314 Beer Garden and Wood-Fired Pizza

In a cool outdoor, “woodsy” beer garden setting, they serve personal size, wood-fired, Neapolitan pizzas that are essentially shareable appetizers or snack pies. Since Neapolitan style is rarely judged on plain cheese, I opted to get the Margherita pie as well to make a fair assessment. Starting with the basic cheese pizza, the char is outstanding, as you can see several black bubbles atop the surface with a smokey & blackened undercarriage, signature attributes of wood-fired style to go along with zero flop. Unfortunately, like most wood-burning ovens, crisp doesn’t usually accompany the char, as the pie is incredibly soft to go along with a doughy, pillowy crust. The mozzarella cheese blend is wonderfully melty, deliciously creamy & flavorful with a fantastic flow & texture. The sauce is super sweet, almost to a fault. Lacking kick & spice, the sauce is tasty enough but not savory; too much sweetness & not enough depth & substance. Overall, this is a very light, simple, basic, plain, standard, typically soft, wood-fired, snackable Neapolitan pizza. Not bad at all, but nothing spectacular, sliding right into a sexy but not special 6.9 rating. As for the Margherita pie, this was way crispier, much more charred, and a lot more flavorful. While the dough has similar taste, the texture is very different as this pie is firmer & blackened more, likely due to longer time in the oven. The crust is crispy & crunchy, leaning towards burnt but delicious nonetheless. The fresh mozzarella is far more creamy with delectable flavor & marvelous consistency creating an oozy & gooey flow. Made from San Marzano tomatoes, this sauce is also sweet but accompanied by garlic & spices that add plenty of punch & zip, giving this pie much more flavor & substance. Some basil & extra virgin olive oil add class, enhancing the other attributes, boosting the overall flavor & help this pizza shine brighter than the plain pie. With much better texture & taste, the Margherita tops the regular cheese pie, leveling up to a 7.3 score. All in all, this is a great outdoor spot for beers, games, live music & pretty decent pizza. Together these pies average out to a solid 7.1 rating. If you really like wood-fired Neapolitan style pizza, this is a very good spot; but definitely go with the Margherita over the plain cheese.