Adventure #17: Jack Pizza Company

Let that swirl of chipotle sauce take you deep into the dark world of dive bar pizza - this is a trip you want to go on, so just follow that swirl all the way to Jack Pizza Company, nestled in the Jackalope in on 6th between Trinity and Neches.

See that sauce? That's a spicy chipotle sauce that will give you a mild burn through the duration of your eating experience. It helped give our chosen pizza's name some meaning - The Diablo. The Diablo features this pepper sauce on top of meatballs, bacon, and cheddar cheese, with a Lone Star beer-infused crust holding it all together.

I think my main complaint with this pie is in nomenclature. They know Diablo means devil, right? There is nothing evil about this pie - the spice is perfection, not persecution! The meatballs are small, tasty, and greasy enough to be mistaken for sausage - good sausage. The cheese works to make it all stick together (along with the minimum amount of sauce - this is not a slippery pizza - which is good, considering the size of the slice, seen below.) The crust is chewy, airy, and easily foldable (again, important due to the big slices.) All these factors are great, but the most amazing thing is this:

Bacon. Bacon bacon bacon. This is the best bacon I have ever had on a pizza. The pieces are large enough to provide some mouthfeel and the flavor is . . . savory. Meaty. Bacon.

This is an intensely savory and spicy pie that goes great with the location - a dark bar to keep you from fully acknowledging your gorging behavior, with beer to spare to help you cut through the spice. Oh, and here's that slice size I've been telling you about:

There are six of these. One is enough. Did I mention pies are half price on Tuesdays? See you there!

-Ian

Adventure #16: Craig O's

There comes a time (in this case a lazy Sunday afternoon) when a Pizza Adventurer must realize that not every pizzeria is going to be an Austin gem, that there are probably more thoroughly edible but entirely unimpressive pizzerias than not.


There was nothing technically wrong with the pizza. The toppings were all fresh, I could taste and identify all of them (though the caramelized onions were a bit weird, would have preferred fresh ones); the crust was neither soggy nor hard, it was very much a "topping delivery system" rather than its own element; the sauce was a bit sweeter than necessary, but not inedibly so.

There's really not much to say about it. In all, the pizza was ok and reasonably priced (we got an extra large for the price of a large because it was Sunday), but I can't do much other than put it in as a "middle of the road" pizza.

-Karin

Adventure #15: Rome's Pizza

An Adventure in Esrever.

We wondered what we had just eaten. It had the appearance of a pizza, but the taste of a taco. Delicious, yet confounding. Again, the wrong pizza?

The cheese was plentiful and flavorful, the crust light. All ingredients were fresh, especially the onions and cilantro. The chipotle pesto gave a slight smoky flavor and a bit of spice. The chorizo was lean as advertised, and quite tasty (if overpowered by the beans, sauce, and cheese.)

Chunks of tomato, lumps of chorizo, strands of onion, swaths of cheese, florets of fresh cilantro, they were floating on a bed of mozzarella sprinkled with black beans. Underneath, a chipotle pesto lurked. . .Introducing the Pancho Villa.

Some 'Bistro Bread' to start. . .average pesto, fresh tomatoes, delightful fresh Parmesan. Woefully thin and slightly tinny marinara. . .

-Ian