It isn’t the weekend if I don’t have something om nom nommy to eat. A couple of weekends ago when our air conditioner died, we stumbled across this great pizza place tucked away, well, right by the 1st Bank Center. You would think that wouldn’t make it tucked away, but it does in its own oddly cool little way.
Protos is just yum. With their outside seating with great sunset views, their funky interior and a bar that sports a garage door-type opening that allows service to the outside, Protos has become our favorite, albeit expensive, pizza place. (No, wait, maybe not. 2 alcoholic beverages, an appetizer, what equates to 2 entrees, and then 2 desserts….I guess what we paid was reasonable.)
We started out with some sangria. They aren’t stingy with the wine in that. Love the little apple chunks in there that provide a little extra tartness after gulping down all of the sangria. We split a tomato and mozzarella salad. I’m not 100% sure but I think they make their own cheese there and my goodness is it tasty. They give it just a slight sprinkle of sea salt and when you get that one mouthful with the balsamic, the cheese, the tomato and that little taste of salt……heaven!
And then there was the pizza. This was our second time at Protos. The first time we got one medium pizza. This time we opted for two smalls. It’s literally so delicious that we could eat two mediums, but then we wouldn’t have room for dessert. The pies: one hula, one white to which we added bacon, spinach, and artichoke hearts. The hula is their Hawaiian. It’s fantastic. The pineapples are fresh, no canned stuff here. The sliced ham seems more like Canadian bacon and it’s the perfect balance of salt and sweet.
The crust. Oh, the crust! It’s thin and crunchy and just so damn tasty. I like to keep my salad plate with the leftover balsamic vinegar to dip my crust in. It’s so good it could be an appetizer. Please, Protos? Brush a small crust with some of that garlic-infused olive oil and bake it up. Serve it with a side of balsamic and olive oil. I’ll buy it; I promise.
Now that there isn’t a crumb left on a plate, it’s time for something sweet. Not just one something sweet, but one each. Splurge! We knew from the last visit that the cannoli would be a win. The outside is crunchy and flaky and not the least bit soggy anywhere. The inside? Ohhhh, my. A few chocolate chips sprinkled on each end and just oozing with the yummiest, creamiest, sweetest but not overly sweet, just kissed with lemon ricotta you’ll ever taste. Total mouthgasm.
Since we were splurging, we also had a chocolate tartuffo. Neither of us had ever heard of this, but of course it didn’t stop us from trying it and thank goodness that we’re adventurous because man, was it good. Picture a small ball of vanilla gelato with some delicious but unknown flavor just giving your tastebuds butterfly kisses. Now, wrap that in a wonderful chocolate gelato. Roll that in a chocolate powder (that really tastes like Nestle Quik) with crushed hazelnuts. Sit that on a plate drizzled with a bit of chocolate syrup. WOW! And honestly, I’m not a huge fan of chocolate, but this was just the right amount and it wasn’t super sweet which I think is what made it more tolerable.
All in all, a great dinner in a great little spot to which I’m sure we’ll return.
In a much less wordy piece of food information, Silk Vanilla Almond milk with Special K Cinnamon Pecan cereal is the shiz-nit.