Rock'n Dough Pizza + Brew Co.

Rock'n Dough Pizza + Brew Co.
3445 Poplar
901-512-6760

When I picked up the monkeys (Satchel, 13, and Jiro, 11) from their dad's house yesterday, Jiro said, "I have three words for you: Memphis Pizza Cafe." I replied, "I 'm glad you are in the mood for pizza because Rock'n Dough just opened by the U of M." Then I told him about the beignets, and it was a done deal. Satchel was not enthused, but he's 13, so it's his normal state.

We arrived around 5:30pm. (They love posing for pictures.)



It was a little confusing as to where to order, but we quickly figured it out. I informed Satchel, who claimed he didn't want pizza, that they had sandwiches and burgers too. (A change from the previous store on Ridgeway.) Of course after seeing the delicious pizzas, he couldn't resist ordering a slice. He did however broker a deal to get a side of fries too.




Jiro ordered a slice too, and beignets. Even though I am not a gluten hater, I was intrigued by the pizza bowls. (Rock'n Dough does cater to gluten haters though!) There were two options: The Pro (chicken, beef, bacon) and The Liberty (spinach, broccoli, grilled chicken). They are baked with a pesto-tomato sauce and mozzarella. I went with the Liberty and a Greek salad at the suggestion of one of the dudes behind the counter. We all opted for water and our total came to $30.32. We took a number and sat down.



The restaurant is quite nice. There's a dartboard, a nice big booth for groups, two HUGE TVs and a lovely bar.



They have a good beer selection, and I am thinking maybe they'll one day sell the beer they brew in Jackson? I'm guessing by the addition of "+ Beer Co." to their name.



Outside there is a patio that I hope to one day sit on!



After a few minutes the monkeys were getting antsy about their pizza. (Somedays they don't eat after school and are ravenous when I pick them up.) The woman behind the pizza counter picked up on this and sent one of the kitchen dudes over. He was super sweet and explained he was going to bring everything out together, but it was no problem to go ahead bring the boys their pizza. So a few moments later they were happily eating pizza and I was enjoying my salad.

The slices are large, New York style, but they came out cut in half. The waitress thought it was because they were for kids, but I noticed other people's slices also cut in half.



Jiro was sweet enough to give me a bite. Man, I love their pizza. Soooooooooooooooo good. Why didn't I get a slice??? Anyway, my salad was great.



Before I could finish it, my pizza bowl and the fries came out. The fries were perfect.



And the pizza bowl was pretty damn tasty. The woman dining next to me even came over to see it.



About half way through it I realized that it was actually broccoli, chicken and bacon instead of spinach, but I was not going to be the person who complained about having bacon instead of spinach! Ha! I could only eat about half of it.

Just as I was finishing up, the beignets came out. Holy mother.



They were really freaking good. Even cranky ol' Satchel had to admit, "This place is quite delicious." Jiro added, "I'm glad we came here instead of Memphis Pizza Cafe." (MPC, I still love you! But we are going to have to see other people!)

We'll be back. Y'all go.

Here's the menu, btw.

Maui Brick Oven

Ed. Note: Maui Brick Oven is now open Tuesday through Sunday from 11:00 am to 9:00 pm.

Maui Brick Oven
7850 Poplar
Germantown, TN 38138
505-2525

I have been trying to get to Maui Brick Oven for weeks. It's best known as the gluten free pizza place, but I have been wanting to try one of the grain bowls.



It's right by my mom's house in Germantown, but it's closed on Sunday, which is when I am usually out that way. I had a reason to head east on Saturday, so the monkeys (Satchel 12, and Jiro, 10) and I had a really late lunch/early dinner there. At 3:00pm we basically had the place to ourselves, which was fine by me.

The inside is very cute and "tropical."



It's an order at the counter and take a number place.



The cashier was sweet and gave us menus and said we could sit down and look them over, since we had never been in before. Unlike Belly Acres, the menu was in a normal sized font and easy to read, but I really appreciated the fact that they had a magnifying glass available. (Yes, I'm a memaw.)



Here's a better look at it.



I knew right away that I wanted the pollo bowl ($12) and Jiro wanted a pizza ($13). He decided to get crazy and add bacon to his usual pepperoni order. Satchel insisted he wasn't hungry and just wanted chicken tenders ($7). I really tried to get him to order something more exciting (coconut shrimp, maybe?, but he was insistent.

I went back to the counter to order and the monkeys followed since they had seen these on the way in.



