pizza restaurants Archives

Home Slice Pizza

December 6, 2017

You probably wouldn’t think to check on E. 23rd Street in Downtown Chattanooga for great pizza, but Home Slice Pizza has got you covered!

Have you ever noticed how some of the best places to eat are the most unassuming places? Perhaps the place that you have driven by 1000 times and never even noticed, let alone bothered to stop into. Or the little Thai place in a strip mall somewhere that you literally had to search out on Yelp when you were not feeling a downtown excursion in an unfamiliar town. Or the pizza place that you might have heard of but then forgot about, located in a little corner of a hotel just off the interstate, in the midst of a bunch of fast food places and gas stations.
That, my friends, is Home Slice Pizza. I think that I had seen something about it when it opened, but then kind of forgot about it. A search for somewhere to eat downtown or in North Georgia so we could make a quick getaway to Beverage World for Philip to look for some loot turned it up and off we went.

When we got to Home Slice Pizza, located on one end of The Chatt Inn on 23rd Street, I wasn’t even sure it was open. There were no cars out front and from the outside it didn’t appear that there were any lights on. I was wrong, though, and we went on in to be waited on by Jimmy. He explained the menu to us and made some recommendations.

The space is tiny – a counter for ordering and four tables. Jimmy explained that, right now, most of their business is take-out. They also work with a local delivery service so patrons can have their pizza brought to their home. Jimmy told us that the owners of the hotel had been trying to bring in a restaurant that would last to that location. They hired a general manager with lots of restaurant experience to come and build it from the ground up. While the owners are involved, they allow the team working in the restaurant lots of room to create and experiment. They are hoping to expand to a second restaurant, hopefully in the Hixson or Red Bank area. The second restaurant would have more space than the current restaurant.

When we see garlic knots on a menu, we are basically required to order them. When Jimmy told us that their garlic knots were pretty much fantastic, it was settled. For $5, we got an order of soft and pillowy rolls coated in garlicky butter and a crap ton of Parmesan cheese, plus a cup of warm marinara sauce with a generous serving of cheese sprinkled on top of it too. My criteria for a great garlic knot: soft on the top with a tiny bit of crunch on the bottom, a little chew to the bread inside (but not too much), and tons of flavor. These checked those boxes nicely.

The Chicken, Bacon, and Ranch pizza sounded amazing, but I decided ultimately to go with the Meatball Meltdown. This may sound crazy, but I have never eaten a pizza with meatballs on it. I can’t think of a chain pizza restaurant that offers them, nor can I think of another locally-owned pizza joint that I have noticed offering them, though that could definitely be an oversight on my part. The Meatball Meltdown was made with Home Slice’s sweet and savory sauce, double cheese (!!!!), fresh garlic, and fresh, sliced meatballs. The small was $7 and a perfect size for one person. Actually, since I had eaten the garlic knots beforehand, I was only able to finish 3 of the 4 slices. The pizza was exceedingly (but not excessively) meaty. The cheese made for a perfect cheese pull – too bad I didn’t get a picture of that! The crust was a little crunchy and perfectly chewy with a good amount of garlic seasoning on it.

Philip when with Jimmy’s recommendation and got the Oh Captain, My Captain pizza (also $7 for a small). The Oh Captain, My Captain is made with their sweet and savory sauce, cheese, pepperoni, spicy sausage, chicken, bell peppers, diced onions, and mild wing sauce on a garlic crust. All the flavors went together perfectly and the wing sauce provided a great finish to an already delicious pizza. One thing I was particularly impressed by was the freshness of the chicken. Often, when I eat chicken on a pizza or in a pasta dish in a restaurant, it tastes like it has been sitting in the fridge for a few days. This chicken did not taste like that at all.

