On Friday after our long lunch, it
was high time for a nap. Joni and I both
crashed as soon as we got back to the house.
A little later that evening it was time for our next meal. Tony owns his own business and works from
home, so it’s normally just me and Joni for lunch, and then he joins us for
dinner. As usual, it took us a good 20 minutes to decide where to eat. We finally agreed on Inzo Italian Kitchen. I had been
there once before and really enjoyed
it.
Inzo is located in Roanoke, a very small community about 15
minutes from their house. It’s a cute
area, with mainly homes and restaurants.
They don't have an official patio, so when the weather cooperates they open the floor-to-ceiling glass wall at the front of the restaurant and move the pub-height tables and chairs out onto the main sidewalk.
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| Photo courtesy of Yelp reviewer |
Friday night the wall was closed and they just had a couple of short cocktail tables and a few chairs. I'm guessing they felt it was too hot to have outdoor seating, because then there's no protection from the heat for the inside diners. The inside seats about 75, and when we
arrived there was about a 20-minute wait. We sat at the bar and had a glass of
wine while we waited.
I really like the built-in shelving behind the bar to store
and display the wine and glassware. It was very unique
and I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it before. The restaurant is comprised of a combination
of tables and booths. The open
kitchen is at the back of the restaurant, with a brick pizza oven. One of the chefs was throwing up the pizza
dough in the air and I tried to get video, but every time I either just missed
it or someone was walking in front of me. I haven’t seen that since I was a
kid, and I've always wanted to learn how to do that.
We were seated at a booth near the front, right behind the
host stand and waiting area. Then we waited and waited. We had waited quite a while at the bar as well; there was just one bartender and he was pretty slow. We thought that was really odd for a Friday night to only have one. I saw the bartender come over and talk to the
table right around the corner from ours, and was apologizing for them not
getting their food, and he comped their meal. And a few minutes
later we saw him apologizing to another table who didn’t like their food. We
figured that he was either the manager or the owner. And that they were struggling that
night. Thinking back, when we were told
it would be a 20-minute wait I thought it was kind of odd because there were a
couple of empty tables. They must have been really short-staffed. Finally our server came over. She thought we
had already been taken care of since we had the drinks, and apologized. But we really didn’t mind because we had just
been visiting. And also, the manager/owner gets a pass for not being fast behind the bar!
As we looked at the menu our server brought out bread. The first batch she brought was just 3 pieces
and they didn’t look that great. But a
few minutes later she returned with double that, as well as the dipping sauces
The bread was warm and really good. The olive oil was pretty good, as was the
butter, but the balsamic vinegar was by far the star. It was thick and rich and extremely
flavorful. I really wanted to eat more bread so I could have more vinegar, but I
stopped myself.
We also decided to start with an appetizer. At the server’s suggestion, we got the mixed
bruschetta
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| Gorgonzola & artichokes Tomato, mozzarella & pesto Goat cheese & roasted red bell peppers |
I can’t even decide which one was my favorite, because they
were all fantastic. It was all served on the same bread as what they bring to
the table first. Had I known that, I
would have only had one piece of bread in the beginning instead of 2. Oh well, lesson learned. Tony and I both put some of the balsamic on
our bruschetta. But it was challenging
because you needed a spoon to get it out properly, and the knife just didn’t do
the trick. I was going to ask, but it
wasn’t worth the hassle. I think they should drizzle a little balsamic over the
bruschetta. Or give you a little side of
it that you can easily pour on.
For dinner, Tony got the penne chicken pesto, Joni got the
Bianca pizza, and I got the baked bufala ziti. We split our meals so we got to try some of each.
The glaring negative is the pasta dishes weren't very hot. It was the same thing last time. I'm not sure if that is standard in Italy, but I was disappointed. I much prefer it to be too hot when I first get my food. But this was the only down side.
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| Roasted chicken, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, creamy pesto sauce |
I had gotten the penne chicken pasta last time, and it was
just as good as I remembered. Even
though the pesto was creamy, it wasn’t super heavy.
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| Signature meat sauce made with 100% Texas bufala meat |
We had never heard of bufala, and looked it up. It’s just the Italian way of saying buffalo. I had never eaten buffalo before, so decided
to be adventurous. I was not disappointed. Mixed with the pasta, cheese and
sauce it tastes like regular ground bef. Then I tried a piece by itself,
and the flavor is quite different. I can’t quite put my finger on what makes it
so different, but it doesn’t matter because it was really good. The whole dish was excellent, except for the
temperature. The sauce was chunky and
thick and very flavorful.
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| Mozzarella, chopped garlic, spicy oil, basil |
Joni’s pizza was screaming hot, and it was outstanding. They weren’t shy at all with the garlic, but that just added to the
flavor. As I'm writing this, I just realized there was no basil on the pizza. Or if it was there, it was underneath all the cheese. I wanted to eat more, but I
couldn’t because I needed to finish my food.
We must have hit the restaurant right at their major
struggle time. Because once we got underway, things slowed down and we didn’t
have any issues at all. I definitely want to keep returning. The food is
delicious, the service was good, and I really enjoy the atmosphere. Oh, and I’m
determined to get a video of the guy tossing the pizza dough.
