Cavalli Pizza

Several years ago (pre-blogging days), my family and I visited Cavalli Pizza in McKinney's Adriatica Village.  We enjoyed the visit to the Neapolitan style pizzeria and thought the food was good, but for some inexplicable reason, we haven't dined their since that visit.  My oldest daughter wanted to go grab dinner one night, so I took her to Cavalli Pizza.  

My dinner date for the evening

We asked to be seated on the patio, but my daughter got cold and we asked to move inside.  When finally situated,  I ordered the Pizzette Fritte for an appetizer.  Pizzette Fritte is fried pizza dough topped marinara, basil, and shaved Parmesan.  It was my first time trying this particular dish and I liked it from first bite. I particularly liked the sweet flavor of the fried dough, but I also liked the freshly shaved Parmesan and marinara as well.

Pizzette Fritte

For pizza, I ordered the "Smoky".  This pizza had fresh mozzarella, smoked mozzarella, San Marzano tomato sauce, grilled chicken, and bacon.  I have to say that this was one of the better pizzas that I have had with chicken as a topping.  The flavor of the smoked mozzarella and bacon really gave the pizza a burst of flavor.  My daughter ordered the kid's sized "New York", which was topped with mozzarella, tomato sauce, basil, and olive oil.  Her pizza was pretty basic and wasn't near as flavorful as the one I inhaled.

The Smoky

The New York

For dessert, we tried the S'Mores calzone.  The dessert was stuffed with nutella and topped with large marshmallows.  This dessert was savory, but not as good as similar ones I have had elsewhere.

S'Mores Calzone

I enjoyed my second visit to Cavalli Pizza.  The pizza is tasty and the service was very good as well.  This restaurant also has a nice patio area in the back.  The patio area has a view of Adriatica Village and would be a great place to dine on a pretty day.  While this pizzeria is very good and one of my favorite pizza joints in McKinney, I am not sure that I would put it in my top three Collin County pizza joints.   If you are in McKinney and want an authentic Neapolitan Pizza joint, you cannot go wrong by giving this place a try.

Cavalli Pizza
http://cavallipizza.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=3

Cane Rosso - Fairview

Having dined at the two Cane Rosso locations in Dallas, my wife and I were excited to hear that the mini-chain was going to open up a location in Fairview.  This new location of this pizzeria is located at The Village at Fairview and is only a short 10 minute drive from my house.  D Magazine has called Cane Rosso the best pizzeria in Dallas for three straight years and Eater.com has named it one of the top 15 pizzerias in the nation.  I have reviewed the White Rock location and was very impressed with this restaurant.

Bar and Kitchen

When this location first opened in September, I had heard that it was jam packed every night the first couple of weeks, so I waited until October to try out this location.  My family visited the restaurant on a Saturday morning just as they were opening and we were seated immediately.  I had heard that they have brunch specials on the weekend, so I was anxious to see what items they were going to offer that were not usually on the menu.

Garlic Knots

My family decided to share some appetizers before ordering pizzas.  We ordered the garlic knots and mozzarella fritta.  The garlic knots were larger than those you usually see at pizza joints or Italian restaurants and they were served with a red chile marinara that had a little kick to it.  The mozzarella fritta  consisted of house made mozzarella that was fried and served with a side of marinara.  Both appetizers were tasty and quickly consumed by the four of us.  

Mozzarella Fritta

After looking at the menu and hearing the brunch specials, I decided to order the breakfast pizza.  This pizza was topped with their house-made mozzarella, eggs, potatoes, speck, prosciutto, and grape tomatoes.  These ingredients blended into what I believe was the best breakfast pizza I have ever had.  Every bite was a masterpiece and I particularly liked the flavor of the speck and the potatoes.  My wife and girls shared a Margherita pizza, which is her favorite pizza.  Although they ate almost the entire pizza, my wife said it was not as good as Margherita pizzas she has had at other locations.

Breakfast Pizza

Sadly, we were all too full to eat dessert.  I had really wanted to try the S'Mores Calzone, which my wife had raved about after dining at one of the Dallas locations with a friend.  The food was fantastic and the service was just as good.  Cane Rosso Fairview will be getting more visits from me and my family.  It is easy to see why this restaurant is considered to be one of the top Neapolitan pizzerias in DFW.

Margherita Pizza

Update 2-2-15
TIP:  I have gone back several times since this first visit and have fallen in love with an off-the-menu pizza.  When you visit, ask for the Honey Bastard.  It has mozzarella, spicy sopressata, bacon marmalade, and habanero honey.  We have also tried the S'Mores calzone and I highly recommed that as well.   

