CHEAP EATS

The secret’s in the oven at Brick Oven Pizza

An order of Spinach Artichoke Dip at Brick Oven Pizza in Cabot, is served with toasted pita bread for dipping.
An order of Spinach Artichoke Dip at Brick Oven Pizza in Cabot, is served with toasted pita bread for dipping.

— I noticed Brick Oven Pizza Co. a few months ago while heading out to review another restaurant in Cabot. I mentally penciled it onto my to-do list, but then got sidetracked. You get the picture.

When I needed a substitute review site in a hurry (a burger place shut down before I could get there), the pizza place came to mind. So my mother, son and I headed down last Friday evening.

It’s in a small strip center on Main Street, on the left just past the Wal-Mart Supercenter. Blink and you might miss it.

A server hollered, “Sit wherever you want,” so we found a seat at one of the comfortable, attractive wood tables. It was less than a minute before our personable young server, Jake, came to the table with menus. We ordered water and perused the menu for an appetizer.

Jake was back in just a couple of minutes with our drinks. I ordered the Spinach Artichoke Dip ($6.79), which made its way to our table in about 10 minutes or so.

That’s when we placed the rest of our order: a 14-inch chicken bacon ranch pizza ($16.75) and a whole Muffuletta sandwich ($7.79) for my son and me to share. He also wanted a full order of chicken wings ($6.99). And Mom went with a Wilted Spinach Salad ($5.99) and half a Reuben ($5.29).

While we noshed on the artichoke dip, there was time to look around the dining area, which had a slight Mediterranean feel. Wroughtiron sculptural pieces and paintings hang on the walls throughout, and the light yellow ochre-colored walls and weathered-looking reddishbrown concrete floor make the room feel warm and inviting.

The kitchen area is in the back of the restaurant, behind the counter, so diners can watch the chefs hustle and bustle. The brick oven is a big red monstrosity that anchors most of the back right wall of the kitchen.

Back to the dip. It didn’t bowl us over, but it wasn’t awful. There wasn’t a strong flavor of any one component; the spinach and artichoke blandly blended together, and the dish could have benefited from some texture.

It’sserved with slightly toasted pita chips, and every so often there would be a big kick of something spicy that we just could not figure out. It made our lips burn slightly.

The wilted spinach salad came out while we were finishing off the dip, and we all dug in. It’s made with fresh spinach, feta cheese, tomatoes and red onion, topped with a warm Italian bacon dressing, which wilts the spinach. There were large tasty chunks of bacon and feta on top, and overall the salad was prettyamazing.

About 30 minutes after we placed our main order, the rest of our food arrived. Part of it had been sitting on a rack until the final item was out of the oven, but thankfully it wasn’t long enough to make it cold.

The chicken wings looked pretty good, and my son enjoyed them, but he did mention that the sauce was a bit thin and not very spicy. They weren’t something he’d probably order again.

The Muffuletta was another story. It had been toasted in the brick oven and the New Orleans-style, French-bread roll it came on was crisp and very flavorful. The sandwich is made with salami, pepperoni, ham, onions, olive salad, artichoke hearts, smoked ham, provolone and Roma tomatoes. That’s a lot of toppings fighting for dominance, but they all went together deliciously.

The Reuben - corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Thousand Island dressing on marbled rye - was a flavorful combination, too. There was a bit too much dressing on it, though, and it sort of oozed out when you took a bite.

Sandwiches come with chips and a pickle spear.

The chicken bacon ranchpizza, last but not least, has a thin crust loaded with chicken, bacon, mozzarella and ranch dressing, and the flavors mingled to make one delicious pie. The crust was crisp, sort of like a baked artisan-style cracker, which is just the way we like it. There’s just something about a brick oven that makes the crust nearly perfect.

We ate only a couple of pieces of the pizza and took the rest home. I think it tasted even better after being reheated in the toaster oven, and there was enough to make a meal for two.

The to-go menu mentions that the chef’s attention to detail might mean the pizza takes a little longer overall and to please give them about 30 minutes for the preparation and baking of each pie. That’s about how long our pizza took, and it was well worth the wait.

And they offer a glutenfree crust, available only on the 10-inch pizza, for an extra $1.50.

The menu also includes a create-your-own Calzone ($5.95, plus 75 cents per additional topping) and a small selection of pastas and wraps, all of which are under $7.

Brick Oven Pizza Co.

Address: 2501 W. Main

St., Cabot

Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m.

Monday-Thursday, Sun

day; 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Fri

day-Saturday

Cuisine: Pizza, pasta,

sandwiches, salads

Credit cards: AE, D, V,

MC

Alcoholic beverages: No

Wheelchair accessible:

Yes

Carryout: Yes

(501) 605-8333

Weekend, Pages 36 on 12/27/2012

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