The New 'Pizzeria Lola' Has a Limited but Awesome Tap List
It seems like every local publication is raving about the new Pizzeria Lola lately and it happens to be just a few miles
from our house, so the wife and I decided to check it out last night. The reviews we had read were’t too far off (here’s Heavy Table’s), though they largely neglected to reflect how honed and toned Lola’s tap beer list was. I’m hard to impress in this regard but I’d give Lola an A.
Food
The top notch neapolitan-style pizzas we tried (Hawaii Pie-O and Sweet Italian) were made with flavorful ingredients and a crust that was crispy on the edges and hearty enough to not be watery in the middle, which is a HUGE plus for me as I really dislike neapolitan pizza that turns into soup in the middle. The app we got was some sort of Asian-influenced beef shortribs. Very tasty and spicy but I was a bit confused when they came with chopsticks. How am I supposed to eat slices of beef with a small bone embedded with chopsticks? Not every piece had a bone but for the ones that did… do I spit the bone back out after I’m done? Is that cool to do in public? I mean, I’m ok with it but can see how that looks weird.
Beers
Since we’d driven through the Fulton neighborhood to get to Lola, I had to try local brewery Fulton’s Lonely Blonde. I’d only had Fulton’s Sweet Child O Vine up until now, so it was cool to explore some new “beeritory.” I’ll have to say, I don’t regret my decision but – and I’ve said this before on this blog – I’m just not a huge fan of lager beers. Most I’ve tried remind me a bit too much of Bud/Miller/Coors and unfortunately Lonely Blonde was no exception. I’m convinced it’s not the brewer here, it’s just the style that I don’t prefer.
The second beer I tried was the Black Butte Porter by Deschutes. Loved this one! It was thick and notably smokier than most porters I’ve tried. Almost tasted more like a stout. The hops took a back seat to let the smoked malts come through. This is the second style from Deschutes I’ve had in the past month and I’ve been very impressed with each.
Their full tap list is as follows:
- Fulton Lonely Blonde – $5
- Deschutes Black Butte Porter – $5
- Rush River Unforgiven Amber – $5
- New Belgium 2 Below Ale – $5
- Grain Belt Nordeast – $4.50
- Surly Furious – $5.50
This list isn’t crazy long but check it out – three local beers (two of them really local), and a great beer from Wisconsin, Colorado and Oregon — all three states known for producing top-notch brews. Lola did an excellent job with their selection here.
Atmosphere
No, Slug and Ant from local rap group Atmosphere were not spotted at Lola last night. That would have been cool though. The decor was a focus of all the reviews almost as much as the pizza. The copper wood-fired oven is a pretty impressive centerpiece of the place and the floors, pizza sauce can lampshades and vintage soda bottle flower vases lent a unique vibe as well. The place was just as kid-friendly (or, “full of kids”) as the reviews claimed, if not more. This would be fine if we had kids. We don’t yet, so I could have done without that. Most of the reason for the clientele’s composition was because we walked in the door at 5:20pm. No, we are no 80 years old yet. We’d just heard that we should be prepared to wait in the cold, small entryway if we showed up after 6:30 or before 9:00pm and you know what? The awkward line began to form at 6:00pm, so I don’t regret our decision at all to flex our non-existent AARP status.
Overall, I think we’d go back, but maybe only order one pizza with the appetizer instead of two as the bill with tip amounted to about $75 and that’s just a little much for dinner and two drinks each on a random Friday night.
Again, cheers to Lola on their tap selection and great pizzas. You should check this place out.
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Thanks to HeavyTable for the link!
January 24, 2011 at 12:07 pm
Thanks for giving my favorite pizzeria a plug. I agree with you with regard to not being a fan of the Lonely Blonde’s style, but just to be clear: Fulton has indicated that it is a blonde ale, not a lager. (I think I would have gone for the porter with the kalbi and then the amber ale with the pizza.)
It sounds like your taste in beer might be similar to mine, so I wonder if you really meant to write off the whole broad lager family? As examples, I would bet on your liking Ayinger Celebrator (a Doppelbock from Germany) and Sprecher Black Bavarian (a Schwartzbier from Wisconsin). If you haven’t tried them, both are reasonable easily available around here.
January 24, 2011 at 7:26 am
Maybe I spoke up too quickly, because I see that you did include the word “most” in your negative remark about lagers. But just to beat a dead horse and bring the local angle in, Surly brews some really good lagers. Currently the Smoke is on tap at Cafe Twenty Eight.
January 24, 2011 at 8:18 am
Hey Max – thanks for your comments! You’re correct, it’s wrong of me to completely write off all lagers as a style. I actually have a few bottles of Surly Smoke at home right now and like that beer better than Surly Darkness, as a matter of fact. Though in Facebook conversation on Surly’s page, I learned from their brewer Todd Haug that Smoke is actually a Baltic Porter fermented with lager yeast. If you check out the BJCP style guidelines here, they confirm some Baltic porters are brewed with lager yeasts. What an interesting style! I’m considering brewing a Smoke clone like this next fall/winter. I think I tried Sprecher’s Black Bavarian years ago before I really got into good beer. Time to revisit it I guess. I’ll be in Munich this coming May/June for a few days. I’ll try to find a German example while I’m over there. Thanks also for the Ayinger rec! Never tried any of their beers. — Grant
January 24, 2011 at 11:23 am
Although I stick with my recommendation of Ayinger as a very good Doppelbock, If you are traveling to Munich, you have another very good option that is not available around here. In particulary, if you are going to be in Munich at such a pleasant time of year, you really need to make the pilgrimage up the mountain to Kloster Andechs. Even if you don’t happen to agree with me that they brew a mighty fine Doppelbock, the side trip will be worth it just for getting to drink in such an idilic setting. If you take the S-bahn (commuter rail) out to Herrshing, the walk up the mountain from the train station takes something like an hour, but is part of the enjoyment and means you will have earned the food and drink when you get to the monastery.
January 24, 2011 at 2:37 pm
Max, this sounds awesome. The wife and I are going to a few different countries and it’s my job to plan our few days in Munich, so with your help I’ll now consider one of those days planned. I’ll definitely have a lot of beer-centric content and photos for blog fodder after this trip. Danke schoen!
January 24, 2011 at 3:07 pm
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