IN SEARCH FOR A GREAT SLICE

I gotta say people, my current job is so similar to my old job that it's scary. Here I am, at work, just counting the minutes before I can finally go home. Of course, in my last job, I could've just closed and gone home, but I stayed around hoping for that extra sale that'd make my day better. Now what keeps me here is knowing that I'll actually get paid for it. But that also means that I have some time on my hand to blog.

Ok, let's start off with this adorable pic of our cat.

Awwwwww. Isn't she just the cutest? As you can see, she misses Boston and especially, the Red Sox. Which is why the Red Sox blanket that Tom bought me on his last trip to Boston has now become her favorite place to sleep.

Anyway, since arriving here, I've been trying to find Tom a great slice of pizza. Growing up in NY, he's actually quite particular about the type of pizza he does enjoy. And when we're in Brooklyn, you can actually witness him eating a whole large pizza by himself. A trip to Lanesplitter wasn't great. But I'd heard of another pizza place, Pizzaiolo, that my boss really enjoys, started by a former employee of Alice Waters. (ok ok, it seems like all restaurants in Berkeley were founded by people who once worked for Alice Waters), so we headed over there one evening with my friend, Nish.

Luckily, I had made reservations before we arrived. The restaurant quickly filled up, and it was quite noisy, but we got to sit at a little table up front in it's own little spot off the bar, so were set apart from all the noise. Of course, this place serves fancy pizza. I decided to get two appetizers, while having some of Tom's pizza.

I started off with some plain arancini served with gremolata and I must admit, it was quite good. With the side of gremolata, I didn't even miss the cheese that normally oozes out from certain arancini. Along with that, I had a little gems salad. I don't know what it is about little gem lettuces (I'd also had them at Chez Panisse), but they are so tasty and make for excellent salad.

Meanwhile, Tom got a pizza margherita.

It came out piping hot from the oven, but for some reason, the cheese was really funky. It was like fresh mozzarella, and had this texture of almost melted goat cheese. It didn't taste bad, but it wasn't what we were expecting and not exactly our favorite thing. The pizza my friend ordered with potatoes was much better.

Had I actually ordered a pizza, this is the one I would've picked, especially with its sprinkling of black truffles. Overall, our dinner at Pizzaiolo was pretty good. I think Tom put it well when he said that it's a place we'd take people from out of town, but not one we'd be regulars at.