My wife and I stopped into the Brick Saturday night to grab some dinner.
If you come in the front door through Black Bear you have to kind of wind your way down and around through the building, which give it kind of a backroom feel that makes you feel like you have to "in the know" - like a Speakeasy!
We started off with Garlic Knots which were really, really good. Â They came out steaming hot in a small cast iron skillet and were still simmering in a shallow pool of garlic butter. Â The dough was nice and chew and the accompanying marinara sauce was very fresh tasting with a little bit of a kick.
For pizza my wife went for the Margarite and I had the BBQ Chicken.
Both of us loved our pizzas but my wife commented that the tomatoes they used didn't have a lot of flavor- this really comes down to the type of tomato they use. Â Also, she would have preferred that the basil was added after cooking and just put on top instead of cooked with the pizza which wilts the basil and really kills the flavor of it.
I really liked my BBQ Chicken pizza but my only complaint is that the chicken was really dry. Â
Also, they have a dining room downstairs near the bar where you can order from both The Brick and the Black Bear- that's pretty neat if you have some people who feel like pizza and others that feel like the upstairs menu.
Even with the few negatives (they are still very new and stuff like that gets worked out) we really enjoyed our meal. Â It was a little on the pricey side, our bill was $50 (before tip) with the above plus a 12oz beer and a glass of wine. Â Still, it was really good and we will be back.
Black Bear Bistro recently opened a new business - connected to their existing restaurant - but in a separate area. It's called "The Brick at Black Bear Bistro." It's a Neapolitan pizza joint with a wood fired pizza oven and a bar.
We visited for dinner last evening. Each person orders their own pizza - it's basically a "personal pizza." I ordered the Picante pizza - comes topped with a very spicy sauce and slices of Habanero pepper, Mozzarella, and Capicola. I had them add mushrooms and red onions to the pizza. Plus a pint of Devil's Backbone 8 Point IPA.
Wow was that pizza spicy! I love hot, spicy food and this one was on fire! I ate the entire pizza, except for one last bit of crust as I was stuffed.
It's a really cool, fun place, the place was packed when we were there. And the staff were friendly and a lot of fun. Our server was a blast!