood fired gourmet pizza and more. I love pizza but I am quite picky about it. It either has to be classic Jersey (NY) pizza, or gourmet – two completely different things, but both delicious in their own way.

One of the pizzas we tried here had parsnips, sweet potatoes, caramelized onions, goat cheese, and a balsamic reduction and it was amazing. You could tell that the crust is hand made which is crucial in my opinion.

Baba Louie’s also serves up some of Berkshire Brewing Company’s craft beers. We both had the Drayman’s Porter which was fantastic. It was not overly roasted and had a good thick barley mouth feel with a nice balance of hops. It matched well with our hearty pizzas, too.

Check it out and if you can swing it, do it in the fall like the last week in September when you can see the spectacular fall foliage.

Arizona Pizza Company

Posted on by
Reply

So, what do I decide to do for lunch the day after a beer and wing festival? Of course go get some more! We tried out the Arizona Pizza Company in Clifton Park, New York.

First, the beer selection. They had Sam Adams Lager and the seasonal. They also had Red Hook Longhammer IPA and Kona Longboard. After that, they had a very limited selection of no less than two dozen crappy Bud’s and Amstel imports.

The wings, which came in several flavors, were excellent. We got classic hot Buffalo style and they were pretty hot. (My wife thought they were extremely hot.) They were crispy and meaty. They could easily have competed with the best from the festival.

Lastly, the pizza was pretty good for this small chain restaurant. We got the Kokopelli wood fired pizza and I thought the crust could have been better and the toppings distributed a little better but otherwise it was cheesy and tasty.

OK, I think I have had enough food for the entire weekend.