Ever since OneSpeed, Rick Mahan's newest restaurant venture, opened I have been yenning to go. In a rebounding economy where most restaurants are hardly keeping afloat, Rick Mahan successfully opened another location with an entirely different theme. This restaurant, in the East Sacramento area, is not only exciting given it's owner, but it's never slow! Business is bustling at the slowest of times in OneSpeed, where for all other restaurants in the vicinity this is quite the opposite. This is not only inspiring for Sacramento's slowing restaurant scene, but also is understandable when eating their food. Since their beginning I have only heard great commentary, and the one thing that continued to come up was Mahan's focus on the pizza crust, a personal mission in perfection. This has been accomplished in what I was able to taste.
As with many of my wonderful culinary experiences, I was able to dine with my esteemed friend/ authoress Karen Embry, as was true in this case. Karen is a great sounding board to all of my casual/ not so causal observations about all things involved in the meal, from the decor, to the different types of olives, to the amount of flour on the bottom of the pizza. For all you foodies out there a culinary wing man is indispensable, find one at your local Taylor's Market today! Joking. But really, these are great attributes in a friend.
On entering the restaurant we were seated next to the restaurant's open air bar and promptly ordered pints of Allagash - a beautiful Belgian while ale on draft (first I've ever seen it on draft in Sacramento) after a great selection of Mediterranean olives and then the Frito Misto (changes daily) which included fried seafood (cod/shrimp) red peppers, olives, and chickpeas - all served with a lemon aoli. This was remarkably good, I've never had fried red peppers and they along with the anchovy stuffed olives were wonderfully strong in flavor.
Now on starring player. The Pizza. We ordered two:
Rick’s: Caramelized Onions, Oregonzola, Applewood Bacon, Potatoes, Arugula
Mushroom & La Quercia Prosciutto: Fontina, Arugula, Tomato Cream
Before we jump into how great the pizza was, let's talk crust. As this is a MAIN debating point for most pizza arguments, and remembering the constant attention Rick Mahan was paying to this very issue, this topic deserves attention. The crust was almost the width of a traditionally thin NY-style crust pizza, but not with the cracker quality - rather it had a spongy/ doughy texture which was quite pleasant, and culminated in a wonderfully larger outer crust that was almost that of a thick crust pizza. I was literally eating Chicago and New York Style in the same slice! This is the most interesting and enjoyable crust I've had yet in Sac, and put shame to Hot Italian. Only complication was the large amount of flour left on the pizza on the bottom, and thus your bite was intriguing flavor with a tongue of flour - this is no big deal as this happens when I make my own pizza, but it might deter others from the uniqueness of the crust.
Other parts of the pizza. Now, both of these pizza were exceptional in their own right.
The Rick's pizza was a light (would have preferred more) smattering of onions and creamy Oregonzola (a lighter Gorgonzola) with a strong bacon and potato flavor - marvelous! The potatoes were Yukon Golds and you could taste the light, buttery, crispiness of their flavor! (I've been looking for a potato pizza since I heard about Five Points Yukon Pizza in Brooklyn)
The Mushroom & La Quercia Prosciutto was even better, the tomato cream sauce and the combination of mushrooms and prosciutto were the perfect bite. Symbiosis, these flavors are really harmonious and really create a wonderful pie. I really think its the sauce (take a great red sauce and cream sauce and you get the best of both worlds - practically a tomato bisque on bread!) then add a beautifully nutty cheese (fontina) and mushrooms? Bellisma!
The only comment I would not of caution would be the noise factor, this restaurant has about 15 foot ceilings and wood floors, this is beautiful for ascetics but harmful for close table conversation, most of the conversation shared between myself and Karen was below a shout. I think something as simple as wall hangings, rugs or something to pad the raised voices would GREATLY increase the comfortability of the dining experience.
In addition to the food the services/staff was wonderful, all question were answered, and interest on the reception and conclusion of our meal was genuine, and not that of an over-caffeinated under-interested server.
