Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co.

After watching the pizza episode on the Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate, my dining companion and I had the immediate urge to go and grab ourselves some delicious pies of our own!  Looking to fill this instant craving of ours (oh, the effects of TV!), we wound up at one of the better places in town for pizza - Rocky Mountain!

Food:

We ended ordering a reg. size of the 'Classic' and the 'BBQ Pulled Pork' pizza.  In reality, one pizza would've been sufficient because we weren't particularly hungry at the time.  Needless to say, I love variety and have really been loving bbq pulled pork lately :)

Rocky Mountain prides themselves on offering homemade, hand-crafted flatbread pizzas whilst using local and organic ingredients.  Both pies were very tasty with an ample amount of a nice, sweet organic tomato sauce.  Toppings were sufficient.  The pulled pork pie arrived adorned with sliced green peppers, red onions and asiago cheese.  I enjoyed the taste of it, with my only complaint being that the pulled pork wasn't spread out evenly across the pizza.  The 'classic' pizza was bang on - topped with marinated cherry tomatoes, mozarella, asiago, Capriny's goat cheese and parmesan. 

The flatbread crust is a combination of whole wheat and unbleached white flour.  A little bland tasting, but expected.  It's not too big of a deal, but I think I've had better tasting flatbread crusts.  I originally had asked for the pizzas to be on a thin crust they have, but the request was denied.  Not sure why this was an issue, but I'm curious as to how that would taste.  Overall, the pizzas were really good and the quality was consistent to what I experienced, on my previous visits.

** Bonus: Everybody knows we are sauce freaks.  Rocky Mountain offers lovely dipping sauces perfect for the crusts and if you are me, to dip every bite of your pizza in :)  On this night, my d.c opted for the Sundried Tomato Hummus while I had the Roasted Garlic & Onion.  Who doesn't love a bonus? :)

For dessert, we chose one of the daily specials, the 'Banana Caramel Creme Brulee'.  On any given day, I would've chosen anything chocolatey, especially their homemade Chocolate Brownie, which is to-die-for.  But on this night, upon hearing the words - 'banana' and 'creme brulee', I couldn't resist.

Though, it could've been warmer and more creamier in texture, there was an abundance of banana present and satisfied my sweet craving.  Though, I think the next time I come here, I would stick to my default 'chocolate' choice :)

Service:

"Eh" - I had a coupon for a free dessert and somehow had a gut feeling that our server would forget to take it off the bill.  Needless to say, this was indeed the case.  He wasn't particularly friendly nor super attentive, but it was passable.

Value:

The 'Classic' pizza was $13.95 while the 'Pulled Pork' one was $15.95 (for a regular (10"?) size, I believe. A little pricier than average

Ambience:

From what I can recall - hardwood floors, relatively spacious patio, open 'artisan' pizza oven situated in the dining area.  They have a nice play area for the kiddies by the washrooms, and offers 'pizza making' birthday parties!

Overall:  7.8/10

Yay: Come here if you're looking for a 'healthy' tasting artisan pizza made with fresh, organic ingredients.  They also offer 'pizza making' birthday parties and are openly accepting of kiddie diners :)


Nay: Pizzas are a lil' pricier than average...

Charlie's Restaurant & Bar (CLOSED)

gourmet artisan pizzas coming right at cha...

Food:

My nth birthday just recently passed and what better way to celebrate it than to gorge down heaping amounts of (what I always like to refer to as my second favourite food) pizza! Charlie's Restaurant recently opened up in the old Pinky's location, so I decided to venture out to Yaletown for some good ol' pies...

Scoe & I first started with the Beef Carpaccio, as well as the Beetroot Salad.  The carpaccio starter was nice and delicate -though a little stingy on the proportion size.  The Beetroot salad was refreshing - with orange, fennel, frisee and a goat cheese dressing. Now this portion size was plentiful and appetizing.

The highlights of the night were definitely the pies, though.  I opted for the popular Short Rib pizza (below) which also featured: tomato sugo, braised short ribs, caramelized onion, mozzarella, horseradish cream and green onions.  The combination of ingredients were impeccable.  The meat was tender and flavourful.  The crust was a nice fairly thin, crispy texture.  I should also note that it does contain horseradish cream which has quite the pronounced flavour. (Note: Wasabi is made of horseradish, so you can imagine how 'pronounced' of a flavour that can be!)  Nevertheless, I thought it paired very well with the short rib and the accompanying ingredients.

Scoe opted for the (above) Duck pizza (my second option) with porcini sauce, smoked duck, roast portabellini mushrooms, tallegio, radicchio and truffle oil.  His was less impressive as we both thought the meat was a bit dry (which ultimately, had an effect on the tasting of the pizza).  It was still okay, but we both definitely agreed that the Short Rib pizza was the better of the two.

Value:

Beef carpaccio ($13) - thumbs down for value.  Pizzas (both 11") were $16 and $14, respectively.  Not tooo steep, but note the location of the restaurant.

Service:

Had to diligently track down our server at times, but she has friendly and helpful.

Ambience:

Came here on a Friday night at about 8 pm, and the restaurant was 30% full (there was also a Canuck playoff home game). Nice, comfortable and very roomy black leather booth seatings. Loud music and a big tv screen.

Overall: 7.9/10

Yay: Delicious gourmet artisan pizzas. Hip ambience. 

Nay: Yaletown - parking.