Kenny's East Coast Pizza

Pizza joints are a dime a dozen in the DFW area, but good pizza joints are rare gems in the Metroplex.  Highly acclaimed chef, Kenny Bowers, has many successful restaurants in DFW and recently through his hat in the ring to mix it up with the heavyweight pizzerias.  Kenny's East Coast Pizza recently opened in Plano and I had the opportunity to eat there with some family members recently.

Prosciutto Wrapped Fried Mozzarella

For our appetizer, we started with the Prosciutto Wrapped Fried Mozzarella.  Although I have had this menu item at his Italian concept, Kenny's Italian Kitchen, I felt compelled to order it here because I liked it so much on my last visit to said restaurant.  Others at our table were pleased with the taste and I felt it was a great start to our meal.

Pepperoni Pizza

We also ordered two pizzas, a pepperoni and a ham.  The pepperoni was one of the best pepperoni pizzas I have had in the state of Texas and I loved the sauce, the crust, and the abundance of cheese.  The ham was delicious as well, but played second fiddle to the pepperoni.

Ham Pizza

My daughters ordered from the kids menu, because neither of them wanted pizza on this visit.  My oldest had the chicken strips with chips and my youngest had the kid's spaghetti with a meatball.  My oldest liked her chicken strips, but my youngest chowed down on a larger than expected portion of the spaghetti.  I tried some of it myself and it was very good spaghetti.

Chicken Strips

Kids Spaghetti

I must say that I was quite pleased with Kenny's East Coast Pizza and can't wait to go again.  The service could have been a little better, but that is somewhat expected from a new restaurant.  It wasn't bad service, but they did forget a drink we ordered and could have checked on us a little more.  I have dined at several New York and East coast pizza restaurants while on vacation and I would put Kenny's East Coast Pizza up against any of them.

Kenny's East Coast Pizza
http://kennyseastcoastpizza.com
Livin the Good Life Rating = 4
 

Zizzi

In case you didn't know, it rains a lot in Scotland.  One evening my wife and I were walking around Edinburgh and taking in the sights, when it began to rain on us.  My wife was on the verge of a "hangry" attack, so we decided to grab a bite to eat and get out of the rain.  The first place that we came across was Zizzi, which is an Italian restaurant chain in the United Kingdom.

Garlic Bread with Mozzarella

We had walked close to twelve miles that day exploring Edinburgh, so we were both starving.  We started with the Garlic Bread with Mozzarella.  The bread had caramelized balsamic onions on it, which gave it some additional flavor, but this dish really hit the spot and was quickly gobbled up.

Prosciutto Verde Rustica Pizza

For our main course we decided to split a pizza.  We chose their seasonal special, which was the Prosciutto Verde Rustica Pizza. This pizza was a white pizza with mozzarella, ham, balsamic tomatoes, garlic cloves, spinach, and prosciutto.  I am usually not a big fan of white pizzas, but this one was terrific.  We both agreed that it was one of the better pizzas we have had in 2016.

Tiramisu

For dessert, we split the Tiramisu, which might have been the best item we ate at Zizzi.  It was certainly top notch and amongst the best pieces of Tiramisu that I have ever had.  While the food was really good, the service was a little disappointing.  They seemed to be under-staffed and we had to wait quite a while between visits from our waitress, which left us without drinks frequently.  Although she didn't check in on us regularly, our waitress was friendly and helpful with the menu.  Overall, we thought the restaurant was very good, especially considering the fact we had done zero research or even heard about it prior to this visit.

Zizzi
https://www.zizzi.co.uk/
Livin the Good Life Rating=3

Rotolo's Pizzeria

My brother and I have recently started playing tennis again for the first time in over a decade.  After intense competitions between two players that are considerably past our primes, we generally go out for a bite to eat afterwards.  Following another victory by yours truly, my brother took me to one of his favorite pizza restaurants, Rotolo's.

Garlic Parmesan Bites

This was my first time dining at this pizza joint and we ordered the Garlic Parmesan Bites for an appetizer.  These baked tiny pieces of bread were delicious and reminded me of miniature garlic knots.  The marinara dipping sauce was good, but could have been served a little warmer.

Italian Club Pizza

We also ordered two pizzas, the Italian Club and a Pepperoni-Hamburger pizza.  The crust was actually quite good and they had plenty of cheese and toppings.  I particularly liked the Italian Club, which had pepperoni, salami, Canadian bacon, and bacon.  There was not a single bite that didn't have multiple pieces of meat on it.

Pepperoni and Hamburger

My brother had been talking about this place for a while and I thought it was worthy of his praise.  I wouldn't put it in my DFW Top 5, but it was good nonetheless.  This place also has a patio area and would be a nice place to enjoy a pizza and a beverage if the weather is nice.

Rotolo's Pizzeria
http://rotolos.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=3

Secret Pizza

In addition to our love of college basketball and the NCAA Tourney, one of my Vegas buddies also happens to be a foodie. When we arrived in Vegas, he started telling me about a pizza joint inside The Cosmopolitan.  He said the name of the place is called Secret Pizza  and that it is supposed to be legit pizza and gets it's name from the fact it doesn't have a website or any signage that signifies where to find it.  In fact, The Cosmopolitan doesn't even list it under the restaurants in the hotel.  

