Brixx Wood Fired Pizza

The wood-burning oven enhances the natural flavors  of the restaurant’s pizzas.
The wood-burning oven enhances the natural flavors
of the restaurant’s pizzas.

by Susan Devitt

Asheville prides itself on restaurants, beer, locals, beer, outdoors and beer.

Brixx Wood Fired Pizza fits in nicely and I’ll tell you why. A locally owned pizzeria, with a terrific brew selection, a large outdoor seating area and an incredibly original pizza menu, Brixx in south Asheville should be your next go-to for all of the above!

This neighborhood pizzeria is a franchise that started in Charlotte and when you try their pizza you’ll understand their success. Being locally owned, they have the freedom to source local foods such as the pimento cheese for their pimento cheese pizza, and the mozzarella is made fresh in-house.

We headed to Brixx on a Monday night, which happens to be $1.95 draft beer night. Pizza, plus a special on draught beers…plan your Monday around that. They have 24 taps, a GREAT selection of local beers, and revolving taps from Sierra Nevada, Beer Nerd, New Belgium and Sweet Water. They also have wine and mixed drinks. Not surprisingly it was packed, with a fun and festive atmosphere. I love the big patio, perfect for Asheville’s long seasons of mild weather and passion for hanging outdoors with friends and families.

Brixx is definitely very friendly, and family oriented. They’ve gone the extra creative mile with an entire wall of booths that have a continuous chalk board — it’s ok and encouraged to write on those walls. They offer kid-sized pizzas and even let them make their own dough shape to be cooked in their wood fired oven.

If you avoid gluten, Brixx has a gluten free pizza and if you’re vegan you’ll be glad to know they use Daiya, the most popular vegan “cheese.” The menu has loads of veggie options too.

What we loved about the menu was they offered so many fantastic combinations of toppings on their signature pizzas. Nothing run-of-the-mill, they ranged from the simple to the exotic. With over 2 dozen pizzas to choose from, it would be impossible to not find one to amaze you!

I frequently hear around town that there’s a shortage of thin-crust pizza spots. If your idea of a perfect crust is thin then you’ll be happy. Wood fired, thin, and you can choose either a traditional white or a whole wheat crust. The standard pizza is a thin-crust 10” pie.

We had half-and-half’s to widen our sampling. The night’s special was a Pesto Margherita, which was simple but super fresh with basil and tomato. I consider myself an expert on unusual pizza toppings and I’d never had a Thai pizza until now. Sweet Thai Chicken, which was savory, yet a bit sweet with the sweet chili sauce, goat cheese, pistachios and satay dressing. Ok, I loved it.

We also had their two most popular pizzas — The Bronx Bomber (spicy Italian sausage, proscuitto, gorgonzola…yum) and the Chicken Florentine (wood-roasted chicken, bacon, romas, spinach, feta, mozzarella) on whole wheat crust.

I wanted the Pear and Gorgonzola pizza with toasted walnuts, but opted for that as an arugula salad instead, (eat your greens), along with the Fig and Proscuitto Flatbread – caramelized onions, gorgonzola and walnuts, spread with house-made fig jam and drizzled with honey. It’s big and very sharable, deliciously wood fired!

Clearly we didn’t have room for desert, but our server tempted us with house-made Tiramissu and we felt compelled to comply. Some restaurants make Tiramissu with a layer of cinnamon on top which tends to be dry. Brixx does it the way we do at home, flaked chocolate on top of both layers.

I love pizza. The only way I get truly amazing, creative pizza is if I make it at home. I have seriously never found a pizza menu that challenges the imagination (and the taste buds) like Brixx. Go. Bring others to share, order halfsies and try many! What are you waiting for?

Brixx Wood Fired Pizza
Biltmore Park Town, 30 Town Square Blvd.
(828) 654-0046
Mon-Sat 11 a.m. – 1 a.m.; Sun 11 a.m. – 11 p.m.

 


Susan Devitt is co-owner of Asheville food company BelloLea Artisan Kitchen, which makes delicious, fun Pizza Kits. She and husband Tom are confessed foodies and therefore won’t be leaving Asheville, unless they’re dragged out, kicking and screaming.Contact her at SusanBelloLea@gmail.com