Made to measure
Everyone loves pizza because the Italian classic is affordable, tasty, and never goes out of style, says who visits the latest hot-shot spot where pizza comes, not by the inch, but by the yard
Nick Nairn, a well-known UK based Michelin-starred chef, said recently that what people wanted nowadays at the end of the week is pizza and a glass of wine, and it seems he’s bang on, going by the number of pizza places that are opening up around the country.
Our own Michelin-starred Ross Lewis of Chapter One also recognised the attraction of pizza and casual Italian food with his fabulous Osteria Lucio on Dublin’s Grand Canal Quay. The Press Up group, another major player on Dublin’s restaurant scene, also incorporate pizzas in most of their businesses.
The newest hot and hip pizza restaurant is Pizza Yard, in the equally hot and hip Ranelagh, which, apart from many other restaurants, will soon have a new Press Up Group hotel on its doorstep.
Pizza Yard is in what was, back in the day, the old Sandford Cinema, and, for many years, Wong’s Chinese restaurant. I’m not a huge pizza eater, as I try, without much success, to keep off the ‘dough’, but I didn’t realise until I got there, that the ‘yard’ bit of the name meant that the pizzas are sold, like a length of cloth, by the yard!
The World Tour
We were seated at a great window table by he who was in charge, saying, “Two ladies, I have a nice table for you” — keeping us well away from families with small children at the other end. Full marks to him — a true pro.
The deal with the pizzas is that they range from one foot up to two yards (six feet). A one-foot pizza is an ‘individual’ serving; one yard (three feet) serves three to four people; while two yards (six feet) serves six/eight people. If you’re into the massive ones, you can choose a different pizza variety per foot; the charge is calculated per foot of each variety chosen (€13.50-€19).
On top of that, there are 15 varieties, which read like the league of nations. Australiana has butternut squash sauce, mozzarella, red and yellow peppers, and sweet red onion. Thai has chicken, and peanut sauce, while Mississippi features pulled pork, apricots and peppers. Japan featured with tuna sashimi, but France, I’m told, with its foie gras and fresh figs, was kicked out of the club, as it wasn’t performing well. Maybe it’s back now, as the World Cup pizza!
Pizza plus...
Despite the moniker, it’s not just all about pizza, and we wanted to try other dishes. So, we kicked off by sharing a one-foot pizza as a starter, sticking with Ireland by way of their Wild Atlantic number (€19), pictured below left. Baked with lobster sauce and mozzarella, and topped with smoked salmon, avocado, sweet red onion, chives, capers, toasted sesame and honey mustard sauce, the base was Roman-style crispy and light; it was definitely a winner.
Starters and pasta dishes (€4.50-€18) included the ubiquitous calamari;
pappardelle with poached pear and Gorgonzola; spinach and ricotta ravioli; and gnocchi with goat’s cheese. A tuna tartare — more Japanese than Italian, with ginger and avocado in a soy sauce dressing — featured on the starter section, but had proved so popular that it was now available as a main also.
Carbing our enthusiasm
Mains (€15.50–€18.50) included risotto — prawn or Italian sausage — while the fish of the day was salmon. Lamb and mango skewers were gone, but pan-fried rose veal with prosciutto, sage and garlic (€18) was a winner. Two tranches, medium-rare, tender as butter, were topped with a slice each of prosciutto, and served with rosemary and garlic potatoes mixed with chargrilled courgette, broccoli and tomato.
Mary had a well nigh perfect al dente linguine (€16), tossed, not drowned, in a good tomato sauce with prawns and calamari, topped with Parmesan shavings.
It was all so good that it was curiosity, rather than appetite, that stimulated our interest in puds, particularly pizza struffoli (€7) and avocado chocolate mousse (€7).
So it was in for a pizza, in for a total carb-fest. The struffoli was deep-fried, plumptuous fingers of pizza drizzled with honey, and topped with chocolate, chocolate buttons and fresh fruit. The chocolate mousse was a fairly solid chocolate ball, blended with avocado, and served in a glass with lovely strawberries.
Service was excellent and friendly, and, with a bottle of Domaine La Colombette Grenache rose 2016 (€28), perfect on a warm summer evening, bottled water (€5), and service, our bill came to €110. Pizza Yard 7 Sandford Road, Ranelagh, Dublin 6 Tel: (01) 412-6278 pizzayard.ie lucindaosullivan.com
“We were seated at a great window table by he who was in charge, keeping us well away from families with small children. Full marks to him!”