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Thursday 22 September 2011

Red Brick Pizza Edmonton, AB - tasty new pizza joint in town!

Rating 7.5/10
After zooming around the deep south end of Edmonton, we spied a new pizza place - Red Brick Pizza. Its a new American franchise chain sprouting up new locations into Canada, with their signature "gourmet" pizza cooked in a red brick stone oven at 1000 degrees Celsius. The decor was modern with splashes of red and black tiles and walls accenting the large shiny red brick facade on their terra cotta oven where flickering flames could easily be seen.



the PIZZA
We were happy to hear that they only do thin crust (sorry to the thick crust lovers), and after browsing through an extensive pizza menu with oodles of topping selections - bonus points for having provolone cheese, roasted garlic, prosciutto, cilantro and ricotta cheese amongst the normal run of the mill toppings. We settled in on chairs surrounding a small fireplace off to the side after we placed our order. The atmosphere is casual, with a small selection of beer and plenty of small flat screen tv's in booths and larger flat screen tv's all over the place. We watch the semi open kitchen go into a flurry of activity as we watched our pizza get assembled and slid into the oven with wooden paddles.


Roasted Garlic Chicken
This pizza was loaded up like I do at home... soo many toppings, it nearly collapses the crust LOL! And I totally approve! :D Plenty of mozzarella, sliced mushrooms, slivered red onions, sliced red bell peppers, crispy fresh bacon bits, pureed roasted garlic, aromatic and crisp bits of roasted garlic, ripe sliced tomatoes, all atop of a creamy white garlic sauce redolent with garlic, and finished with a generous grating of Parmesan... NOM!


The pizza was so good, I had a second, then third slice. The crust was as promised, baked to a crisp golden brown, yet tender soft on the inside. As the pizza cooled, the integrity of the pizza crust became a bit softer, requiring two hands to eat so the toppings wouldn't flop off the pizza. The bacon bits kept on trying to escape, but there was generous handfuls of the crisp smokey bacon, so we didn't make too much of an effort to capture them.. and made a bit of a mess on our table LOL! The picture doesn't do their pizza justice. Mmmm. We also tried their Pizza Bianco - despite lots of ricotta cheese, mozzarella, dry roasted chicken, mushrooms, roasted pine nuts, and olive oil, there wasn't enough salty savoriness and garlic sauce to elevate their new pizza past bland. They should add in a handful of Parmesan to kick it up a bit. We'll have to try their signature RedBrick Gourmet Works pizza with mozzarella, pepperoni, ham, mushrooms, italian-style sausage, black olives, red onions, bell peppers, and bacon on a bed of red sauce next time.


the VERDICT
A surprising find in and unexpected location. Despite the Bianco pizza being a bite of a disappointment (it actually tastes like a healthy pizza lol), but I'm sure it'll appeal to a portion of their customers that enjoy healthier pizzas. I'm not easily impressed with pizza as I do the old school thing - mix, proof, pound, proof, shape and bake my own pizzas... yet Red Brick Pizza will likely become my new favourite go to place for well crafted, fully loaded thin crust pizza made with quality ingredients and excellent service. I know - you don't normally expect any type of service from pizza joints!! They are located in the deep deep south - Maybe I'll just have to move closer... or can we have a central location in Edmonton too... pretty please?


Red Brick Pizza
Address
965 James Mowatt Trail SW, Edmonton, AB T6W1S4
Phone 780-756-9000
Hours open late 7 days a week
Red Brick Pizza on Urbanspoon

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7 comments:

KimHo said...

Wasn't Edmonton the capital city of chain restaurants in Canada? Or was it Alberta in general??? :) Well, I welcome the chain restaurant overlords! :P

Having said that, despite people's reaction to chains, there are actually some I hope it will eventually hit: For example, Popeye's Chicken! Oh, well.

Question: how does it compare to Ragazzi and Famoso?

Eatyourcity.ca said...

Hey KimHo,

For chain, its a surprisingly good one. Its difficult to compare them to Ragazzi and Famoso as though all 3 serve thin crust pizzas... all 3 serve different styles of pizza. Ragazzi is more traditional fare (and yummy!), while Famoso does a soft rollable pizza (the quality has slipped down a few notches since they franchised out), while Red Brick Pizza is an interesting meld of a traditional thin crust - with American style toppings. I say that because the pizzas served with ingredients like ricotta, pine nuts, prosciutto don't really hold their own, yet the ones with lots of pepperoni, meat, sausage and enough bacon to make your arteries clench are more thought out flavorwise... doesn't hurt that they would also appeal to most meatatarians :P The trickiest part is really the crust - you can chose whatever you want as toppings on top :)

It reminds me a bit of the wonderful thin crust pizza De Capo used to sell before their pizza chef left :( The rich and simple tuna bianco pizza finished with a salad and drizzled with olive oil they had there was soooo tasty! Will continue to search for that pizza chef since De Capo's management refused to tell any of their customers where he went.

CdnGinger said...

Hi there,

I've heard variously that Red Brick is for sale and that it's just closed. Can you verify? Thanks!

Eatyourcity.ca said...

Hi CdnGinger,

We hope its not closed! We'll have to have a look the next time we drive down there - just tried calling them and only got an answering machine. Will post an update as soon.

Eatyourcity.ca said...

Hi CdnGinger,
We had one of our foodies drive by as she lives close by, and unfortunately, she reports that sadly, it looks like Red Brick Pizza is closed :'( !!!

Fred A. said...

Red Brick in Edmonton is now CLOSED!

I was wondering why in the last few months they were offering 50% coupons on Groupon and other "deal" sites. I guess they were trying to drum up some business but it didn't work.

CdnGinger said...

Hi nomnomnom, thanks for checking. Too bad, such good pizza :(

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