Review: Freskada, Exton PA

Freskada "Wood Fire Kitchen" has been open for a few years in Exton, located near other restaurants on Woodcutter Way in "The Shops at Main Street." I first thought it was a Greek restaurant, but it's actually difficult to define. There is an eclectic menu, including pizza. Let's call it Mediterranean.

Close-up on the sausage pie

I've been nearby on several occasions and eaten at some of the neighboring restaurants -- the Chinese buffet, the Japanese sushi place (Aoki - excellent food but somehow not drawing many patrons). However, I've never before tried Freskada. During a discussion of the generally dismal pizza offerings in the region, someone recommended the pies at Freskada. So on a Friday night with no dinner plans and no energy to cook, we decided to get some takeout pizza.

From http://www.freskada.com/

For a full service sit down restaurant, they have a large selection of gourmet pizza offerings. All are personal sized 12-inch pies and billed as "wood stone oven" pies. By that, I think they mean a stone oven, wood-fired. I generally avoid pizzas that are defined by their toppings -- the crust should be the main act. We ordered one "hot sausage" pie and one pepperoni pie for takeout.

Interior (from http://www.freskada.com/)

When I arrived, the place was kind of quiet (but not depressingly empty like the Japanese restaurant. It's sad to see the lack of patrons in these smaller, non-chain restaurants while the parking lot is full in the nearby Longhorn steakhouse and the faux-upscale version of faux-Italian Olive Garden wannabe, Buca di Beppo).

Freskada is a very pretty BYOB and I'm resolved to go back soon for a sit-down meal. The staff was very pleasant and my pies were ready to go. Each pie was $9.99 plus $2 for the toppings.

Click any picture for larger image

I was home in 5 minutes and both pies went into my oven for a re-heat re-crisp. The pepperoni pie had the benefit of being on my perforated pizza pan to allow moisture to escape from the bottom; the sausage pie rested on a vintage "Appian Way" bake at home pizza disc. I should have had my pizza stone heating in the oven before I left.

The sausage pizza

Both pies had a lovely appearance; good browning of the cheese, and generously topped with fat angled slices of sausage or half-moons of pepperoni.  However, the pies were too soft and limp to eat without a knife and fork for the first few bites. 

The dough seemed fresh and tasty, but for my tastes it was too thick, and more problematically, too soft. Would have made fine breadsticks, but not well-suited for pizza. It had a nice golden underside but lacked any char indications. There was no evidence of any high temperature specialty oven and no smoky taste or smell from the promised wood fire.

Pepperoni pie

The cheese was standard pizza quality, reasonably tasty, but piled on a little thicker than I would prefer. The sauce was tasty with some tang to it, but not memorable. If there was a star here, it was the toppings. The hot sausage was indeed substantial chunks of genuine hot Italian sausage; the pepperoni was sliced more thinly but applied generously. The pizza also tasted very fresh; despite its soft and droopy crust, it did not seem to be sourced from ubiquitous mass-supplied Sysco-style ingredients.

A peek at the crust

Overall, Freskada looks like a promising BYOB venue and I will be back. But the pizza is just one more West Chester region disappointment. The crust was a 4, the sauce and cheese a 5, the pepperoni a 6, and the sausage an 8. I really can't give this pie a composite score higher than 5.