CHEAP EATS: Smart location Fair Park pizzeria's biggest advantage

LITTLE ROCK — If you were looking for a good location for a pizza place in this town, you might not think first about the south end of Fair Park Boulevard. Which is what makes real estate entrepreneur Jerry Meyer a visionary.

Meyer bought two crumbling old houses in the 3300 block of Fair Park, joined them together and has opened Patio Pizza & Beer Garden.

The location is catty-cornered from the dorms at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and just across Asher Avenue from a huge new apartment complex.

So Meyer figures he has a good shot at developing a nearby clientele.

He has turned the ground floor of the northern house into a surprisingly large kitchen; the seating area is in the southern house, a couple of dozen brown Formica-topped tables with cafeteria-style chairs. A couple of big television screens offer news and sports programming. The outdoor patio, aka the beer garden, provides additional seating and a smoking area.

The interstice between the houses is a very roomy waiter station, with a window onto the dining room, where you can sit bar-style while you're waiting for your to-go order.

The restaurant has only been open about a month and still smells of new wood. It hasn't yet acquired that indefinable pizzeria aroma that develops only over time, the components of which include garlic, the smoke of slightly charred crust and perhaps a measure of good fellowship.

Music on the sound system consists mostly of classic rock. A colleague suggested it might still need a pool or foosball table to really give it atmosphere, but that would cramp the available seating.

Meyer's menu start with a range of specialty pizzas, 10, 13 or 16 inches, including Andouille

Sausage & Caramelized Onion

($12.89, $14.89, $18.89), Caramel

ized Onion & Gouda ($10.89,

$12.89, $16.89) and the Bellissimo

Pie (12 inches, deep-dish and dou

ble-crusted, topped with Cajun

sausage, mozzarella, bacon, fresh

mushrooms, onions and green

bell peppers, $16.39).

Our 16-inch Classico Supreme

($17.89) - beef, sausage, pep

peroni, green peppers, onions,

mushrooms, black olives and a

blend of mozzarella, provolone

and parmesan cheeses - came

on a thin crust, cracker-crumbly

at the edges, reminiscent of the

crust at Pizza Inn.

The kitchen applied a mod

est amount of toppings, chopped

into smallish bits (except for the

pepperoni, which came in very

thin slices), so the pizza didn't

stack particularly high. The

three-cheese blend gave it a bit of

a kick, as did the smoke-flavored

pepperoni, the first thing Intrep

id Companion noticed when she

took a bite. On the whole we'd

call it pleasant but not exciting;

Intrepid Companion thought it

was better as leftovers.

You're welcome to pile your

own choice of toppings, $1 each,

on top of the Traditional Cheese

($7.89, $9.89, $13.89). Additions to

the usual options include turkey,

chicken, roast beef, andouille

sausage, boiled egg, squash, broc

coli, spinach, artichokes, sun

dried tomato and basil. Cheese

choices also include feta, Swiss,gouda, blue and ricotta.

Mozzarella, not ricotta, dominated our Three Cheese Calzone ($7.39) - the third cheese was provolone. (Apparently they don't count the thin layer of parmesan that came melted on the outside.) That's OK - we like mozzarella better than we like ricotta, and the calzone was just big enough to satisfy our appetite. It's shaped in a mold rather than free-style, with the edges crisp and crackery like the pizza, and comes with a cup of marinara, chunky with bits of tomatoes and tomato skins, for dipping or spreading. Other calzone options include individual ingredients (sausage, beef, pepperoni, vegetable), the Patio Special (spinach, artichokes, tomato, turkey, feta and mozzarella, $8.79) and Ultimate (beef, sausage, pepperoni, andouille sausage, Italian sausage, onion and green peppers, $8.89).

Our Spaghetti & Meatball Special ($7.49) was a big disappointment. It wasn't because of the meatballs, which were delicious, large, garlicky and composed of coarse ground beef, although we didn't perceive them as "ricotta stuffed," as the menu promised.

However, the thick, ropy spaghetti noodles, topped with the chunky house marinara, were way overcooked, much closer to melt-in-your-mouth than firm-tothe-tooth.

The pasta comes with two crispy, dark-toasted slices of garlicbread and a small Patio salad of iceberg and romaine generously topped with pieces of real bacon and shredded mozzarella. Dressing choices include thousand island, honey mustard, Caesar, zesty Italian and raspberry vinaigrette, pre-packaged if you're taking it to go.

We enjoyed in house the Caprese Salad ($7.39), fairly thick slices of fresh mozzarella, fresh basil leaves and the pretty tangy house balsamic vinegar, although not the rather anemic tomato slices (a cautionary tale about ordering anything involving fresh tomatoes in the middle of winter).

Sandwich choices, which we'll save for later visits, include the Patio Muffaletta, allegedly big enough to feed two ($9.89), Meatball Sub ($7.69), Spicy Chicken Parmesan Sub ($7.89), Patio Grinder (salami, Canadian bacon, pepperoni, mozzarella cheese and pizza sauce, $7.59) and Classico Italian Sub (provolone, mozzarella, Italian roast beef, sauteed onions and green peppers and "house olive salsa" ($7.89).

Service was good - our waiter on our in-house visit was friendly, helpful and attentive, kept us stocked with soft drinks and plenty of napkins and spare plates, and cleared the used ones promptly. Takers of to-go orders were likewise friendly and helpful and kept us more or less accurately apprised of how long we'd have to wait.

Patio Pizza & Beer Garden Address: 3307 Fair Park Blvd., Little Rock Hours: 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday Cuisine: Pizza, pasta, sandwiches, salads Credit cards: V, MC, AE, D Alcoholic beverages: Beer and wine Reservations: No Wheelchair accessible: Yes Carryout: Yes (501) 570-8514 www.patiopizza.net

Weekend, Pages 65 on 01/30/2009