Kids can play, parents can digest. What a nice picture
Mark Laba
Province
Chef Oliver Zulauf at Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co. Photograph by : Gerry Kahrmann, The Province
ROCKY MOUNTAIN PIZZA PIE HIGH
Where: Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co., 1876 West 1st Ave.
Payment/reservations: Major credit cards, 604-730-0321
Drinks: Beer and wine
Hours: Lunch, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., dinner from 5 p.m. every day
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Some kids dream of being firemen, some kids dream of being astronauts, some kids dream of being money launderers for large off-shore Mob betting enterprises. But me, I dreamed of making pizzas. Ever since I saw our local pizza guy Gino throw that dough up into the air I thought, gee, that looks easier than brain surgery. I might not make as much moolah, I figured, but doctors don’t get to eat the fruits of their labour unless they’re Dr. Hannibal Lector.
Well lo and behold, from the wilds of Canmore, Alta., came this pizza enterprise. The words flatbread and Rocky Mountains seem contradictory and Alberta is certainly a far cry from Italy but damn if this pizza isn’t incredibly tasty. And on a kid note, this place was packed full of them. As more eateries glom onto the kid-friendly concept with play areas for the wee ones, more and more families are enjoying a night out where they can actually digest food and not eat at the speed of light. So kudos to this place with a kiddie zone, including plastic pizzas that they can serve up to their pals, imaginary or otherwise. We took our little guy and he seemed quite content although there were a few tense tug-of-war moments between toy-coveting toddlers. And Sunday and Monday are family nights where the kids are invited into the kitchen for a hands-on pizza experience.
The rest of the joint is decked out in simple wood furnishings, red walls and photos of local humble heroes from the community.
We started with an herbed avocado salad ($7.25), a mess of organic greens buckshot with small bits of cucumber, tomatoes, orange, shaved almonds and finished with an avocado vinaigrette. I removed the toupee of sprouts it was wearing but some folks might enjoy such a thing. Either way, it was all it promised to be — fresh, crispy and refreshing.
We sampled three different pizzas, one being a basic mozzarella-and-tomato-sauce shindig ($6.75) from the kid’s menu. If even something this basic tastes great, you know the best is yet to come. So it was with great pleasure that we sunk our molars into the Country Harvest studded with artichokes, garlic, onion, seared spinach leaves, marinated cherry tomatoes, green peppers, nut-free pesto and rich goat cheese. It’s a helluva lineup, but it all comes together beautifully on this thin-crust, clay-oven baked phenomenon. The cherry tomatoes literally pop in the mouth with sweet flavour and the house tomato sauce is delicious.
Next, the Bradner Farm with free-range rosemary and lemon-scented clucker meat, red onion, pesto and oven-roasted red bell peppers. Again, it’s the great crust and the fresh, organic ingredients that make these pizzas outstanding.
A return visit is imminent because the Spicy Pepperoni and The Yukon with fire-roasted peppers, mushrooms, beef tenderloin, asiago cheese, red onion, pesto and Yukon gold potatoes are calling my name. Regular size pizzas are priced between $17-$19.75 and the large are between $21-$25, except the Yukon which is an extravagant $34.95. Some may feel the pizza is pricey here but when you’re moving on up from the 99-cent slice and finally grabbing a piece of the pie, then the few extra bucks are worth it — although you might have to dip into your kid’s college fund.
THE BOTTOM LINE
If the world were flat it should look like this.
Grade: Food: B+; Service: B; Atmosphere: B+
© The Vancouver Province 2006