Our total was $40.61 plus tip. We took our number and went back to the booth. (Satchel was really excited.)



After just a few minutes, my grain bowl came out. I was starved so I went ahead and started eating it. I was very pleased by how it looked.



I liked it even better once I mixed it up. (I didn't add any dressing--it didn't need it.)



It was really, really tasty. It made me wish Maui Brick Oven was in Midtown.

Satchel's chicken tenders came out next and they were massive.



He let Jiro and I sample them and the fries--both were very good.

Next up was Jiro's pizza.



He gave the pizza the thumbs up and said it was crispy like Memphis Pizza Cafe. I had a slice and it didn't remind me of the Pizza Cafe, but I thought it was really good.

Neither of the monkeys really knows what gluten free is and neither realized that their food was any different than at any other restaurant. I consider that a good thing.

Throughout the meal, people came to check on us, fill our water, bring to go boxes, etc. (They are not Project Green Fork certified but the to go boxes were paper, not styro.)

Maui Brick Oven is a chain, but as of now there is one in Maui, Hawaii and one in Germantown, TN. One of the local owners has a wife and two children who are celiacs. They live in Midtown and I really, really hope they open another one of these in town.

Lost Pizza Co.

Lost Pizza Co.
2855 Poplar Ave.
572-1803

On Friday, we went to check out the new Lost Pizza Co. It's a Mississippi chain that has now made it's way to Memphis. It recently opened in the old Grisanti's location.



Sadly, it was too cold to sit on the awesome patio.



We were a little confused when we walked in as none of us realized it was an order at the counter place. Luckily there wasn't much of a line. There were three registers and when one opened up, we went to place our order. The girl (high school age tops) behind the register looked bewildered. So much so that I had to ask if I was actually supposed to order at the counter.

She finally came to, and we placed our order. I got a personal size of their version of a buffalo chicken pizza because that is what I have to order if it is on the menu. I can't remember what it was called. Hot Chick, maybe? (The online menu isn't complete.) Warren got a personal Kujo, which has bacon, hickory ham, pepperoni, Italian sausage, ground beef, onions, green peppers, black olives, mushrooms & their house cheese.

The monkeys (Satchel, 11 and Jiro, 9) did not want to eat pizza, so they each got a kids' meal. Jiro ordered mini corndogs (barf) and Satchel ordered boneless wings. He was given about 20 choices of sauces/flavorings and finally settled on mild with ranch dressing. He wanted a salad and so did I. He got a small Ceasar and I got a large to share with Warren.

I ordered four waters and paid the ticket: $44.22. I had to do a double take as it seemed a little high.

I noticed there were crayons along the counter and asked the girl what they were for, assuming they must have some sort of kids menu thingy to color. (The monkeys still like to color.) She didn't know and asked the girl next top her who really didn't seem to know either but said she had some computer paper. We passed.



Warren went to get a table and I sent Jiro to get drinks. He pointed out that the kids' meals came with drinks and sent me back for a real cup for he & Satchel to use. Satchel also noted that we were charged .25 each for the four waters. I'm glad someone was paying attention.

By the time we got to the table, the salads were right behind us. They looked good. Nothing special other than the inclusion of a pickle.



The kids' meals came flying to the table soon after the salad. Clearly the mini corn dogs were standard frozen fare. Jiro noted the Rice Krispy treat on the menu which is why he wanted the kids' meal. I thought it was at least house made. Nope. So basically I'd put this among the worst things you could feed your kid for dinner.



He wasn't complaining though.

Satchel's boneless wings were only slightly better.



He actually said they were too spicy to eat, which is not like him at all. They definitely were not mild. I wished they were on my pizza because my supposed buffalo chicken pizza was bland city.



Jiro actually went in search of a bottle of hot sauce for me, which made it at least edible. The crust was good. (There was no red sauce or hot sauce, rather the base was ranch dressing, and I'm sorry, but ew! I should have never ordered this. There were also a ton of onions. Why? I take full responsibility for not thoroughly reading the description!)

Warren was the only one among us who liked his meal. His pizza was on the thick crust and he almost couldn't finish it. I had a bite and it was good.



On the bright side, the interior is super cute and features a full bar and lots of nice reclaimed objects as decorations.




There were tons of families there and the service was super fast. However, by 6:30, the line was out the door.



I really don't know why they don't do table service. But hey, not my restaurant.

All in all, it was ok. There are definitely a ton of other places I'd rather go to eat pizza, but I think Lost Pizza is a good choice for a beer on the patio or an after soccer pizza party or something like that.