Home Slice Pizza also serves sandwiches, wings in a variety of flavors, and desserts (deep-fried Oreos! Deep fried Twinkies! Cinnamon knots!). Unfortunately, we were way too stuffed from our pizza and garlic knots to get a dessert. But that is a good thing, right? That means that we really enjoyed the pizza. By the time we left, the restaurant was full and we were actually rushing to move from our table to make space for another couple that had come in. We found the prices to be very reasonable and especially liked that they offer a personal-sized pizza. We tend to prefer different toppings on our pizzas and that can be problematic when you are forced to share a larger sized pizza. Additionally, Jimmy was extremely friendly, helpful, and customer-oriented.

If you are out on 23rd Street, check out Home Slice Pizza. Actually, make a special trip out there to try it. It’s definitely not what you would expect in this area and it is 100% worth the trip!

Home Slice Pizza is located at 2000 E. 23rd Street, Chattanooga, Tennessee, 37404. Their hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. You can call them at 423.531.3500. For more information, you can check out Home Slice Pizza’s website or follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Cherokee Brewery and Pizza Company (Dalton, GA)

July 19, 2017

Cherokee Brewing and Pizza is a brewery and pizza restaurant located in downtown Dalton, Georgia serving housemade pizzas and a variety of craft beers.

So…you guys should have gotten this post back in March. Except I got a new phone immediately after I ate there and my photos weren’t in my cloud…so I lost them. Oops.

Philip actually discovered Cherokee Brewing and Pizza Company when he went down there with one of his friends. He brought me back a couple of slices of pizza and I was pretty impressed, so we got back down there pretty quickly. He was not too sad about going back a third time, since they have a good selection of craft beers on tap, some of them that are not available in Chattanooga, including their own brews.

We went a little after lunch on a Saturday afternoon. There were quite a few people in there but I wouldn’t call it crowded. We sat at the bar…if you sit at the bar, the bartender will take your food and drink order. If you sit at a table, you order at the counter and then if you want a drink you can go to the bar to get it.

We each decided to get a salad – I got a house salad with homemade ranch dressing, and Philip got a Caesar salad. The first time we went we shared a large Caesar salad and it was big enough for a family of six. The house salad, topped with cheddar cheese, bacon, tomato, cucumber, and red onion. A lot of thinly sliced red onion. If I had known that, I would have ordered it without the onion…but the salad was delicious otherwise. The Caesar salad was good – fresh, crispy lettuce with creamy Caesar dressing, shaved Parmesan, and croutons (boxed). The small salads were $4 each.

As for pizza, we contemplated the Hot Mess Chick with housemade pesto, pulled smoked chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella, and Parmesan ($11.50), the Big John with BBQ sauce, pulled smoked pork, jalapeño, pineapple, white cheddar, and mozzarella ($11), and the Heavy D with Buffalo sauce, smoked pulled chicken, garlic, provolone, and mozzarella ($11.50). Ultimately, we settled on the Heavy D. The bartender brought us some ranch dressing to eat with the pizza as well.

The pizzas at Cherokee Brewing and Pizza Company are a perfect size for two hungry people or three not-so hungry people. The crust is thin, crispy around the edges, and just chewy enough. The toppings ratio was great – not too much or too little of anything. If you’re hesitant to order the Heavy D because you are afraid it might be too spicy, don’t be. It has just a tiny bite, but I had no trouble eating it. In the past, we have tried the Big’s (red sauce, pepperoni, meatballs, ricotta, fresh mozzarella, and Parmesan for $11.50) and the Whig (truffle oil, mushroom, onion, spinach, roasted garlic, risotto, and mozzarella for $11.50). Both were excellent.

Our total before tip was $31.57, which included two small salads, a pizza, and two draft beers (Philip enjoyed both their house-brewed beer as well as the Wicket Weed stout that he tried). The service has always been friendly here and the food is great. It’s a hike down to Dalton, but it’s worth it to try the pizza and beer at Cherokee Brewing and Pizza Company.

