Hey ya’ll! My first post on Hungry Onion! Do I get a badge??
And it all started with the Houston folks’ outing to Coltivare. Yes it was good, no - and I think we agree - not a “stand in line” place but thanks for doing that for our fun outing, Jaymes!
The better pizza is nearby at Il Mascalzone on Shepherd Drive, and there’s another location in the Energy Corridor on Westheimer near Dairy Ashford. I talked at length to the manager, and she said the demographics are much different, as one would expect, many families at the West Houston location, more happy hour and night life on Shepherd Drive.
Il Mascalzone came to Houston earlier this year, a product of an Italian Olympic Boxer who opened 3 successful restaurants in London and now 2 here in Houston. Why Houston? Probably because the food scene is so explosive here and people eat out a lot, if gasoline prices stay stable and the creek don’t rise, both of which are failing right now.
There’s a dearth of business at the Shepherd location at lunch, don’t understand that since the food is outstanding, haven’t been to dinner. Recently had lunch at Shepherd and were presented with the appetizer they called “garlic bread,” (gratis this time) which was a small thin pizza with nothing more than a tomato topping rife with garlic and olive oil and steaming from the wood oven. Outstanding crispy thin crust with freshest of tomato topping, utterly addictive in the “you can’t eat just one slice” variety. A basket of rustic bread is offered to all and comes with a small jar of olive oil, jalapeno and habanero mash up for dipping. I do believe the adage that spicy food raises endorphins, and this certainly made me happy, but beware for your first few bites, and adjust to your tolerance.
I had the Pizza Special, topped with parma ham, mozz, that fresh tomato base and arugula (aka rocket in the Queen’s language) and it was outstanding, pictured.
Literally the next day (today) I took several more people there for lunch and I had the pasta dish, tagliatelle di Mamma Teresa, house made pasta with thinly sliced pancetta, a parmesan cream sauce and topped with radicchio. Must love garlic. Also pictured.
For those low carbing it, they have fish, chicken and beef dishes with fresh veggies, today was asparagus and artichoke hearts, be still my heart. Something for everyone and everyone loved it.
By the way, Tuesday is 1/2 price wine day and today is Tuesday. It being a work day, we did opt for a tad bit of wine for the 6 of us, but the ice tea was also deemed Texas worthy.
In sum, I highly recommend this place.
Take good care and post your experiences!