I had strong affection for the restaurant that proceeded OneSpeed, Cafe Milazzo. For years this was a wonderful family filled restaurant that provided good food and friendly conversation; but I see in OneSpeed a movement on from the past, and it does a good tribute to it's previous pizza owners. Not quite similar, but embracing the same clientele and adding to the community another wonderful local pizza restaurant that meets comfortable and tasty expectations alike.
As with many of my wonderful culinary experiences, I was able to dine with my esteemed friend/ authoress Karen Embry, as was true in this case. Karen is a great sounding board to all of my casual/ not so causal observations about all things involved in the meal, from the decor, to the different types of olives, to the amount of flour on the bottom of the pizza. For all you foodies out there a culinary wing man is indispensable, find one at your local Taylor's Market today! Joking. But really, these are great attributes in a friend.
On entering the restaurant we were seated next to the restaurant's open air bar and promptly ordered pints of Allagash - a beautiful Belgian while ale on draft (first I've ever seen it on draft in Sacramento) after a great selection of Mediterranean olives and then the Frito Misto (changes daily) which included fried seafood (cod/shrimp) red peppers, olives, and chickpeas - all served with a lemon aoli. This was remarkably good, I've never had fried red peppers and they along with the anchovy stuffed olives were wonderfully strong in flavor.
Now on starring player. The Pizza. We ordered two:
Rick’s: Caramelized Onions, Oregonzola, Applewood Bacon, Potatoes, Arugula
Mushroom & La Quercia Prosciutto: Fontina, Arugula, Tomato Cream
Before we jump into how great the pizza was, let's talk crust. As this is a MAIN debating point for most pizza arguments, and remembering the constant attention Rick Mahan was paying to this very issue, this topic deserves attention. The crust was almost the width of a traditionally thin NY-style crust pizza, but not with the cracker quality - rather it had a spongy/ doughy texture which was quite pleasant, and culminated in a wonderfully larger outer crust that was almost that of a thick crust pizza. I was literally eating Chicago and New York Style in the same slice! This is the most interesting and enjoyable crust I've had yet in Sac, and put shame to Hot Italian. Only complication was the large amount of flour left on the pizza on the bottom, and thus your bite was intriguing flavor with a tongue of flour - this is no big deal as this happens when I make my own pizza, but it might deter others from the uniqueness of the crust.
Other parts of the pizza. Now, both of these pizza were exceptional in their own right.
The Rick's pizza was a light (would have preferred more) smattering of onions and creamy Oregonzola (a lighter Gorgonzola) with a strong bacon and potato flavor - marvelous! The potatoes were Yukon Golds and you could taste the light, buttery, crispiness of their flavor! (I've been looking for a potato pizza since I heard about Five Points Yukon Pizza in Brooklyn)
The Mushroom & La Quercia Prosciutto was even better, the tomato cream sauce and the combination of mushrooms and prosciutto were the perfect bite. Symbiosis, these flavors are really harmonious and really create a wonderful pie. I really think its the sauce (take a great red sauce and cream sauce and you get the best of both worlds - practically a tomato bisque on bread!) then add a beautifully nutty cheese (fontina) and mushrooms? Bellisma!
The only comment I would not of caution would be the noise factor, this restaurant has about 15 foot ceilings and wood floors, this is beautiful for ascetics but harmful for close table conversation, most of the conversation shared between myself and Karen was below a shout. I think something as simple as wall hangings, rugs or something to pad the raised voices would GREATLY increase the comfortability of the dining experience.
In addition to the food the services/staff was wonderful, all question were answered, and interest on the reception and conclusion of our meal was genuine, and not that of an over-caffeinated under-interested server.
I had strong affection for the restaurant that proceeded OneSpeed, Cafe Milazzo. For years this was a wonderful family filled restaurant that provided good food and friendly conversation; but I see in OneSpeed a movement on from the past, and it does a good tribute to it's previous pizza owners. Not quite similar, but embracing the same clientele and adding to the community another wonderful local pizza restaurant that meets comfortable and tasty expectations alike.
No comments:
Post a Comment