Cherokee Brewing and Pizza Company is located at 207-B West Cuyler Street, Dalton, GA, 30720. It’s toward the back of the building so you have to walk around the corner before you see it. They are open Monday – Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., closed Sunday. You can call Cherokee Brewing and Pizza Company at (706) 529-9478. For more information, you can check out their website, cherokeebrewingandpizzaco.com and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Ricko’s Pizzeria and Italian Cuisine (Lakesite, TN)

June 14, 2017

Ricko’s Pizzeria is a pizza restaurant in Lakesite, Tennessee (Soddy-Daisy/Hixson) that serves pizza, pasta, & sandwiches & has quickly made a name for itself!

Usually, when I write about a restaurant, it’s the first time I’ve been in. That’s not the case with Ricko’s Pizzeria and Italian Cuisine, though. Ricko’s Pizzeria opened back in March and, since it’s just a couple of miles from my house, we’ve eaten there several times since they opened. I’ve mentioned plenty of times that I like to give new restaurants some time to get their flow before I write about them, though, so we decided to wait.

Ricko’s is in a spot that has been a handful of other restaurants in the 15 years that we’ve lived in this part of town, most recently occupied by Ron’s Pig Out, a barbecue restaurant. The interior is pretty basic. You order at the counter and they call your number out when it’s ready. If you’ve ever dined at a Rafael’s in the area, the menu will be familiar to you – it’s very similar to the menu at Rafael’s, right down to the buy-one-get-one-free pizzas (excluding the personal pan pizzas). It is my understanding that the family that owns it was previously connected to a Rafael’s restaurant…not sure how.

Anyway, we placed our order immediately when we walked in and our food was out in about ten minutes. Philip wanted to try the garlic knots, so we got an order of those. The garlic knots were a little crusty on the outside, soft on the inside. I prefer them just a little bit softer on the outside than these were, and would have liked for them to have a little more garlic. Still pretty good, though. They were served with a basic marinara sauce for dipping.

On this visit I decided to have the Italian cheese steak with mushrooms for $6.45. Sandwiches are served with fries and a pickle spear. The Italian cheese steak is tender sliced steak with melted provolone on a crusty Italian roll. You can order it with peppers and onions or with mushrooms (I am sure they would do both, but I haven’t asked). I am pretty sure there is a little mayonnaise under the steak. I really like this sandwich. It’s flipping huge (I ate half that night and the other half for lunch a couple of days later) and very flavorful. The only complaint that I have is that I am fairly certain the mushrooms are canned, and I am just not down with canned mushrooms. They are not a deal-breaker, though. The fries are basic frozen fries – pretty good but not anything that sets them apart.

Philip was in the mood for a pizza so he went with the personal pan pizza with pepperoni and mushrooms ($5.25 for a two-topping pizza). The pizza here has always been good when we’ve ordered it. The crust is not too thick or too thin and they don’t over-sauce it (something that drives me crazy). Again, canned mushrooms…but not a deal-breaker. We definitely choose Ricko’s over the national chain that’s just a little further down the street. It’s very convenient to call it in and have Philip stop on his way home from work.

Ricko’s Pizzeria is a welcome addition to the Lakesite/Middle Valley area. They serve sandwiches, salads, pasta, and other entrees in addition to pizza, and the staff is always very friendly. We’ve never had a long wait here, even on days that they are busy (which they often are). It’s nothing fancy, but it’s good. Judging by the number of cars we usually see in the parking lot at dinner time and after church on Sundays, I think that Ricko’s Pizzeria will be around for a while.

Ricko’s Pizzeria and Italian Cuisine is located at 8615 Hixson Pike, Hixson, Tennessee, 37343. They are open Sunday – Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday – Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. You can call Ricko’s at (423) 682-8050. Ricko’s does not have a website, but you can find more information on their Facebook page.

Mike’s Pizza and Burgers

April 13, 2017

Mike’s Pizza and Burgers is a popular hotspot for (what else) pizza and burgers (and chicken sandwiches and hot dogs!) in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia!

