Sunday night is often pizza night for the Brewers. Odds are that we have either had company, been to someone’s house, eaten out or all of the above in a given weekend and neither Nancy nor yours truly are particularly interested in cooking. Last Sunday evening, I happened to think about the Brick Oven. It had been a while since I’ve eaten there and I have had some terrific pizzas over the years from the small restaurant in Rio Hill Shopping Center.
One problem I have always had with the Brick Oven is getting in touch.
When a young man named Tony bought the Brick Oven from the original owners, he and the phone company couldn’t get their acts together. They left him out the phone book the first year, then got the number wrong the second year. If you didn’t have one of his cards, you couldn’t do a call-in. Lots of folks just gave up.
Last Sunday I looked in the phone book, and sure enough, no listing. So I did what all millenniums do the first time, I went on-line. I got their number, ordered a pizza and a sandwich for take-out and it was delicious.
The Brick Oven once again has new owners. The restaurant is clean and welcoming, with essentially the same great menu. They do appetizers, paninis, sandwiches, soups, salads, Italian entrees, pastas and calzones among others.
The Brick Oven was the first of its kind in Charlottesville. Cooking the pie in a hot wood-fired oven lends a certain flavor you just can’t get in a regular pizza oven.
One of the best things about the Brick Oven is that they offer a wide variety of small, 10-inch, personal size pizzas. Nancy, for example, might want a veggie pizza, while a pepperoni, sausage and mushroom might sound better to me. With the 10-inch pizzas, which are more than enough for one person, you can experiment with any of their 16 choices. One that stands out and has been on the menu for 25 years is The Helen of Troy – a basil pesto base pizza with fresh spinach, caramelized onions, drizzled with a sweet balsamic glaze. The Deluxe, a Brick Oven classic which we ordered, has a pizza sauce base with pepperoni, sliced Italian sausage, mushrooms, onions, roasted red peppers and mozzarella. Another I have ordered and enjoyed in the past is the White Pizza with olive oil and garlic, mozzarella, ricotta, parmesan and fresh basil. There is literally something for everyone. You can check out their menu at thebrickovenva.com
I understand they do deliveries on certain evenings, but I usually pick the order up since it’s just across the road. Next time you’d like a change-of-pace pizza, cooked to perfection on a wood fire in a genuine brick oven, call the Brick Oven at (434) 964-1119. They are located at 1966 Rio Hill Center in Charlottesville.