Cane Rosso (Fairview)
http://ilcanerosso.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=5

Pizzeria Testa

Neapolitian pizza restaurants seem to be trending in the DFW area.  It has become a pretty common occurrence to see a new Neapolitan pizza restaurant opening somewhere in the Metroplex.  Pizzeria Testa opened up last year in Frisco and has been getting some very good press lately.   Although the restaurant has been open for over a year, I had not tried it until just a couple of weeks ago when I met my wife there for lunch.

Lunch Salad

Pizzeria Testa has lunch specials where you can get a salad and a personal pizza for under $10.  My wife ordered the special and got a Margherita pizza with a house salad.  The personal pizza was larger than what she anticipated, so she gave me a slice as well.  We both liked the taste of the Margherita pizza and she enjoyed the salad as well.

Margherita Pizza

For my meal, I decided to forgo the lunch special because I wanted to try a pizza that was not an option on the specials.  I ordered the Affumicata pizza, which  had smoked Mozzarella and Speck.  Smoked cheeses are an Achilles heal for me and this pizza lived up to my expectations.  The Mozzarella had a great smoky flavor and the large pieces of Speck covered each slice.   This pizza was absolutely perfect and tasted just as I had hoped.

Affumicata Pizza (Smoked Mozzarella and Speck)

Even after eating an entire pizza by myself, I still wanted dessert.  My wife and I ordered the Tiramisu and loved every bite.  This classic item is one of our favorite desserts to order at Italian or pizza joints, but the Tiramisu at Pizzeria Testa is simply outstanding.  It had a perfect texture, outstanding flavor, and looked as good as it tasted.  I can't think of any Tiramisu that was better than what we had at Pizzeria Testa

Tiramisu

I feel that Pizzeria Testa deserves the praise that it has received.  Their pizza ovens combined with fresh ingredients really turn out some excellent Neapolitan pizza.  The service was commendable on this visit and the dining room was very comfortable.  This restaurant would be a great place to go on a romantic date or a fun place to dine with a group of friends.

Pizzeria Testa

http://www.pizzeriatesta.com

Livin the Good Life Rating=4

Dough Pizzeria Napoletana

My mom was in town for work and a visit with the grandkids, so my wife and I had a Friday night where we had some free babysitting.  We took advantage of the evening and decided to venture South of IH635 for dinner.  Dough Pizzeria is one of my in-laws favorite restaurants and has been getting good reviews, so we headed to Dallas in anticipation of trying some Neapolitan Pizza.  

Wood-fired Oven at Dough

We arrived a little after seven p.m. and the restaurant was very crowded, but they did have one two-top available for us to be seated immediately.  The menu had several items that looked appetizing, but we started with an order of the flatbread and marinara sauce. The flatbread was topped with extra virgin olive oil, oregano, thyme, sea salt and Parmigiano Reggiano.  Since we were eating a late dinner (at least for us), we dug in.  There was no disappointment on either of our faces as we inhaled the flatbread.  This item is a staple at many pizza restaurants, but we both agreed that this was some of the best we have had.  The bread itself was bursting with flavors and the marinara was fantastic.

Flatbread with Marinara

For our pizza, my wife let me choose what we would get on this evening.  I chose the Pork Love Pizza, which was featured on an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.  The pizza arrived right as we finished the flatbread and it looked like a million bucks.  The Pork Love is topped with Sopressata salami, house made Italian Sausage, pancetta, speck, fresh house pulled mozzarella, and tomato sauce.  As great as the pizza looked, it tasted even better.  All the pork-tastic ingredients blended well into a fantastic slice of pizza.  All the ingredients were flavorful, but the house made sausage tended to be a little over-powering at times.  Despite, this I can honestly say that the Pork Love was in the top five pizzas I have ever had.

Pork Love Pizza

When we finished the pizza, we still had a little time before our movie started and we decided to eat dessert.  The house-made tiramisu sounded very appetizing, but we chose to sample something the Nutella Panino because it was something we have never had before.  The Nutella Panino is a dessert panini sandwich made with sweetbread, nutella, and marshmallows.  Our order was much larger than we had anticipated, but that didn't stop us from eating the entire plate.  The dessert sandwiches tasted like s'mores and they were even better when you added whipped cream to them.