Entrance to Secret Pizza

Basically, you have to wonder aimlessly in search of it or ask somebody that knows where it is.  Not wanting to look like cheaters, we went in search of it and decided not to ask anyone where it was.  After about 5 minutes, we saw a man carrying a pizza box out of an unassuming hallway and we knew that we had found what we were looking for.  The line was fairly short and we both had a couple of slices in hand within five minutes of entering the hallway.  The pepperoni pizza was simply outstanding and some of the best I have had in recent memory.  The pizza was piping hot and bursting with flavor.  

Pepperoni

Since we liked it so much, we actually made a return trip in he wee morning hours approximately 14 hours after our first visit.  Luckily for us, it was still open, but we were unlucky in the fact that the line was all the way down the hallway and took 30 minutes to place our order.  On the second visit, I ordered sausage and it was comparable in quality to the pepperoni I had previously.  Although spicy sausage pizza at 3:00 AM might not have been the best decision I made in Vegas, I have certainly made worse decisions.  If you like pizza and want to go looking for this place, you will not be disappointed in this speakeasy-like pizza place.

Sausage Pizza

Secret Pizza
https://www.cosmopolitanlasvegas.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=4

Via 313

Being a foodie, I often find myself watching shows on Food Network, particularly those that feature restaurants.  One day I found myself watching a special about the Top 5 Pizzas in America, and it featured a pizza called The Detroiter, that can found in a pizza trailer in Austin, TX.  Via 313 pizza operates behind a bar on Rainey St. and I knew that I would have to try this place the next time I visited Austin.

The Detroiter pizza features smoked pepperoni and natural casing pepperoni on a deep dish pizza that is cooked in a metal tray.  When I visited 313, I didn't realize there were multiple types of pepperoni pizza on the menu, so I just ordered a pepperoni.  What I got was the Original Pepperoni, which consisted of smoked pepperoni under the cheese with sauce on top.  Although it wasn't what I intended to order, it was a really awesome pizza.  It reminded me a lot of Sicilian-style pizza, but it had a crispy crust, despite the fact it was deep dish.

Having only sampled one pizza, I can hardly consider myself an expert at Via 313.  That being said, I really thought it was one of the better pizzas I have ever tried and really liked the Detroit-style pizzeria.  The flavor was great, but the crust was amazing and I will certainly go back her on my next visit and actually try The Detroiter!

Via 313
http://via313.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=4

Goodfella's

One cold Saturday, my youngest daughter and I were hanging out, while my wife and oldest daughter were attending a birthday party. As lunchtime approached, I began to get hungry and called my brother and sister-in-law to see if they wanted to meet us for lunch.  They agreed to meet and we decided to eat at Goodfella's Wood Fired Pizza because it was halfway between our homes.

Homemade Mozzarella Carrozza

While we looked over the menu, we decided to get an appetizer and chose to get the Homemade Mozzarella Carrozza, which was mozzarella between two slices of bread and lightly fried.  This appetizer seemed to be the lovechild of a cheese stick and a grilled cheese sandwich.  I thought it was delicious and so did everyone in my group that tried it .

Chicken Parmigiana Pizza

For the main meal, we ordered a couple of pizzas that included the Chicken Parmigiana Pizza and a pizza with hamburger and pepperoni.  The Chicken Parmigiana Pizza was a first for me, as I had never had breaded chicken on a pizza before.  Although I liked the pizza crust, the chicken and the rest of the pizza proved to be very bland.  The hamburger and pepperoni pizza was also disappointing and somewhat soggy.  The only positive was that it had plenty of meat on it.  

Pepperoni and Hamburger Pizza

The appetizer proved to be the highlight of this visit and the pizzas were a disappointment.  They weren't bad, but they certainly weren't what I would call great either.  The service was average at best and this is not a place where I plan to dine again.  

Goodfella's Wood Fired Pizza-Pasta-Bar
http://www.santinosgoodfellas.com/#about
Livin the Good Life Rating=2

The Brass Tap

The Brass Tap, a craft beer bar, recently opened in Allen, TX.  In addition to being a craft beer bar with a huge selection of craft beers (over 200), it also has a kitchen that has a fairly large menu for a bar.  Since this place is just a stone's throw from my residence in McKinney, I have been there several times and sample several menu items.

Below are my thoughts and opinions on the food options I have tried:

Jalapeño Corn Fritters- Puffy and sweet with a slight kick from the jalapeños.  Served with Peppadew Pepper Ranch and sweet chili sauce for dipping.  Great appetizer.

Pretzel Bites- Another winner in the appetizer department, the pretzels are great, but the real winner is the beer cheese fondue.  Great combo of flavors when you dip the pretzel bites in the fondue.

Tempura Chicken Sliders-Meh...the tempura chicken finger on a King's Hawaiian roll sounded great, but didn't live up to expectations and was very bland.  The fries were average at best too.

