Coals Artisan Pizza

Getting a hang of this yet?  It's looking like unless circumstances dictate otherwise, we'll be visiting pizza joints on Sundays.  The time of day isn't set, so I'll try to include that in the breakdown of the environment at each restaurant.  Either way, you can expect the posts to normally show up on Sundays or Mondays.

Up this week is Coals Artisan Pizza in Saint Matthews.  Have a picture.

As you can see from the picture, it isn't like the last two weeks.  I say this because normally I prefer to get a picture of the menu, or the restaurant's sign, as well as the whole pizza (untouched before I transfer the pizza sauce to the front of my shirt).  This week was a little different, and here's why:

1.  It was raining pretty hard, and I couldn't get a good picture of the sign (it's a nice sign, I really wanted a picture).
2.  I forgot about using the menu for a picture.  We were really hungry.
3.  The pizza came out, and I remembered to take the picture only after we had each grabbed a slice and started chowing down.  Again, we were hungry.

Because of the above reasons, this picture is what we have left.  I dropped the ball on this one guys, my bad.  I wont let you down again.

Like I said in reason 3, the pizza came out and I snapped this pic after we started eating.  I would have stood and took a bird's eye view, but that would have taken precious seconds away and made me wait that much longer before ingesting delicious pizza.  You understand, right?  Right?  Good, I'm glad we're on the same page.  (This blog is like "Dora the Explorer" in that you are required to answer out loud to my questions.  No, that isn't stupid, and you shouldn't talk like that.  It's rude.  Can I...stop talking.  Stop talking.  Can we get on with the post now?  Thanks.) 

Let's start over.  Hi, my name is Corey and for my resolution this year I'll be trying all of the pizza...oh, sorry.  Too far.  Back to the beginning of our meal.

First off, they don't serve sweet tea.  I didn't know how to react when I overheard two different tables ask for it and both times, they were denied.  I guess you have to bring your own.  If you're going to do that, bring it in a classy container of some sort; don't be bringing a high-class beverage like sweet tea in some gas station styrofoam stuff.  (Coals does have regular tea and they will bring you packages of sweetener, if you like, and they always politely apologize for not having it.  That's better than nothing, I suppose.)

On to the menu.  I like this menu!  It's simple and plain, but all of the pizzas they serve have a name related to a locality here in Louisville.  You can have the Highlands pizza, the Bardstown pizza, the Clifton pizza, the Middletown, the Cherokee, the Iroquois, and so on. We ordered the Brownsboro.  I've mentioned that we are planning on sticking to a pepperoni-only policy, and that's what we did.  The Brownsboro is pepperoni, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, tomato sauce, and basil (I love basil on pizza!).  Katie, of course, picked her basil off.  

The first thing we noticed was the size.  There is no medium or large, all of the pizzas are the same size.  If I had to compare, they're probably a little smaller than a medium at other places.  If you're coming hungry with more than one person, either get the appetizer (try the Arancini) or get more than one pizza per person and take some home.  We had an appetizer, and we still finished off the entire pizza. 

Secondly, if you've ever read a post of mine, you should know that wife and I are quite fond of cheese.  This pizza doesn't look like it has enough cheese on it to satisfy, but it's a perfect amount.  The sauce is a perfect amount too, in our opinion.  The Margarita pepperoni, which is just a type of pepperoni, is delicious.

I put all of the toppings in their own paragraph because the crust deserves one by itself.  Coals hand makes all of their pizzas and bakes them in a coal-fired brick oven (hence the name).  The crust is thin, delicious, and burnt in all the right ways.  There's just a little extra crispiness with a bit of a char on the bottom.  I don't usually like anything that is burnt on the bottom (sounds like a bad tanning joke), but this was actually pretty good.  The top of the crust along the outside of the pizza rises like bubbles form inside it, and it's soft on the top!

As I said earlier, we ate all of it.  Everything.  No leftovers in sight.  Because of this, unfortunately, there will be no rating of how this pizza performs in the leftovers category.  I won't apologize, the pizza wasn't big enough.  Had I known, we would have ordered two pizzas and had plenty to reheat/refrigerate later.

Overall ratings:

Service:  Good service.  It wasn't crowded at the time we went, so the wait staff didn't have any issues tending to the customers.  (Grade:  A)
Atmosphere:  Definitely a Saint Matthews feel to it.  That's all I can say, really.  We were there for lunch, but it was pouring outside, so I can't give you an accurate description of what it would be like had the weather been nicer.  The only noticeable downer was a missing ceiling tile with lint hanging out.  (Grade:  B)
Taste:   Very good.  Try to keep in mind that this pizza is meant to be artisan, and made in the art of cooking.  This pizza isn't meant to make you so full that you have to do that "lean back and unbutton your pants to relieve the pressure on your stomach" thing that we've all done before.  (Grade:  A-, only because it isn't enough to take home afterwards)
Accessibility:  Easy location to find near the corner of Frankfort Avenue and Shelbyville Road.  It's not a large place, so I wouldn't suggest bringing someone in a wheelchair during the dinner rush hours.  (Grade:  A)

Overall, this is a great place for a light meal or just a nice lunch in Saint Matthews!  Oh, and try the Barbeque pizza, my friend Charles invented it!