Nummy Pizza
Austin Pizza Garden: A restaurant review by a (nearly) three-year-old
I have driven by the historic brick building that houses the Austin Pizza Garden hundreds of times but for some reason, never been in. My quest to eat well and cheaply in this shaky economy has lead me to buy many restaurant Groupons, usually for places I've never been but always wanted to try. Well last week my meal ticket to the old brick building came in and Groupon "delivered".
After a day of excited nerves on the first day of school for my stepson, now a high school senior, and my (nearly) three-year-old, who moved up to the three-year-old class in his daycare (though he is not yet quite of age and we are very proud) we decided to skip cooking Monday night and try what I'm told is an Oak Hill pizza institution. My stepson and I met my husband and (nearly) three-year-old Elijah. He was in regular restaurant form — not wanting to sit still, yelling a lot and throwing things on the floor. He’s always a joy to eat with in public (I'm sure you parents know exactly what I'm talking about).
Here is Elijah's restaurant review, as best I can relate it.
He wasn't having any of anything, at least not until my tossed salad arrived. He took a strong interest in taking it from me, so we got him his own plate and I cut some up for him. "Yummy salad," he said and suddenly he was smiling and his mood took a 180. "Phew," I thought. He came back for seconds and thirds and the moment he was done he said, "Pizza!"
The pizza menu at the Austin Pizza Garden is full of unique and fanciful combinations. We ordered the ‘colossus’ and a standard pepperoni and cheese pie for my sweet but much less adventurous husband. My only complaint about this place besides there being lots of enthusiastically loud children (you can read this as meaning it's a very child friendly spot) is how long we had to wait to get the goods. At least 6 scrumptious pizzas went buzzing by my head, bound for other tables, to which my reaction was, "Ahhh, man."
Finally after about 20 minutes, our two beauties arrived. Little Elijah's eyes lit up on sight, “Pizza!,” he exclaimed to the full house. I cut him a piece of the pepperoni (he has less exotic tastes much like his dear old Dad thus far). He took one bite and I knew this was a restaurant we'd be coming back to. He started dancing in his chair waving the pizza around and said at least 7 times before he took his next bite, "Nummy pizza!" (like yummy but cuter coming from a nearly three-year-old). He just beamed for the next 20 minutes. I knew he loved it because he has a tendency to only eat the cheese and pepperoni off most pizzas, but he sunk his teeth full into the thin crispy crust and all its toppings. In between his exclamations about the ‘nummy pizza’ he chomped down a whole slice, quickly grabbing for a second.
On the other side of the table, my stepson and I battled the ‘colossus’. I have to admit, there was a lot of stuff (pepperoni, Italian sausage, ham, mushrooms, red onions, green peppers, black olives) under the gooey cheese, not something I normally like, but it was GOOD! Very flavorful and filling and my stepson's review, I believe, was "it rocked."
Elijah was delighted by his experience and his joy continued as we left the Austin Pizza Garden. On the way out he got two balls out of the toy machine. "I got two balls," he said. Joy that was briefly interrupted when he saw three kids in the parking lot with balloons (he is obsessed with balloons right now and I shudder every time I see one, knowing he will protest if he doesn't get one). I managed to distract him and buckle him into his car seat. As I went to close the door, he once again exclaimed, “Nummy pizza!” And there you have it. A simply stated but very meaningful restaurant review from a (nearly) three-year-old.
