Pizza Artisan, Oxford - 11/06/14

"Some pizzas are born great. Others have greatness thrust upon them." 

- ancient proverb

It has now been a while since I ate from Oxford's elusive Pizza Artisan truck, but I still remain as impressed as I was when I took that fateful first bite. I'm going to cut to the chase: this is hands down the best pizza experience in Oxford, and it rivals every London hype pizza joint I've visited, like, ever. It's as good and as fresh as pizza I ate in New York. Yeah, I said it. 

This was my second Pizza Artisan experience: the first was on a rainy evening at some point during my first year of university. This one was markedly better, 'cause the weather was gorgeous and the service was hella quick. For those unfamiliar with the Pizza Artisan mythology (get out tbh), the set up is as follows:

Most evenings from 7pm, a big shiny silver food truck appears outside Christ Church college on St. Aldate's in Oxford. However, this is not yr usual university town kebab meat fare: this van is a purveyor of the finest pizza in the land, with a menu which defies its tiny size in order to compete with the very best around. Both veggie and meat options abound, and each pizza is lovingly crafted by hand inside the van, and set to bake in its specially installed pizza oven. Obviously, when you're eating pizza this fresh, it's going to taste pretty fucking sexy. 

Olivia's margherita

Accompanied by my pizza pal Olivia, I ordered a Shiva (roasted red peppers, olives, mushrooms, green chillies) without the cheese, and Olivia got a margherita which you can see above. All of the Pizza Artisan pizzas also come with a generous helping of salad leaves (rocket and spinach), and a drizzling with the oil of your choice - I had garlic, Olivia opted for olive.

Needless to say, these pizzas were d o p e. Made carefully to order, each pie is clearly a labour of love, even during busy periods. The toppings are of an incredibly high quality (check out those mozzarella globs!), and the base treads the perfect balance between soft and crispy. All of my vegetables were totally delicious, and there was also no shortage of sauce which I really appreciated, 'cause the Pizza Artisan sauce is delicious and I'd drink it like Coca Cola for realsies. 

I feel like, for this Pizza Artisan visit, the stars really aligned: our food was ready quickly, and we waited for it in the beaming sun; we also ate outside in the super cute surroundings of Christ Church Meadow, and the pizza tasted fresh and delicious. I can't really think of much else that I would want from a pizza visit, and so for that reason a restinpizza first is about to happen: 

Pizza rating 10/10

If you're in Oxford this summer, do yourself a favour and visit your new best mates at Pizza Artisan. You will thank me, I swear. 

P.S. - s/o to Danny for suggesting that I go to this place on the very day I was planning on going. Some spooky shit, hunty.

Pizza Artisan
Christ Church, St. Aldate's, Oxford
http://www.pizzaartisan.co.uk

'homemade' - 16/4/14

I've put the word homemade in the title of this post in those dickish little quote marks because technically, this pizza was more 'home-assembled' than actually crafted by my own tiny hands over a roaring fire or any of that shite. I used a Napolina pizza base and Tesco tomato and herb pizza sauce, as well as some frozen and fresh veggies, in order to craft the culinary sensation you see above, immortalised 4ever (- The Veronicas) by my shit iPhone 4 camera.

I will start my ~review~ with the base. I was rly into this base, but I think that is mainly because I expected it to be ranker than it actually was. Instead it was a pretty nice surprise, and had crispy edges and a bottom that didn't sag despite a fair few toppings which is something I have found in the past with other pre-made pizza bases. Would have enjoyed a little more crispness underneath but otherwise I would actually really recommend these if assembling yr own 'za is something you enjoy (also pretty sure that they're vegan so even better - the box says they are made with margarine but seems to imply that it's a vegetable oil based one rather than a dairy one. fyi.)

The Tesco sauce was also pretty good, but pretty basic. I feel like you could very easily make something similar with tomato puree, passata and some herbs, but because I obviously could not be arsed to do that, this sauce was a dope stand in. I would give a shout out in particular to its consistency, which was p perfect for the purpose. Alliteration.

Finally, I would point out that with this particular pizza I decided to go cheeseless (a shocking admission from a pizza purist) and it was actually really delicious. The flavours/textures of the veg (I used sweetcorn, red peppers and olives) were definitely sharper than I think they would have been with cheese, which would have made this quite little pizza a bit too busy. Would definitely recommend an attempt at cheeseless 2 those who haven't tried it because it is an incredibly pleasant change.  

Overall this was cool because putting the pizza together/choosing exactly what toppings I wanted was a p fun thing to do. Maybe now you too will assemble your own pizza. I hope I have inspired u. Thank u.

Pizza rating: 7/10