Gastronomique: Deep Dish Dissent.
We were flummoxed when our own SFist Jer posted about Little Star pizza (and simply titled it Good Pizza in the Western Addition. Good? That's it? We would have said 'great' or 'amazing' or 'zachary-esque.' But he beat us to it, so we have to settle for second best.
That would be Patxi's, a Palo Alto institution which just bore an off-spring in the city. Patxi's, like Little Star before, is filling a big void in the SF culinary landscape: the equivalent of Zachary's, the unparalleled master of the deep dish pizza in the bay.
Patxi's just opened last week in one half of the old Powell's space in Hayes Valley. It is bad reviewing etiquette to go to a spanking new place, and we went on the very first night. You need to give the place time to settle and to train the crew and get in their routine. But we found none of the kinks of a new restaurant: everything worked seamlessly, like they've been at it forever. Service turned out to exceed our expectations by being informative, quick, and helpful.
The only things which were off were the two flat screen TVs, which we were thankful for. Other than that, the walls are bare, with dark wooden tables which, from the web site, look very similar to those of the original Palo Alto location. You order at the table for dine in, or at a counter in the back for take out, you wait 30 minutes and your pie shows up on its little wrought iron pedestal.
To kill the wait, we had a spinach salad (small $4.50 large $8.50), thick and tasty blue cheese dressing on the side, with bacon, red onion and croutons which were just perfect, crunchy, and full flavored. As a distraction while waiting for the main course, it filled its role perfectly, but we could have made pretty much the same one at home with the same ingredient quality. A glass of house red (Masi Modello, Veneto, Italy $5.25) performed the same wait filling job adequately, even though we like our wine glasses with a bit more heft.
The pizza pie (count about $15 for two) satisfied us, with its deep crust baked to a nice texture, and a generous amount of toppings. The main thing which worked against it was that we had pizza at Little Star a few days before, and it was still fresh in our memory. Patxi's sauce, while good in its own right, lacked the spunky personality of Little Stars: it was not as chunky, or as herby. The cheese at Patxi's turned out a bit too present, like it was hogging the spotlight, whereas it was a perfect sidekick at Little Star.
All in all, we enjoyed the pizza, we enjoyed even more the leftovers the day after, and we would have titled this post: "Good pizza in Hayes Valley" had not Jeremy set the bar so high for what good means. And they might be soon the best pizza in SF to be delivered: the web site says they are hiring a driver!
Patxi's Pizza
511 Hayes Street @Laguna
558-9991
Also in Palo Alto,
441 Emerson St
650.473.9999 / info@patxispizza.com