Taverna Rossa

There is a new pizza joint in Collin Country that I have been dying to try.  In fact, I have been wanting to try Taverna Rossa since I first heard about it earlier in the spring (months before it opened).  This restaurant was getting a lot of press prior to it's opening due to the fact that the owners had a track record of producing quality pizza at Cadillac Pizza Pub in McKinney.  They also hired on Brian Luscher, owner/chef at The Grape, to help design the menu. Last weekend, my family and I finally got to try Taverna Rossa.

My youngest daughter enjoying her dinner

The restaurant had several choices available for appetizers, including cheese bread, roasted artichoke, meatballs, warm pretzel, etc.  All these sounded delicious, but the one that stood out the most was the Killer Texas Sausage Queso.  Chips and queso are something you do not see at most pizza places, but we couldn't say no when we read farther and found out you could also add brisket to it.  Suprisingly, it was served with corn chips rather than tortilla chips.  From the first scoop of queso, I knew that it would be a race between my wife and myself to see who could eat it the fastest.  It was phenomenal and made the trip to Plano worthwhile even if we had not decided to order pizza.

Killer Sausage Queso with Brisket

The pizza menu had several craft pizzas that looked appetizing, but the one that we agreed to get was The All American.  This pizza had red sauce, pepperoni, Luscher's sausage, turkey Canadian bacon, bacon, fontina, and house-blend mozzarella.  The pepperoni was superb and the sausage was good as well, but my wife claimed there was too much bacon on the pizza.  I say that is blasphemy.  There is no such thing as too much bacon!  Besides, the abundance of bacon was offset by the heart-healthy turkey Canadian bacon, which had a fantastic flavor that really stole the show.

The All American

My oldest daughter is not a pizza eater, so she chose to get the warm pretzel off the appetizer menu.  She didn't eat much of it because she was too busy eating the corn chips.  I thought it was very good and ended up eating most of it for her.  We got the grilled cheese sandwich off the kids menu for my one-year old and she seemed to love it.  I took a bite of it myself and was very impressed.

House Made Pretzel

Even though I was stuffed to the gills, I let my wife talk me into dessert.  We ordered the chocolate chip cookie and the Black Forest cheesecake.  The cookie was served in a pan and topped with vanilla ice cream.   All of us loved the cookie, which was very warm and tasted great with a bit of ice cream on each bite.  The cheesecake was very good and very rich, but it was a far cry from the greatness of the chocolate chip cookie!

Chocolate Chip Cookie with Vanilla Ice Cream 

Black Forest Cheesecake

Taverna Rossa has been one of the most hyped restaurants in DFW in recent months and was one of the few I have tried that lived up to the hype.  The food was outstanding and the service was great too.  The staff is friendly and eager to please.  Not to be outdone, the the decor was fitting for a high-end pizza pub as well.  If you are a fan of craft beer, they had several local options on tap.  Even though this pizza joint is very new, I would rate it among my top five places to get a pizza in DFW alongside Campisi's, Grimaldi's, Eno's, and Cane Rosso.

Taverna Rossa
http://tavernarossa.com/
Livin the Good Life Rating = 4