Update (keep scrolling past the fried pickles for my original post!): Turns out Mike’s is a pretty good place for chicken sandwiches and hot dogs, too. Who knew? All of the burgers at Mike’s Pizza and Burgers (as well as Mike’s Hole in the Wall) are also available with grilled or fried chicken. I tried the Faith (with American cheese, honey mustard, and Mike’s wing sauce) as a fried chicken sandwich on a whim a while back and it turns out that I loved the chicken sandwich version even better than the burger. The chicken is super crispy and just a little bit spicy…it’s perfectly cooked and all of those toppings just go perfectly with chicken. I always get the wing sauce on the side for dipping. This is definitely one of the best chicken sandwiches that I have had at a local restaurant!

On our most recent visit, Philip got the Gluttony Dog, which is a jumbo hot dog wrapped in bacon and topped with chili and cheese. It was gigantic, guys! He couldn’t finish it, it was so big. The toppings all worked so well, though Philip (who recently stopped taking his daily Prilosec) was a little concerned about heartburn. I don’t think it turned out to be a big deal, though.

We also got some fried pickles. You all know that I love fried pickles, and I think that somehow I missed the fried pickles on Mike’s menu??? They are chips, not spears, which I prefer because I always burn the dickens out of the roof of my mouth with fried pickle spears. Mike’s fried pickles are coated in a crunchy coating that, like their chicken coating, is a little bit spicy, but also very salty – maybe a little bit too much so. The fried pickles are served with ranch dressing for dipping.

Original Post:

You know what I love? When I have a restaurant on my “short list” and an email shows up in my inbox offering a Groupon or Living Social deal for said restaurant. That happened this past week with Mike’s Pizza and Burgers. People had mentioned after I published my burger list that I needed to check out Mike’s, which is on Battlefield Parkway in Fort Oglethorpe, and the stars aligned. It’s Fall break, we needed to go to Costco anyway, and GROUPON!

Now, let me say up front that Mike’s Pizza and Burgers is not eligible for the burger list because it is not in Hamilton County. I have to have a way to keep it as simple as possible, y’all. It’s okay, though, because as I was checking out their menu on the website I noticed that some of the burgers sounded awfully familiar. I checked out the menu for Mike’s Hole in the Wall (#8 on the list) and it turns out that the logo is the same too. Same Mike! And to top it off, our server told us that Mike recently opened Mike’s Smokehouse on Broad Street in the former Sweeney’s location. I’ve noticed it while driving by a couple of times recently…I’ll be sure to give it a try soon, and I’m hoping that Mike can make that location a success!

Anyway, back to pizza and burgers. We were a little concerned going in at 12:30ish that it was going to be crowded, especially given the fact that the Groupon deal had just come out. It wasn’t crowded, though there were quite a few tables occupied. There’s a sign to seat yourself; Haley, our server, quickly brought us our menus. We ordered waters (they serve beer, but Philip wasn’t terribly interested in any of the craft beers that they had on draught and we have like 50 beers in our basement that need to be consumed) and cheese bread-thin breadsticks with mozzarella, cheddar, and parmesan, served with marinara sauce (the Italian egg rolls, hand-rolled with pepperoni, salami, ham, mozzarella, & provolone served with marinara sauce, sounded delicious but also very filling so we decided to pass those up). The cheese bread was very cheesy, thin, both chewy and crispy. Quite tasty.