Pretzel Pizzas- Individual pizzas made with pretzel dough.  Although you can barely make out the pretzel flavor, it is there.  I have tried both the Margherita and the Four Meat pizza and both were good.

Fish and Chips-Fish was good, but didn't care for the fries or the slaw.  Pretty basic fish and chips that you would expect to find at a pub. 

Cowboy Burger- smoked Gouda, pepper jack cheese, applewood smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato, and Cowboy Sauce.  Average burger, but loved the brioche bun and whatever ingredients they used to make their Cowboy Sauce.

For the most part, I have liked most of the food that I have tried at the Brass Tap.  It is certainly above-average in the bar/pub food dept.  The Jalapeño Corn Fritters and the Pretzel Bites are a definite hit in the appetizer department.  I am happy that another good restaurant is close to my house, but if you are a craft beer fan, you will be impressed with the selection as well.

The Brass Tap
http://www.brasstapbeerbar.com/Allen
Livin the Good Life Rating=2

Teddy Jack's Hub City Grill

Whenever I travel to Lubbock, I always attempt to try out new restaurants that I have never been to before.  I have my favorites that I frequently hit in the city, but I always enjoy trying new places.  On a recent visit, my family and I hit up Teddy Jack's Hub City Grill, which has a little bit of everything from burgers to wood fired pizzas.

Cheese Sticks

We arrived hungry and sampled several items.  Below is my opinions of each item we tried at Teddy Jacks:

Cheese Sticks- Very large and absolutely fantastic in the flavor department.  Reminded me of a smaller version of the cheese sticks at Spanky's.  
The Cowboy Burger-This burger came with A-1 steak sauce, cheddar cheese, onion rings, lettuce and tomato.  Pretty good burger with a lot of flavor.  I really liked the crispy onion ring (which I also ordered as my side item) and the addition of the A-1 sauce.  

Cowboy Burger with Onion Rings

Italian Meat Lovers Pizza- This impressive pizza was topped with mozzarella, Italian Sausage, Pepperoni, Salami, and Prosciutto.  This was hands down, the best pizza I have ever had in Lubbock.  The toppings were generous and had great flavor, but it was a little on the spicy side.

Italian Meat Lovers Wood Fired Pizza

Chicken Strips- The hand battered chicken strips were tasty, but I wished they had been served with gravy instead of barbecue sauce or honey mustard.  The fries were basic and not noteworthy at all.  The onion rings I had with the burger were much better than the fries.

The menu at Teddy Jack's was quite extensive, so I only scratched the surface of what they had to offer, but most of what I tried was good to very good.  The wood fired pizza was probably my favorite item, but the cheese sticks were impressive in their own right.  I wouldn't hesitate to go back and dine at this restaurant and I think Teddy Jack's is a nice addition to the Hub City.

Teddy Jack's Hub City Grill
http://teddyjacks.com
Livin the Good Life Review=3

Gino's East

Earlier this year, famed Chicago eatery, Gino's East, expanded to the DFW area and opened a location in Arlington.  A second location recently opened in Dallas a couple of weeks ago and I was able to dine there with my brother the first weekend it was open.  The DFW area has some really good New York-style and Neapolitan pizza joints, but I have been unimpressed with the great majority of Chicago-style pizzerias in the area.  A couple of friends from Chicago told me that Gino's East was a "legit" pizza place from the  Windy City, so I was excited to give it a try.

Mozzarella Sticks

Our waitress told us that their deep dish pizzas take about an hour to cook, so we decided to get an appetizer while waiting on our pizzas to cook.  We debated getting the Cheesy Pizza Bread, but finally decided to order the Homemade Mozzarella Sticks.  After the first bite, we knew we made a good decision and I was quite impressed with the crispy batter and particularly liked the marinara sauce.  The flavor really was quite good and much better than your run-of-the-mill cheesestick.  

Mighty Meaty Deep Dish

The pizza I ordered, the Mighty Meaty, finally arrived about 55 minutes after I ordered it (which was less than the hour that our waitress informed us about).  This medium pizza* included six thick slices that had pepperoni, bacon, Canadian bacon, and Italian Sausage.  The pizza had plenty of meat and sauce, but I would have preferred more cheese.  Overall, I was impressed with the pizza and thought it was better than other Chicago-style pizzerias I have tried in DFW, but didn't love the crust as much as I thought I would.  My brother ordered a thin crust pizza with pepperoni and ground beef.  It was also good, but I preferred the deep dish variety to the thin crust pizza.

Thin Crust with Pepperoni and Ground Beef

We both thought the pizza was good, but the service was not impressive.  We only had our drinks refilled once and went thirty minutes without our waitress checking on us.  They were quite busy and the place had only been open for a couple of days, but the lack of attention was concerning.  The pizza was good enough for me to have a return visit and hopefully they will have all the kinks worked out.  

*This medium pizza is more than enough for 3-4 people.  I was only about to eat two slices at the restaurant and the other four slices provided me two additional meals as leftovers.  

Gino's East
http://www.ginoseast.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=3

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