By Timothy Guy
GOURMET TIME
By Timothy Guy
Good tasting pizza that doesn’t take long to get… someone has answered my prayers.
Red Brick Pizza is one of the newest restaurants to open at the new Riverside Plaza on Central Avenue.
The atmosphere is excellent as each booth has a flat screen television with Direct TV and an open view of the kitchen with the big Red Brick oven as the main focus.
According to its fliers the oven cooks at more than 1,000 degrees, getting you your pizza in about three minutes.
On the two occasions I visited Red Brick (to watch “24” on Mondays) I was greeted by friendly employees called “Pizza Ambassadors” and neither time had to wait long to place an order even though every booth was filled.
The “Hawaiian” is exactly what you would think of a regular Hawaiian pizza (Canadian bacon and pineapple), but with an interesting twist… diced cashews. My first reaction was of disgust as I wondered why anyone would put nuts on a pizza.
Once I took a bite it became clear I was mistaken. The cashews do not take anything away from the pizza or provide anything other than an interesting texture. No harm, no foul in my personal opinion.
The “Meat Works” pizza includes a variety of meats such as pepperoni, ham, Italian style sausages, ground beef and bacon. With each bite I got different tastes and spices, which kept my taste buds from being bored.
The “Fire-Roasted Breadsticks” included garlic butter, different Italian herbs and parmesan cheese. Each of those was just the right amount as one did not overpower the other.
The breadsticks came hot and not greasy with a side of marinara sauce (not too chunky, which I prefer). I felt like I could eat a hundred of them they were so good.
For a low cost (between 45 and 95 cents) they offer special gourmet crusts ranging from chipotle to parmesan garlic. Being a picky eater (and maybe a little chicken) I chose to stick with the original. The crust is thin, but not cardboard thin as in some pizza places.
There are also eight different sauces to choose from. Yes, there is more than just “red sauce,” this is gourmet pizza, of course.
Red Brick offers many other types of pizzas like BBQ Chicken, Thai Chicken, Bacon Cheeseburger, Greek and Veggie Gourmet Works.It also has many salad choices that will make every healthy person happy. Choices like Chinese Chicken, Greek and Italian each come with many toppings, including fire-roasted croutons.
Pizza, breadsticks and salads… that has to be it, right? Nope, Red Brick also offers freshly made sandwiches called Fhazani Sandwiches. All of which are fireroasted and come with house dressing and a good amount of toppings to choose from.
The best thing is the inclusion of lunch and dinner combos for all of us college students. Each comes with a small pizza (which is more than enough for one person), Fhazani sandwich or salad and a beverage. All of the combos are under $7 which is a great deal to fill your stomach with gourmet food.
Not to worry, they also have dessert. Red Brick offers a variety of Gelato ice cream. Many colorful looking flavors are arrayed next to the register to tempt you. Try the Pineapple flavor, it’s great.
I would recommend Red Brick to anyone who is on a budget looking for interesting and great tasting food. It is good if you are in a hurry or coming out of the movie theater looking for something to do.