Nutella Panino

Our visit to Dough Pizzeria was great from start to finish.  The food was wonderful and the service was spectacular.  This restaurant doesn't get a lot of the press that others in the area do, but I could easily put it in my top three pizza joints in the Dallas area.  We will be going back here very soon!


Dough Pizzeria Napoletana
http://www.doughpizzeria.com/dallas/
Livin the Good Life Rating= 4

Cane Rosso

Cane Rosso has been on my "wish list" of restaurants to try for quite some time.  Unfortunately, I have not been able dine in Dallas recently; primarily due to a busy work schedule.  I also realize that only fat kids like myself have restaurant "wish lists."  The Dallas Observer included Cane Rosso on it's list of the Eight Best Pizza Places in Dallas.  D Magazine rated the restaurant as best pizza place in Dallas and included it in it's 2013 edition of the 100 Best Restaurants in Dallas.  

The Cane Rosso Pizza Oven

Cane Rosso has two locations in Dallas.  The original is in Deep Ellum, but we were closer to the one that recently opened in White Rock.  We arrived for an early dinner and beat the usual Saturday night crowds that plague most of the restaurants in Dallas.  They had a patio area that looked like fun, but we elected to eat inside because it was a little chilly when we arrived.  We were warmly greeted by the wait staff upon entering the restaurant.  Since it was our first visit, they explained the basics of Neapolitan style pizza and how it differed from New York style pizza.  Having had Neapolitan pizza before, I knew that they center was usually very doughy.  What I didn't know, is that their pizzas are only fired in the oven for 70 seconds.

We ordered our drinks and decided to start with an order of Angioletta.  This appetizer is fried pizza dough that is coated with grated Parmesan cheese and served with marinara.  This dish was very simple, but very good.  It was such a large portion that I feared I had not saved enough room for pizza.

Angioletta

The Livin The Good Life wife and I debated which pizza we wanted, but finally agreed on ordering the Prosciutto e Rucola.  This pizzas ingredients included prosciutto crudo (thinly sliced dry-cured ham), arugula, house-made mozzarella, shaved Parmigiano, garlic, and extra virgin olive oil.  The pizza arrived and it was larger than I had anticipated (approximately 14-15 inches).  The wife and I both enjoyed this pizza.  The prosciutto was great and all the ingredients blended together perfectly.  If I had to choose one negative thing about his pizza, it would be the garlic.  I would have preferred smaller garlic pieces instead of sliced cloves that were overpowering at times. 

Prosciutto e Rucola

I left Cane Rosso feeling fat and happy.  The wait staff was great and we did not have to wait very long for our appetizer or our pizza.  Cane Rosso definitely lived up to the hype, because we had a great experience.  The menu has several pizzas that I want to try, so we will be making a return trip to Cane Rosso.

Cane Rosso
http://ilcanerosso.com/
Livin the Good Life Rating = 5

Bud and Alley's Pizza Bar

On our second day in Seagrove Beach, Florida, it rained and we were unable to go to the beach.  My brother-in-law and I were trapped in a house with all the girls.  We had our fill of estrogen and decided to brave the weather to go grab a bite to eat.  We took the short drive to Seaside and were looking for a place to grab a pizza.  We settled on Bud and Alley's Pizza Bar.  Bud and Alley also own Bud and Alley's Waterfront Restaurant and Rooftop Bar, which I reviewed earlier.

The rain kept customers from sitting outside

This joint serves Napoli-style pizza cooked in a traditional wood-fired oven.  I ordered the Prosciutto di Parma, which was made with tomato sauce, prosciutto, arugula, and fresh mozzarella.  My brother-in-law ordered the Margherita & Salami pizza, which was made with tomato sauce, Felino salami, honey, chilies, and fresh mozzarella.  Both pizzas were served up within 10 minutes and mine was perfectly cooked and piping hot.  The prosciutto was very flavorful, but they did overdue it on the arugula.  I expected a little bit of fresh arugula on top, but it was served with enough arugula to make a salad.  A little bit of arugula goes a long way, but apparently Bud and Alley didn't subscribe to this philosophy.  My brother-in-law let me try some of his Margherita and Salami pizza, and it was very good with a spicy kick to it.

Prosciutto di Parma

Margherita & Salami

These pizzas hit the spot and the service was great.  Although they were delicious, they were somewhat small and a little overpriced for the size.  If they would have been a larger, I might have rated this place a little higher.  That being said, this was still a fantastic pizza.

Bud and Alley's Pizza Bar

http://budandalleys.com/menu_pizza_bar.php

Seaside, Florida

Livin The Good Life Rating = 3