I couldn’t decide between pizza and a burger (all burgers, by the way, can be served with grilled or fried chicken instead of a beef patty if desired), so we decided to try both. That’s the beauty of a Groupon! They offer a lunch special, either one slice and a salad or two slices and a drink (priced depending on which pizza you order) but we decided to get a whole 12-inch pizza and take home the leftovers for lunch the next day. You can build your own or order one of Mike’s creations. We were interested in the bacon cheeseburger pizza (crumbled bacon, ground beef, sliced tomatoes, red onion, cheddar cheese, mozzarella, topped with yellow mustard), the chicken bacon ranch pizza (chicken, crumbled bacon, mozzarella, marinara, topped with ranch dressing-I’m somewhat obsessed with this combination right now), or the Boss Hog (hand-pulled smoked butt-from the Smokehouse, ground sausage, Canadian bacon, ham, mozzarella, marinara, and Mike’s wing sauce). With all that pork, Philip couldn’t pass up the Boss Hog. It was a good choice, guys. It was totally packed with meat and incredibly cheesy. The smoked butt was deliciously tender and smoky, the sausage well cooked and not overpowering, and the sauce was spicy but not overdone. The crust was very thin with a crispy yet chewy edge. We each had a slice then boxed it up and moved on to the burger.

We decided to split a classic cheeseburger (with cheddar-you can choose your cheese from American, cheddar, Swiss, blue cheese, or pepper Jack), just to see how it compared to the burger at Mike’s Hole in the Wall (though I was tempted to try the Faith, with lettuce & tomato, bacon, american cheese, honey mustard & mike’s wing sauce). The burger was über-thick and cooked well with a great flavor to the meat, and the cheese was melted nicely on top. The condiments were not too heavy, but you guys know how I feel about lettuce and tomato on a burger (I lost the onions on my half, of course) and I ended up taking those off when my burger half started falling apart. Everything was served on a Niedlov’s bun, which Haley told us Mike brings in fresh daily. Burger rating: bread, 5; cheese: 5; meat: 4; toppings: 3.5; size: 4; structural integrity: 3; overall rating: 4.08. The fries, just like those at Mike’s Hole in the Wall, were excellent: hand-cut, double-fried, a little bit of skin on, skinny, lightly seasoned…basically perfect. I had to make Philip move the plate so I’d stop eating them.

Mike’s Pizza and Burgers is a nice space, fairly spacious and nicely decorated, at the end of a strip mall. There are some arcade games to keep the kids entertained. The menu is small and well executed. The prices are competitive with similar establishments; for our cheese bread, 12-inch Boss Hog pizza, and burger with fries (which are $1.99 extra) the pre-tip total for our meal was $30.24….just 24 cents over the total for our Groupon. Woohoo! Haley was a friendly and attentive server as well. We really enjoyed our lunch at Mike’s Pizza and Burgers and will try to go back when we are in the area!

Mike’s Pizza and Burgers is located at 2535 Battlefield Parkway, Fort Oglethorpe, GA 30742. They are open Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. You can call them at 706-406-2336. Check out Mike’s website, www.mikespizzaandburgers.com and like Mike’s Pizza and Burgers on Facebook.

Bob’s Brick Oven (Rock Spring, GA)

October 19, 2016

Bob’s Brick Oven is a small pizza joint in Rock Spring, Georgia that is on top of their game with homemade pizzas and ice cream plus great service!

A few months ago, I attended a cooking class that my friend Christy Jordan, who writes the blog Southern Plate, taught at AllSouth to be Christy’s kitchen assistant. Dave, one of the sales guys at AllSouth, lives in North Georgia and he gave me a couple of printouts before I left that day about North Georgia restaurants that I needed to write about.

One of those restaurants was Bob’s Brick Oven, serving pizza and ice cream. I had Bob’s Brick Oven on my “list” (I do have a literal list, a OneNote document that I am constantly adding to, divided up by areas of town) but had not heard anything about it from anyone who’d actually eaten there. Dave highly recommended it, so I made a mental note to move it to the top of the list.

It took a little bit to get there. We usually go on Saturday afternoons, and by the time Philip gets home at 3:00 or 3:30, we are usually pretty hangry and eager to get to our late lunch/early dinner ASAP. Last week, though, I was on fall break. We decided to go spend the day at Chickamauga Battlefield, which gave us an excuse to visit Bob’s Brick Oven for lunch.

