Review: CraigO's Pizza & Pastaria - Austin TX

As a transplanted east coast pizza snob, I had modest expectations for pizza in the suburbs of Austin. While the pizza renaissance has brought some superb pizza (mostly Neapolitan) to almost every metropolis in America, the suburbs are still largely the domain of Pizza Hut, Domino's, or mom-and-pop shops cutting corners by using cheap mass-sourced ingredients so that they can compete on price with the mega-chains.

For the record, downtown Austin has plenty of spectacular pizza, with Via 313 at the head of the pack. Way out in Spicewood (home to Willie Nelson), Sorellina Pizzeria is turning out artisanal Neapolitans that stand toe-to-toe with any being made in the hippest parts of Brooklyn. But these, I suspected, were the exceptions.

Photo from facebook.com/pg/craigositalian

After three months in the suburbs of Austin, I hadn't yet tried CraigO's. This local mini-chain (four locations) looked to be the kind of place where Texans interpret pizza the way a Philadelphian might attempt to do BBQ or Tex-Mex. It wasn't high on the list of pizza places I had targeted, but when we were near the southwest Austin location at lunchtime, we decided to try it.

Photo from facebook.com/pg/craigositalian

This location is in a conventional strip mall. We entered to find a fairly large counter and dining area. Like so many of my Texan experiences, I was surprised at the genuinely friendly demeanor of the folks behind the counter. In other parts of America, I would have braced myself for impatient grimaces from the staff as I tried to survey the menu and make selections; I would expect curt answers and little interest in helping us choose well. Here, we were made to feel at home right away.

We chose to split a lunch special that offers two slices, a salad, and a drink; we added one more slice a la carte. Slices were big, prices were modest. I was glad that we split the salad, because it was huge. 

While there are many kinds of specialty pies on the menu, the only kinds available for slices were pepperoni and plain cheese. However, it was only 30 cents to add a topping to a plain slice, so we ordered two pepperoni slices and one with meatballs.

The slices arrived (you order at the counter, then they bring the food to you) just as we finished the salad. They had the appearance of a typical New York slice - big, foldable (if you have that bad habit), and sporting a golden brown crust.

The crust, as always, is the key to good pizza. CraigO's makes everything from scratch, and it shows. The crust had an excellent flavor, a crisp bottom, and a good chew.  The first few bites were pretty soft due to the significant payload of cheese and sauce.  The cheese was a good standard mozzarella or mozzarella mix, and the sauce was a bit of a role player here, lending some acidic tang.

Overall, a very well balanced slice and a lot more "New York" than you'd expect to find in a Texas strip mall. The pepperoni was big and thin circles with a nice curl to the edge. The meatballs were a great surprise; a huge pile of sliced spicy meatballs that somehow adhered nicely to a slice as an add-on. This is not life-changing pizza, it's just damn tasty and we wolfed it down happily.

Perfect browning underneath

I've come to appreciate just about every type of pizza. There's a place and time for a 90-second Neapolitan from a 900 degree oven, a deep dish Chicago style that takes 45 minutes, or a Trenton tomato pie where the gravy goes on last. But there is always a place and time for a well-executed New York slice - crisp yet chewy, crust and cheese and sauce and toppings in harmony - simple yet elegant and timeless.

CraigO's is making that New York pizza. And serving it up at modest prices in what was truly the friendliest pizzeria atmosphere I can recall. We'll be back often.