CHEAP EATS Palio’s fills void in west Little Rock pizza desert

 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STATON BREIDENTHAL  4/25/11
The cucumber salad and classic pizza at Palio's Pizza.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STATON BREIDENTHAL 4/25/11 The cucumber salad and classic pizza at Palio's Pizza.

— We’ve used this bit from a comedian of our acquaintance before, but it’s worth repeating: “Pizza is like sex. When it’s good, it’s really good, and when it’s not so good, it’s ... still pretty good.”

Well, the pizza at Palio’s Pizza Cafe in the Village at Rahling Road is, uh, still pretty good.

There’s nothing wrong with Palio’s pizza that a little pizazz couldn’t cure. Ditto for the pasta we tried. The only zing we got out of our meal was in our Greek salad, and there wasn’t that much of it.

Palio’s saving grace: It’s the only full-fledged pizzeria in what has heretofore been practically a pizza desert, west of the Markham/Bowman area (where there are plenty of “possessive” pie choices, including a Papa John’s, a Shotgun Dan’s, a Little Caesar’s and Bruno’s Little Italy - oh, and a nonpossessive Pizza Hut), and southeast of the pizza-proliferative western Cantrell Road corridor.

It’s also the first Arkansas branch of a 35-outlets-in-Texas, Dallas-based franchise operation. And it’s the first non-Jerry Barakat restaurant in the Village at Rahling Road space that has previously housed the still-operating Gaucho’s and the now-defunct Amalfi, Tico’s Cantina and Blue Agave.

Palio’s is designed to operate with a very small staff: a couple of folks at the counter who may also double as waiters, a couple of members of management and three or four folks in the kitchen.

Order and pay at the front counter and get a number. You pour your own soft drinks (beer and wine are available) and gather your own tableware and paper napkins (watch out, those come in large and cocktail size, and we were all set to fulminate about the tiny napkins until we discovered that we had simply missed the big ones).

Sit down at any table; eventually somebody brings your order to your table. We don’t know if it’s typical of Palio’s service, but once our waiter dropped off our pizzas, we never saw him again - perhaps we should have thought twice about adding that tip up front on the credit card slip. We were wholly responsible for refilling our drinks and fetching additional napkins.

Palio’s ingredients are fresh as promised. The fromscratch dough (whole-wheat and gluten-free are available)gets flattened by one of those spiky rollers (you can see the spike marks in the finished crust) and stretched onto a frame to create a not-quite thin, but very cracker-y crust, similar to Pizza Inn style. The pizza sauce is a little sweet. Toppings are north of miserly but south of generous.

A basic small, personalsize cheese pizza is $6.19, rising about $2 as you go to medium ($7.99), large ($9.99) and X-large ($11.99). Toppings are 80 cents per for a small pie, rising 20 cents for each larger size, and range from the usual to the extraordinary (we don’t remember seeing cashews as a pizza topping before).

The menu lists a dozen and a half specialty pies ($8.99-$17.99), some of them moreor-less standard (Quattro Formaggio, with feta, cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan) to really-out-there (The Scorcher, with spicy red sauce, roasted chicken, jalapenos, roasted corn, onion and a hint of lime, or the Nutty Chicken, topped with those roasted cashews, roasted chicken, fresh mushrooms and spinach).

We just didn’t get the kick we expected from the medium Quattro Formaggio. We were a little better pleased, but still not excited, by our medium King, basically a supremelike pie on which the toppings - pepperoni, slightly sweet sausage crumbles, Canadian bacon, fresh mushrooms, black olives, onions and red, yellow and green bell peppers - were nicely spread but not piled particularly high.

Don’t mistake, as we did, the Greek Bread ($5.99), essentially a small pizza topped with Palio’s pesto, tomatoes, olive oil, feta and mozzarella, for an appetizer. It’s listed on the menu as a side item, and it came out alongside our pizzas. It was tasty, but again, we just didn’t get the kind of flavor burst we had expected from that combination of ingredients.

A return visit to try a pasta dish didn’t exactly result in disappointment, since our experience with the pizza had sort of lowered our expectations, but nevertheless we were underwhelmed by our lasagna ($7.99). It was pleasant, with a nice balance between cheese, a fairly rich red sauce and ground meat. But it’s about on par, taste-wise and portion-size-wise, with the Stouffer’s frozen variety - a perfectly good product that usually goes for $3 or less at most supermarkets. We did enjoy the long slice of accompanying cheesier-thangarlicky garlic cheese bread, which comes with any pasta dish; it’s also available as a side item, small order for $3.99, large for $5.99.

The Greek Salad ($4.49), dark greens (not a piece of iceberg lettuce in sight) tossed with feta, sun-dried tomatoes and kalamata olives, was the one thing we had that we can recommend without reservation.

The basic layout hasn’t changed from Barakat’s days. You’ll still find a combination of granite-topped tables and table-banquette combinations, the flat-screen TVs at each end and the nice al-fresco patio. A small alcove near the front door that used to be a semiprivate party room is now an additional dining area.

The order counter, the semi-open kitchen and the cabinetry that contains the soft-drink dispenser, silverware and napkins have replaced the bar. The color scheme has changed - lots of reds and blacks now - and there’s a painted Leaning Tower of Pisa between the restroom doors.

Palio’s Pizza Cafe Address: Village at Rahling Road, 3 Rahling Circle (at Chenal Parkway), Little Rock Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.

Friday-Saturday Credit cards: V, MC, AE, D Alcoholic beverages: Beer and wine Reservations: No Wheelchair accessible: Yes Carryout: Yes (501) 821-0055

Weekend, Pages 42 on 04/28/2011

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