Sticks and Stones Clay Oven Pizza
In the space what was Wild Magnolia, in the space what was a 3 bay garage, now lives a wood fired clay oven pizza restaurant. And it was good. Very good.
Sticks and Stones seems to have taken the motto "Think globally, eat locally". Most all of their ingredients are local to the point that they make note when something isn't. Some people and places claim to be "sustainable" but these guys are living it. It shows up in the seasonable menu and the waterless urinal in the mens room. These are details that I notice and appreciate.
They list the farms where they get their veggies. They list the farms where they get their free range meats. They list the Goat Lady Dairy where they get their goat cheese. They mention the herb garden next to the restaurant where they get their herbs.
The general feel of the place still reminds me of New Orleans with the three large sets of French doors in the spaces that used to be garage doors. The layout is pretty much just like Wild Magnolia used to be. The big difference between them and Wild Magnolia is they didn't hit the local landfill for all of their furniture and decor.
Everything is wood now. The table tops are all wood covered with glass. Sandwiched between are old newspaper and magazine articles, ads, and such. It felt like they were going for European countryside to me. I also think they got it. I'm all about the big open French doors for atmosphere.
The beer and wine selection is quite nice for a place that isn't a bar.
The Wife and I had an appetizer, large pizza, extra topping, drinks, coffee and dessert for $36.00. Which isn't so bad. Your mileage may vary depending on if you are in the mood to "eat" or to "dine".
The quality of the food was very high, while the portion size was fairly small. Our appetizer called the "Pinkheart" which consisted of "Old Mill Polenta battered Mortadella corn dogs with roasted tomato coulis and wildflower honey mustard" cost us $6.25 It contained five pieces which equaled about one hot dog. The roasted tomato coulis, though tastey didn't add anything to it. The wildflower honey mustard rocked with it. The dish was very tasty, but neither Sara nor I thought it was a particular value. On the plus side that means that next time we get to try one of the other appetizers.
Our pizza "To be the One", a "Margherita pizza with tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, parmesan, and fresh basil" we added pepperoni. Sized large with the added pepperoni cost $18.95. It was probably one of the best Margherita pizzas I have ever had.
Some pizza places see the crust as nothing more than a topping transport device. Some pizza places see the crust as the center of the pizza and toppings are nothing more than condiments. Sticks and Stones made the crust an integral part of the pizza experience. The organic flour comes from Lindley Mills in Eli Whitney NC. The wood burning oven is kept at 700 degrees. The effect is that at first glance you might find your crust a little more done than you would expect or prefer. The fact is that though the crust is dark compared to most pizza places, it is not scorched. That little extra heat seemed to bring out some of the character in the crust which I should add was not tough, overly crunchy or even soggy from the ingredients. Plus they used a little toasted wheat bran in their dough which will darken it a bit anyway. It was a nice detail, well worth it.
The pizza experience was amazing! However, the large pizza pan they put on our table clearly had a medium sized pizza in the middle of it. The Wife and I polished it off entirely and still had room for dessert. This turned out to be a good thing.
For dessert we had wood oven baked peach and walnut cobbler with Homeland Creamery ice cream. $4.95 We shared one, and it was excellent, the walnuts served in the place of the traditional cobbler crust and really helped bring out the flavor of the peaches. No pizza place I have ever eaten in can claim a better dessert.
The place was family friendly and in fact there were a surprising number of young professional couples with their "first child" eating there. They even have on their kids menu what they call a "Kids Cheese Pizza" on the menu "Tomato sauce, whole milk mozzarella" add pepperoni for extra.
What you can't do here: I have the menu before me and they have no ingredient list where you can make your own pizza. That said, the offerings they have are good enough that you probably wouldn't want to anyway. Five of the pizzas were veggie. They also have some really fancy salads that I am inclined to have next time. (Add wood-fire roasted chicken to any salad for $3.95)
Noise: I am sensitive to noise. The echo in Sticks and Stones was warm and tended to be voices, but not so you felt like everyone could hear what you were saying. Some places I have eaten in have the same volume but the quality is metallic and tinny. If we're going to have noise, let it be warm and pleasant.
They have a url but at this posting they haven't actually done anything with it yet (like make a web page). They have only been open a couple of weeks now.
