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www.homeslicepizza.com

Tonight was one of my first delves into event photography with Jon Garza. Jon is an old high school friend of my cousin, and is making strong buzz within Austin photography scene. Not only does Jon shoot amazing photos, but is a blast to hang around. We were shooting at a fundraiser at Jose Luis Salon on West 6th, featuring the famous hairstylist Oribe and fundraiser. I felt like I was in the Zoolander (one of my fave movies), so it was a treat. Awesome friendly people, complimentary wine and appetizers, and good times! Check out the photos here.

Now, onto Home Slice! I’ve heard buzz around the expansion built next door, and on the way home picked up a slice. This place gets packed for dinner, but now with the side shop open you can still grab your pizza in less time and make your tummy happier much quicker. I really like the interior of More Home Slice, spacious and tall compared to next door. The Meatball/Mushroom slice was heaven. I have a lot of evidence now to support my theory that 2-hour old pizza re-heated tastes better than either fresh pizza, or day-old pizza.

Props Home Slice for extending the reach to pizza friends :)

I ordered a sausage slice, and a brocoli+ricotta slice. Ended up getting an extra of the latter. I barely finished all three (didn’t eat the last crust). Love Home Slice, excellent as usual.

Oh check out those crayon drawings of Lemmy. No idea who he is (should I?…)

Today, I had a chance to grab some pizza with D&T and their two kiddos. We were going to head to Salvation Pizza, but they didn’t open til noon. We were hungry at 11am, and well, I guess we were all craving some pizza right at that moment. What pizzeria is open on Saturday lunch time? Home Slice.

What’s great this time around is that I’ll finally get to eat their slices FRESHLY made from the oven, not by-the-slice like I’ve always had. YESS!

Here’s what we ordered:

Pear and Gorgonzola Salad

Large (16″) Margherita

Medium (14″)1/2  Pepperoni, 1/2 Cheese

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Ok, so we couldn’t get indoor seating…we came in just a few minutes too late. So we eat in the back area patio (something I didn’t know about before!) Thing is, today is mad windy. Interesting dining experience awaits us.

Pear and Gorgonzola Salad | Promptly served. Very light, and a little skimpy on the ingredients (walnuts, pears, gorgonzola). It came served with two small rolls, tastes like their pizza dough (great!). Overall, pricey for a salad like this (almost $8). Nothing too special. I’ll pass on salad in the future.

Margherita | Overkill on the Basil. Literally, a forest of green. Coarsley chopped. The act of “garnishing”, this is on the exact opposite side of the spectrum. What accentuated this further was the fact that it was sprinkled on top without a sufficient olive oil beneath it to adhere to. Combined with the windy day, several basil leaves flew off the pie. Dough/Crust was excellent as always. D tells me he likes the tomatoes diced up since it gives it a more uniform taste to each bite. I didn’t think of it that way before. I prefer the whole slices since you get to taste it more when you bite into it. Different strokes for different folks. The cheese on this Margherita is not complimented in any special, flavorful way. The taste in my mouth was mostly basil, touches of tomatoes, and the dough.

Pepperoni Pizza | I never realized how tasty the sauce is. I liked this pepperoni pizza, and we agreed this was the winner today. JKiddo eats his pizza diced, I dig. Good amount of pepperoni. Nice and oily on top, but not sickeningly greasy. Very tasty. Just a good pie to have on a Saturday.

Cheese Pizza | Didn’t get to try this slice, although it looked just as good!

The dining experience ends with a serving of Smartees. Interesting, but I pass.

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There’s a lot gravel around the patio that the kiddos seemed to enjoy just playing around with. Rocks…so fascinating. I remember doing that as a kid, too. JKiddo dropped three forks on the gravel during his meal. I think he’s working his way up to eating pizza with the hands. Maybe even be a master NY-pizza folder soemday.

Vampire flicks, what’s the intrigue in this genre? D tells me about one that he plans on watching, subtitled. T and I both don’t do scary movies well. To the level of psychologically being scarred permanently, lol.

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I learned from D that Tuesdays tend to be slow for pizzerias (hence the ubiqutious “Two-for-Tuesdays” at some chain pizza restaurants). Home Slice closed on Tuesdays…gotta find out the story on that.

Leaving Home Slice…mad food coma, as with any Home Slice outing. I ended up crashing at napping for 3.5 hours!

D&T plan on moving to another part of town by the end of the month. A ‘lil sad, but connecting over pizza is always there :D

Home Slice Pizza is somewhat iconic in Austin. It is at the heart of South Congress where you can find all sorts of eccentric shops and eateries. Across the street is Güero’s Taco Bar that often hosts live music at night, and Cissi’s Market and Wine Bar. They hold a pizza tossing and pizza eating contest during their Carinival ‘O Pizza. They host Music by the Slice during SXSW. The deep red over brush metal hut is home to this indie New York style pizzeria that serves pizza by the slice.

Home Slice was also the first place to welcome me to a slice of pie here in Austin two summers ago.

So I meet up with a recent friend of mine, Brad, and we each grab a couple of slices of pizza. Sunny day, awesome. Driving with the windows down on a February day – you’d never have such an opportunity back in Michigan where I’m originally from.

Here’s what I ordered: A Meatball with Green Olives, and a White Pie with spinach

Here’s what Brad ordered: A Cheese pizza and a Pizza Margherita.

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White Pie with spinach | The ricotta had a nice soft, bubbly texture. Creamy once you bite into it. I usually don’t like white pizzas because they are somewhat low on the flavor department, and this was no exception. The spinach was a little difficult to distinguish and didn’t add much punch. However, the lack of flavor aided my assesment of the dough at Home Slice. Which brings me to my next observation…

Dough/Crust | I like the dough at Home Slice. You can defintely taste it through the sauce and toppings. It is slightly tough, but folds up nicely for chomping through a slice. The crust shares a similar flavor to the rest of the dough and isn’t overwhelmingly large. It doesn’t feel like there is a sharp transition of the  crust and the rest of the pizza; rather they flow nicely as one slice of pie. You will probably not toss out the crust on these pizzas.

Meatball with Green Olives | I hadn’t seen this one before on the chalkboard. It’s not on their “Tried and True” menu, but this one I thoroughly enjoyed. It didn’t taste so much of a pizza, but a meatball sandwich atop their dough. They do have a meatball sub that I haven’t tried, so I wonder if it’s just that in pizza form. The olives were difficult to distinguish, which is interesting because I don’t like olives and can pick up the certain flavor they give.

One thing I notice consistently is that my pizza by the slice usually is served slightly on the cold side. I mention this to B, and he tells me it might just be because we’re eating at a table outside. Heat dissipation enhanced by the wind. I’ll have to pay more attention to this next time.

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Brad has reviewed some Texas BBQ with his friend at Man Up BBQ. He also reccomends some good pie up in Dallas: Louie’s and Fireside Pies. My cousin goes to school up in Arlington, I’ll defnitely check these out the next time I head up there.

I tell Brad that I plan on eating pizza at least three times a week for the sake of this blog. He suggested I track a photo log of my physique during this venture. I didn’t think about this. I may have to implement some sort of extra exercise regimen to accompany my pizza dining experiences.