If you're traveling to the Dallas area from Kansas City, be sure to visit the charming historic downtown district in the suburb of Plano. You'll fall in love with its brick streets, unique restaurants and more than 50 specialty shops, including three quaint antique malls, art galleries, a Scandinavian cookware pottery shop, tea rooms, and a wine shop.
But my favorite venue of all in this area is Urban Crust Wood Fired Pizza and 32 Degrees Rooftop Bar, 1006 East 15th Street. Salvatore Gisellu, a master chef and native of Sardinia, presides at a custom-built, wood-burning oven in the open kitchen, where the specialty of the house is artisanal pizza. Using the finest imported Italian ingredients, local organic herbs and greens and in-house, handcrafted mozzarella cheese, Gisellu and his staff create amazing concoctions.
Start out your meal with the complimentary (and highly addictive) appetizers: pizza-dough breadsticks (baked in their oven), served with side dishes of tomato relish and tapenade (olive relish). Move on to the Caprese appetizer: imported buffalo mozzarella, tomatoes, basil pesto and aged balsamic vinegar. Your taste buds will dance with delight when you finish up with a signature pizza. Try the Margherita, with tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella flown in from Italy, fresh tomatoes and basil. Meat lovers may want to add Jimmy's Italian Sausage to an Urban Classic pizza.
Gisellu says that 90% of the customers at Urban Crust order pizzas. Favorites are Shea's Eastside (tomato sauce, fire-roasted chicken, smoked mozzarella, carmelized onions and sun-dried tomatoes), Black & Blue (basil pesto, wood-fired sirloin, baby portobellos, carmelized onions and bleu cheese), and Urban Amore (fig preserves, prosciutto di Parma, goat cheese and aged balsamic arugula).
Carpaccio (thin-sliced beef tenderloin, capers, chives, shaved grana padano and truffle vinaigrette) and mussels (oven-roasted with green tomatillo sauce) are among the best sellers on the Starters Menu.
On a recent visit I tried the roasted carrot soup and Farmer's Market Salad (fresh local greens, teardrop tomatoes, cucumber and pepperoncini), before moving on to the Buffalini. The soup was so good that I wanted to lick the bowl, and the balsamic vinaigrette dressing perfectly complemented the tender young greens. The Buffalini is Urban Crust's "signature starter," and features fresh buffalo mozzarella from Italy, marinated teardrop tomatoes, basil, garlic, virgin olive oil and shaved grana padano cheese. The mingled flavors in this dish create an amazing result on your tongue. Magnifico!
Save some room for dessert. I highly recommend the tiramisu (ladyfingers, espresso and mascarpone mousse). Jeanne-Marie's Chocolate Cake is freshly baked in-house every day, as is the pie.
After your meal, climb the stairs to Urban Crust's 32 Degrees Rooftop Ice Bar, which is very cool in more ways than just temperature. The draft beers are poured at a constant 32-degree temperature, and there's a strip of ice running the length of the bar where patrons can rest their drinks to keep them cold.
Signature cocktails include Urban Crush (Berry Rum, crushed strawberries, basil and soda) and Absolut Plano (Absolut Acai Berry, blueberry ginger reduction and soda).
Gisellu came to Dallas twenty years ago from Sardinia, not able to speak a word of English. Now he says that he's "living the American Dream."
And diners at Urban Crust will find that the food he serves there is also a dream-come-true.
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