Monday, May 23, 2011.
One Week Until. Mellow Mushroom Pizza And Hashes.
Mary Ann is counting down the days until I can get around on my own again. Before I had a chance to say it, she noted that I'll have the screw removed from my ankle a week from today. After that's done, I will be allowed to start putting some weight on that foot, and perhaps to drive and hobble around on a cane. Whoopie!
Mary Ann was open to the idea of eating out. I suggested the Mellow Mushroom, a year-old pizza parlor in Covington. We went there once right after it opened. (The Marys get worked up about any national chain that opens here.) I recall that the Mellow Mushroom was better than I expected. The girls, strangely, did not concur with this. We never went back. Part of the reason was that Ristorante Carmelo opened and became our default source of pizza.
The Mellow Mushroom is a chain out of Atlanta with well over a hundred locations. This one is slicker than most, Mary Ann says. The theme is the psychedelic times around 1970, which camouflages the chain aspect a little. At the one in Covington, they go a step farther by adding unambiguously local ingredients and flavors to the menu. Crawfish and shrimp, notably.
We started off with something from the new "Hashes" menu. These are potatoes cut like tiny fries, and tossed with other items you might find on a pizza. The waiter recommended the Chicago style hash, which included Italian sausage and hot peppers. It was good for a few bites, but between the two of us we couldn't finish it. Serious grease issues down towards the bottom. It didn't help that Mary Ann, who can't resist spinach-artichoke dip, got an order of the stuff. She loved it; I didn't.
We each had a salad--well made, if afflicted with the Too Much Cheese epidemic. Then two pizzas. I followed my preference for the simple: cheese and fresh tomatoes. I showed Mary Ann the menu photo of the House Special, which struck me as gross. She thought it looked delicious. The house special includes every meat you might put on a pizza, and a couple I wouldn't. (Bacon, for example.)
My pizza was tremendously overcheesed, the mozzarella (whole milk mozz, I think) weighing down the crust and smothering its crustiness. Mary Ann found hers about as good as I thought it looked. We each ate one slice, and had the rest boxed up.
We were intrigued by the crust, which looked and tasted like a whole-wheat job. Indeed it was, said the waiter proudly, who added that this was the house crust that make the Mellow Mushroom famous. I'll certainly remember that. This whole-wheat crust trend is doing more damage to the goodness of pizzeria pizza than anything since the conveyor-belt oven (I congratulate the Mellow for using traditional pizza ovens) and ingredient overloading. This one isn't as awful as Naked Pizza (I find that inedible), but it will never make my preferred list.
The repast ended on a pleasant note of localism: bread pudding with a rum sauce. It was a lot like the heavier version of the two bread pudding recipes I alternate between, and very good. It reminded me of the Bon-Ton's version, swimming in the sauce.
I am trying to write the first chapter of Drago's cookbook. I'm getting a lot of words down, but I don't like the sound of it yet. This is normal. When I was writing Hungry Town, I wrote the chapter from scratch five times before I thought it was even tolerable. At least I know how to begin: with the invention of char-broiled oysters. But it can't just be about that. I want to present that moment as a tower from which many other energies rise and disseminate.
My biggest worry about my writing projects is whether I will be able to keep up the momentum I have now when I return to my old schedule of going into town every day.
The Mellow Mushroom. Covington: 1645 N Highway 190. 985-327-5407.
It has been over three years since a day was missed in the Dining Diary. To browse through all of the entries since 2008, go here.