We were a little confused when we got there. It’s located right next door to a small gas station (in the same building) and if you aren’t paying attention, you’ll miss it. We found it, though, and when we walked in at a few minutes till 12 there was only one other table occupied. A guy behind the counter told us to sit wherever we liked and our server (whose name, I hate to say, we didn’t catch) quickly brought our menus to us and took our drink order.

Literally the only things on the menu at Bob’s Brick Oven are pizza and homemade ice cream. It always speaks volumes to me when a menu is limited, because that usually means that the few things they are doing they are doing well. The server explained that the pizzas on the menu were all 16-inch pizzas but for half the price we could get any of the pizzas on the menu as 8-inch pizzas instead. That seemed like a no-brainer.

The first pie that we decided on was an 8-inch Picnic. The Picnic consists of a sweet barbecue based topped with whole-milk mozzarella, thinly sliced smoked pork loin, and a drizzle of tangy mustard-based Carolina BBQ sauce. The sourdough crust is thin and irregular, a sure sign that it’s been hand-shaped. The wood-burning pizza oven is clearly visible from the dining room in the open kitchen (right behind the counter) and the crusty char on the pizza makes it clear that these pizzas are fired in that oven. The pork is smoked out back and is smokey and tender, and the housemade barbecue sauces are a perfect finish.

For our second pizza, we were torn between the Primero Pesto, with a pesto base topped with mozzarella, red onions, and green peppers, or the Chicken Alfredo, with house Alfredo sauce as the base, house-smoked chicken, and a sprinkle of herbs. Our server told us that both were good but out of the two, the chicken Alfredo was her favorite, so we went for that. The chicken was absolutely amazing – smokey and tender like the pork – and paired better with the creamy Alfredo sauce than I would have ever imagined. Bob told us that there was also a touch of his homegrown basil in the Alfredo sauce as well (there is actually basil under lights in the dining room).

We also got a cup of Bob’s homemade root beer. I should have taken a picture of that, but I didn’t think to (by the way, I apologize for my awful iPhone photos here – I didn’t want to lug the camera to the Battlefield). The root beer was almost colorless, which just goes to show how much caramel color is in most store-bought root beer. It was strongly flavored and sweet. Bob told us that he also bottles it for delivery and take-out orders, so we of course had to take a bottle to go. Afraid to let it sit in the car for too long, we opened it and drank it while driving from stop to stop on the Chickamauga Battlefield driving tour, no doubt looking like we were doing something illegal as we sipped from a brown bottle while driving – through a national park, at that. Ha.

There was only one ice cream on the menu, as the restaurant had been closed for some updates to the paint and Bob had been out of town for a couple of days. However, since the flavor was coffee, we were all in and split a bowl of it. They crumble iced oatmeal cookies into their coffee ice cream, and Bob told us that the idea for that came from the fact that he liked to dip iced oatmeal cookies into his coffee. Makes sense to me. His coffee ice cream was delicious – creamy with a deep coffee flavor, a perfect texture, and not too sweet. The cookies were a great complement to the coffee flavor.

Our pre-tip total for two eight-inch pizzas, two root beers, and an ice cream was $22.47 – a great price for the quality of the food and the customer service.

We spent a good chunk of time talking to Bob when he stopped by our table to ask how we were enjoying our lunch. He told about how he got into the restaurant business and about his plans to expand. It was very clear that he is very passionate about his business and his customers, and as cheesy as it sounds, I was very inspired by our conversation.

If you want to go to a restaurant that’s all about good food and personal connections, Bob’s Brick Oven is your place.

Bob’s Brick Oven is located at 8009 US 27, Rock Spring, GA 30739. They are open Monday, 4-8 p.m., Tuesday – Wednesday, 11 a.m. – 8 p.m., Thursday – Friday, 11 a.m. – 9 p.m., and Saturday – Sunday, 12 – 9 p.m. You can call Bob’s Brick Oven at 706-375-4400. For more information, check out Bob’s Brick Oven’s website and Bob’s Brick Oven on Facebook.