Lunch Review: Wood Fired Pizza

(Credit: Andy Huse)

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Wood Fired Pizza photos

Try one of Taylor’s proportionately dressed pies.

Wood Fired Pizza and Wine Bar

Your friendly, neighborhood restaurant and bar.

In the last year or so, a bevy of new pizza places have sprung up around Tampa Bay.  I tried them all, and they’re all pretty good.  Then there’s the inconspicuously-named Wood Fired Pizza off of Bearss Avenue, buried in a strip mall. 

I tried it a couple weeks after it opened.  Then I tried it again the next day.  It was that good.  I brought some friends.  Then I brought more a week later.  Each time, the pizza got a little more consistent.  Now, I think Peter Taylor really found the zone.   

And Taylor is serious about pizza.  He spent twenty years doing research before opening Wood Fired Pizza here in Tampa earlier this year.   The guy wrote a mission statement, for crying out loud, something about “the finest expression of pizza,” as if pizza were a disembodied spirit.  He fusses over every pie, watching it intently as it blisters and bubbles in his special low-domed brick oven.  He makes his own mozzarella and sauce, and his wild-harvested yeast gives his dough a pleasing aroma.  If you express interest, he might whip out his jar of starter and let you have a sniff.  Clearly, he is a man obsessed, and that’s a very good thing for us.

Décor and Dress: If you love pizza, then you should worship (and eat) it at Peter’s casual temple.  The décor needs some work, with more diffuse lighting.  And the harsh fluorescents above the oven have to go, especially during dinner service.  (I think Taylor should install some spotlights rigged to a foot switch so he can illuminate the oven at his leisure while he works.)  The music was a little loud, but I could have cared less.  The server was excellent, helpful and friendly without being too familiar.  The staff on all of my visits have all been enthusiastic. 

The Pizza: Once you taste the pizza, it is easy to understand why they want to spread the gospel.  When Taylor slides a pie from the glowing oven, the toppings steam and the crust smokes from the intense heat.  The crust is thin, with a good chew and slight crispness.  Before you reflexively order double cheese or meat, try one of Taylor’s proportionately dressed pies. 

The Raquel ($12) is pristine in its simplicity of tomatoes, the house made mozz, Romano, and finished with a little fresh basil.  It is hard to fault in such a pizza—but I like a little more basil.  I also recommend it with garlic.  The Bianca ($14), a white pie of ricotta and mozz, was a little dull for my tastes, but the Rosa ($16) was a revelation.  By far the most fragrant pizza I’ve ever smelled, it comes with mozzarella, Grana Padano (a hard cheese similar to Parmesan), red onion, ground pistachios, and herbaceous rosemary.  The onions and herbs play wonderfully together, while the nuts provide a little more depth.  The Carnivore’s ($17) crust almost collapses under the burden of melted mozz, tomatoes, sausage, pepperoni, and sliced meatballs.  The meatballs, lower in salt and fat than the other meats, are a very nice touch.  

If you like your pizza saucy, get some of Taylor’s sauce on the side.  It is all bright, sweet tomato flavor and little else, a welcome change from the salty, sweet, overcooked stuff that often passes for pizza sauce.  In fact, all of the ingredients I tasted were several steps above most competition. 

Other food: There are also great salads with large servings.  The Caprese ($9) features lovely little slabs of the fresh mozzarella with slices of tomato, while the mixed greens ($8) with almonds and parm are great with the balsamic dressing.   There is even a dessert pie ($10) with molten nutella, slivered almonds, and whipped cream.  It was better than I expected and impossible to resist, decadent without being too sweet. 

The Drink: Wood Fired will have its beer and wine license by the time you read this. 

The Prices: Anyone so dedicated who charges such low prices has to be a little crazy.  For lunch, he offers a personal pie with salad and a drink for under $10. 

The Bottom Line: Do yourself a favor and try Wood Fired Pizza.  Watch Peter Taylor work his paddle and brick oven.  If you talk to him you’ll soon learn that he’s passionate about every aspect of his craft.  He couldn’t be happier doting over every single pie in his restaurant.  Hiring a clumsy teenager to make his pies is unthinkable.  At Wood Fired Pizza, he just wants to share his very personal “expression of pizza.”  He might even let you smell his yeast jar.

***
Wood Fired Pizza
2822 E. Bearss Ave.
Tampa, FL
813-341-2900

Open lunch 12-2, dinner 5 until the dough runs out.  Closed Tuesdays.