Fall Seasonal Menu Tasting Dinner at Pitfire Pizza

Posted on Nov 01, 2012 under Uncategorized | No Comment
Rye riggatoni at Pitfire Pizza

Rye rigatoni at Pitfire Pizza

Tonight I joined a dozen food bloggers and journalists to taste the new fall seasonal menu at Pitfire Pizza.  Known for rustic seasonally driven ingredient pizzas cooked in a wood fired pit, Pitfire Pizza opened its first restaurant in 1997 in my neighborhood of NoHo.  Our tasting took place at the WeHo location on Fairfax.  Each season, Pitfire adds extra salads, pizzas and pastas featuring seasonal ingredients to their menu.

food writers/bloggers

food writers/bloggers

We started off with a lovely roasted pear salad with roasted bosc pears, dates, ricotta cheese, pine nuts, mixed lettuces and a fig and olive vinaigrette.

roasted pear salad

roasted pear salad

Owner Paul Hibler chatted with us about the new menu and let us know that each of the seven Pitfire locations was designed by a different architect to fit each neighborhood.  Also, he shared the secret to the chain’s thin supple crust – the dough is tossed and cooked to order in a 600-degree stone oven. The result is a tender and crunchy pie.

owner Paul Hibler

owner Paul Hibler

Next up was the Farmer’s Market Platter, featuring grilled bread, kale with golden raisins and pine nuts, fall squash with honey and mint, farro salad with roasted mushrooms and hazelnuts, and roasted brussels sprouts and a heirloom bean dip.

farmers market platter

farmers market platter

Next came a rye rigatoni with bacon and brussels sprouts.

rye rigatoni

rye rigatoni

Pizza is the main attraction at Pitfire and we got to sample a nice selection of new items for the fall menu.  The nice thing about Pitfire is that in addition to the new fall menu items, diners can also design your their own pie, with ingredients such as natural fennel sausage, applewood smoked bacon, natural spiced salami, and some of the best gorgonzola, goat cheese and organic vegetables around.  Here are the pizzas we sampled:

brussels sprouts bacon pizza

brussels sprouts bacon pizza

The crowd favorite was the brussels sprouts and bacon pizza with brussel leaves, cream, bacon, garlic and parmesan.

roast pumpkin pizza

roast pumpkin pizza

I also loved the roast pumpkin pizza with sage roasted winter squash, wild greens, fontina cheese, toasted pepitas and pumpkin seed oil.

tuscan pizza

Tuscan pizza

The 15th anniversary Tuscan pizza features mozzarella and gorgonzola cheese, grilled chicken, roasted potatoes and a basil pesto.  I loved this pizza and it will be offered at all Pitfire locations for just $7.99 during the month of November in honor of the chain’s 15th anniversary.

wine poached pears with ice cream

wine poached pears with ice cream

We ended the dinner with a nice dessert of wine poached pears, ice cream and a rye crumble.  We were also given a nice swag bag with a gift card, T-Shirt, chocolate chip cookie and copy of the new menu.

gift bag

gift bag

Visit any of the Pitfire Pizza locations in North Hollywood, West LA, West Hollywood, Downtown and Culver City to sample the new fall seasonal menu items, for hours and addresses visit www.pitfirepizza.com.

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