Pyro's Fire Fresh Pizza

Pyro's Fire Fresh Pizza
1199 Ridgeway Road
(901) 379-8754

Over the Christmas holidays, we were scheduled to be out east for the roller skating princesses' holiday program (my nieces are princesses). I had been wanting to try Pyro, so I set up a dinner date with my mom and nephew, who were also planning to attend the performance.

Pyro is located in the Park Place (?) Mall just around the bend from Rock-n-Dough Pizza Co. It was REALLY hard to resist Rock-n-Dough as it is my absolute favorite, BUT we wanted to try something new.

The monkeys, especially Satchel (age 11), LOVED the name Pyro. I guess it sounds dangerous?

I didn't get a picture of the front, but it doesn't look like much since it is in a strip mall. Here is the inside:



Pyro has a very chain look to it, but it is not a chain. In fact, this is the flagship store. (Another is slated to open on Union Ave. in Midtown.)

You order at the counter in a very Subway sandwich like way. You tell them the size you want, then go down the line pointing at ingredients to add. However there are a five pre-made specialty options for those who don't like to be responsible for the final product.





Pizzas come in regular size (11 inches) or snack size (about 5.5 inches, as it is half teh amount of dough). There was also a "kid size" option, but I don't know if it differs from snack size. I hope not, as 5.5 inches is already pretty tiny!

The only other things on the menu are salads and bites. You can build your own salad or choose from five specialty ones. The "bites" are pieces of dough that you can dip in savory or sweet sauces.

The first stop is the dough smasher. (Gluten free dough is also available, although I can't imagine it is up to Celiac standards based on the fact that there is only one smasher, so cross-contamination seems inevitable.)



It makes the crust super thin.

Then there are the toppings.



You can choose between six sauces (marinara, spicy marinara, pesto, olive oil, barbeque, and alfredo), seven cheeses (including vegan Daiya), ten meats, and sixteen veggies. It really seems like the possibilities are endless, but it also kinda seems like overkill if the majority of your family eats plain cheese or pepperoni!

But I do think with a big group, it's a nice option for everyone to get a little pizza just the way they like it.

Sticking with the "whatever way you like it" theme, they have one of the fancy Coke machine that lets you mix flavors.

There's also a full bar, with craft beer and everything. It appears to be separate. (We didn't indulge on our visit.)

I know you libras are already sweating about all of the decisions required to eat here!

Getting everyone through the line was fairly uneventful. I think the veggie person tends to get overwhelmed so the line didn't move as fast as it could, but whatever. It was pretty quick.

We didn't see any tables big enough for the six of us, so Jiro (age 9) and I sat in a booth with my mom and nephew and Warren and Satchel sat at a two top nearby. (They were both cranky about something, so it was fine.)

Later we saw people push the tiny two tops together to form a table big enough for eight. I guess that just never occured to us!



(Jiro thought the walls looked like they had blood on them. I couldn't really argue, although I'm sure it was supposed to be more fire like!)

The pizzas started coming out after about five minutes, one at a time.

Branch had the pre-made barbeque pizza and said it was good.



My mom had the pesto specialty pizza. I had a couple of slices and can attest to it's yumminess.



Jiro had a snack pizza with pepperoni and bacon. (That's fancy for him!)



I had a snack pizza with banana peppers. (Fancy for me!)



I was definitely still hungry after my snack. It seemed to be a good size for Jiro.

Satchel and Warren grumpily ate salads which they got right away in the line.



Warren perked up when his pizza arrived. His standard is Italian sausage, black olive & fresh mushroom.



Satchel did not originally order a pizza for whatever reason, so once we were all pretty much done, he decided he wanted one. (Since they make them in about 5 minutes and we had plenty of time to get to the skating rink, I agreed. Unfortunately we ended up in line behind a large group that overwhelmed the veggie girl.)

But it was ok, Satch needed more food to get through the skater princess show.



The total for the four of us was $39. (Four snack pizzas, two side salads, and one drink.)

Pyro is not Project Green Fork certified, but they seem to be making an effort.



There is a private party room in back, and a patio area in the front that will open up in warmer weather. There were also a couple of arm chairs for those who want to chat or stare at a TV or whatever.

The restrooms are lovely and include a changing table.

Finally, I'd like to note that they also serve coffee and breakfast pizza.

If you are a fan of super thin crust and decision making, Pyro is the place for you!