Week 22: Eno's Pizza Tavern

If you have never been to the Bishop Arts District in Dallas you are missing out on a fantastic experience.  For the first time since moving to Dallas, it didn’t feel like we were actually in Dallas.  This week we were lined up for Eno’s Pizza Tavern (www.enospizza.com) for a quiet date night without the kids.  The drive was far out of the way from the house, but in the end it was worth every mile.  If you had blindfolded us and dropped us off in front of Eno’s, we would have told you that we were in Santa Barbara.  We had never been to this part of Dallas, however we’ll definitely be back!  Street parking was a little tricky, and we kept our fingers crossed that our car would be there in 2 hours.  However, a nice evening walk down N. Bishop Ave, is one we won’t soon forget.

Eno’s has a VERY cool and modern vibe.  You could show up with a tie, or cruise in with shorts and a t-shirt.  There are plenty of tables outside, and also a dining area upstairs.  There can’t be enough said about the atmosphere in this place, and needless to say we could become “regulars” if we lived close by.  

This week we passed on the appetizers, but there were several options including a Truffle Cheese Bread that looked and smelled amazing.  Now this is a Pizza Blog, but let’s stop for a minute and discuss the Beer selection.  From everything that we could see there was not a Miller/Budweiser/Coors product at the bar.  The “Draught” and “Bottled” beer menu was remarkable, and one couldn’t pass up the opportunity to taste a craft beer (or two)!  

Alright - back to the pizza. First of all, Eno’s serves a THIN crust pizza, probably the thinnest we’ve had all year.  The selection of specialty pies includes about a dozen choices, including a “Local Pie” which has seasonal ingredients, locally influenced.  The pies come in two sizes, 14” and 16’ (Add $2.50).  The average pizza was priced around 15 bucks, and considering the quality of the toppings, we’d say it was certainly worth it.  We chose to go with the “Eno’s Original,” which was a spicy mix or mushrooms, sliced tomatoes, sport peppers, and salami.  We also had to try the “South Hill” which was a white pie with grilled chicken, arugula, ricotta, truffle oil, and tons of fresh basil.  The 14’ size was a perfect amount of pizza of each of us, and since it had such a thin crust we didn’t leave feeling STUFFED...  That is until the dessert menu showed up!

We did contain ourselves when it came to the dessert, but during the course of the evening servers continued to emerge from the kitchen with what was called “Eno’s Sundae Sack.”  We restrained and went for a less obscene choice of the “Eno’s Sundae,” that included Blue Bell ice cream, cherries, pecans, cinnamon sugar, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream.  The “Sack” was twice the investment and came served in a “chocolate bowl” that included fresh berries and marshmallow cream.  Needless to say the desserts were unforgettable, just like the pizza!

The Final Report: 9 out of 10

Wow, Wow, and Wow.  This could have possibly been our favorite “restaurant experience” of the year.  The end to end encounter with Eno’s Pizza Tavern was a refreshing change of pace to what we have seen at the standard pizza restaurant.  Here’s to finding more places like this during our pizza adventure, cheers!