DaVinci’s Pizza

Last week we ordered some pizza from DaVinci’s. Supposedly “gourmet,” the prices (~$20 for large 16″ pizzas) would certainly indicate as such. We ordered a trio of large pizzas for 6 people for $60, not exactly the cheapest gameday food. Leonardo’s Combo is the standard pizza parlor combination pizza. Rosemary Chicken was a white pizza topped with chicken and artichokes. We also got a vegetarian pizza of some sort, but I didn’t pay attention to what it was. They lost me at vegetarian.

I’m no pizza expert (nor an expert in any other topic in gastronomy for that matter), but I believe crusts are integral components of pizzas. DaVinci’s crusts remind me of a chain called Me’N'Ed’s back in Fresno: a thin crust similar to a saltine cracker sans salt with a thin layer of doughy insides to soak up sauce and support toppings. Since I haven’t focused on high-caliber pizzas in my outings, I can’t really do a comparison. All I can say, though, is that the crust isn’t my thing. Maybe deep dish is more of what I’m looking for to satisfy the black hole gastroenterologists call my stomach.

DaVinci’s Gourmet Pizza

1812 Hayes St

Nashville, TN‎

(615) 329-8098‎

Z Pizza

Z Pizza prides itself on having fresh, organic, and quality ingredients. This is definitely more California cuisine than New York-style pizza, with specialty creations such as California, Thai, and Berkeley Soy Cheese Veggie. I just came back from San Francisco, and wanted to see how Z Pizza stood up to Pizza Orgasmica on Filmore. Unfortunately, the pizza’s droopy crust couldn’t even stand up to its own ingredients.

For about 6 dollars, you get a choice of 2 slices and a drink. I’m pretty sure I chose slices of the Tuscan Mushroom and Provence, but I’m not quite sure because the pizzas weren’t labeled and the slices don’t really match their online descriptions. Now, I don’t want to come of as snobby, but I’m gonna have to go into Bad Fatty mode because when I chose my slices, they took it out of the case and served it to me.

W. T. F. Where’s the fire?

I wanted a hot pizza with a crispy curst, not a room temperature, soggy one. It had so much potential when I first walked in, but after taking a bite of a soggy, overly chewy crust, I just stopped taking notes–my taste buds turned off. It was like eating pizza that had been left out in the kitchen half the day, which this may have very well could have been. What’s the point of having such a huge pizza oven if you aren’t going to use the thing? Pizza fail.

Fortunately, we went next door to Chiffonos Gourmet Desserts for a lemon bar and other desserty goodness. With a good crust to filling ratio, albeit a little too lemony for my taste, the lemon bar salvaged my taste buds.

Z Pizza

1512 East Champlain Drive
Suite 103
Fresno, CA 93720

(559) 433-9995

Chiffonos Gourmet Dessert

1512 East Champlain Drive

Fresno, CA

(559) 433-9066