Restaurant: Rockstone Wood Fired Pizza & Pub, Fishers, Indiana
Twas the night before a half marathon…
…so…in other words…gluten-free pizza night!
About a week before setting out to Fishers, Indiana, to run the Geist Half Marathon (for training), I started a full-on search for good gluten-free pizza in that area. I’m spoiled rotten by my local allergen-free bakery, Annie May’s Sweet Café, because her pizza crust is actually a thick crust…not this thin cracker crust you get everywhere else. I always crave her pizza and went on a search to, perhaps, find a place that was comparable to the one she makes.
No luck.
Cracker crust everywhere I turn.
UGH!
So…I tossed it out on my Facebook page for some suggestions. I wanted to try somewhere new…somewhere I couldn’t easily go here in Louisville. So no Puccini’s and no Mellow Mushroom (although…yum to Mellow Mushroom!). I didn’t want to go somewhere I already had gone up there to try…so no Monical’s or Jockamo’s. Some of my friends in my running group were, unknown to me at the time, also running Geist…and Laura said they were going to hit up Rockstone Wood Fired Pizza & Pub in Fishers on Friday night for their dinner. And she saw they had a gluten-free menu as well.
I went to check it out, along with two other places that I researched via Find Me Gluten Free.
In the end, due to being conveniently close to the hotel…Rockstone Wood Fired Pizza & Pub was where Cathy and I decided the night-before-the-race pizza would happen. And…as an added bonus, my good friend, Julia, was going to meet us there for dinner. YAY!
I’ve had a lot of misses on the gluten-free pizza as of late while on the road. So, I was desperately hoping that this pizza was good. And…after getting caught in some storms on the drive up to Fishers, then getting stuck in traffic, hitting up the race expo for packet pickup, and then getting caught in more traffic, we finally made it to the restaurant, where Julia got us a table in the bar and was patiently waiting…and had been for about 30 minutes (damn traffic). Lots of hugs and a quick browse of the menu…and we were set.
The inside of Rockstone Wood Fired Pizza & Pub is dark…but beautiful. It’s very rustic chic. And I thought the ambiance was perfect for a pizza/pub. It just felt right and comfortable. Our waitress came over…and I gave her fair warning of my food allergies. She put any of my fears to rest and assured me that they would cook me up a good pizza. So, with our minds made up…the order was placed.
Cathy and I were going to split the 10″ Gluten-Free Vava Veggie Pizza ($12.00 – which includes the $1.50 up-charge for gluten-free crust). Julia was on the same wavelength and got the regular wood fired version of the Vava Veggie Pizza ($10.50). With the orders in, we were able to sit and talk while we waited for out food. A short time later, our pans of pizza were being settled in front of us.
The Rockstone Wood Fired Pizza & Pub’s Gluten-Free Vava Veggie Pizza is done on a custom gluten-free cracker crust. Very thin crust…crunchy…you know the drill. The pizza itself is topped off with roma tomatoes, fresh basil pesto, crimini mushrooms, red and green bell peppers, broccoli, house tomato sauce, and mozzarella cheese. It was very colorful and smelled absolutely delicious.
Our pizza, however, was a little lopsided. One half was coated with veggies, the other half had a lot of plain cheese. As I don’t handle dairy too well, I took a supplement and then took the slices with more veggies than cheese showing. That was fine by Cathy. I think sometimes she only tolerates the veggies that I get on my vegetarian pizzas. But…she dug in first.
First of all…the crust was cooked all the way through. That…was a huge plus. YAY! It had a nice crispness to the crust. The vegetable were fresh and added both savory and sweet aspects to the slices itself. I loved the mushrooms, finding them cooked perfectly through. Cathy fell in love with the pesto that was on the pizza. And each slice was packed with fresh veggie goodness, which I appreciated. But…I did notice how wet the pizza got soon after we dove into our first slices. I think it was the blend of tomatoes with the tomato sauce and basil…but it got a bit soggy after a short time. Which…made me sad. I love that crispness to the crust that pizza should have. Ah well…I polished off my half of the pizza regardless, giving each of my slices a liberal sprinkle with the crushed red pepper flakes. Mmmm.
All-in-all, not bad. Really. Not bad. In fact, I’d be more than happy to eat here again and try something else. I hear the gluten-free bread they make their sandwiches on is fantastic (thanks for the insight, Tammy!). If anything, I was most disappointed by the appearance (veggies were SO off-kilter!) and the way it just sort of got soggy after a moment of sitting while we ate. But…it was cooked through. The cheese was melted. The veggies were cooked to perfection and tasted fresh. I was content. I felt good.
And…it must have worked because this gluten-free pizza fueled me all the way to a new half marathon personal record!
Julia seemed really happy with her wood-fired pizza…and the crust looked absolutely fantastic on her slices. I admit…I had crust envy.
If you find yourself in the Fishers area, I highly recommend Rockstone Wood Fired Pizza & Pub for your lunch or dinner plans. They have everything from salads to pizzas to sandwiches…and even dessert. I toyed with the idea of getting gelato…but I opted against it in the end. But…trust me…this is a great place and they were very careful with the preparation of my food. And for that, I am eternally grateful.
I will definitely be back. Next time…I think I’ll try a sandwich!
The Celiathlete 