BROADWAY PIZZERIA // WOOD-FIRED AT ITS BEST

BROADWAY PIZZERIA // WOOD-FIRED AT ITS BEST

In a college town where pizza is considered its own food group, it’s no surprise that there’s a pizza place on every corner. However, there’s one place in Tuscaloosa that has been serving T-town folks authentic wood-fired pizza for over ten years. Owner Eric Wyatt says it all started while working part-time at a Papa John’s Pizza. “It occurred to me that no one in Tuscaloosa offered authentic wood-fired pizza for delivery. Since I lived up Rice Mine Road, I was well aware of the growth happening all around me. I knew that the chain pizza places could only serve about half of the North River area, and I wanted to be the one that fixed that problem,” says Wyatt.
Enter Broadway Pizzeria, a hidden gem which is literally hidden in the fact that I drove by it twice before finally making the correct turn into the parking lot. Though I’d eaten food from Broadway before, I had never really paid attention to its exact location. I had always known it wasn’t too far from the Randall-Reilly building, but that’s about as far as my brain could reference in terms of Broadway’s location.
With a history of only eating their calzones, my husband and I decided to give the pizza a try for Sunday lunch. We were welcomed by a large menu board boasting an assortment of food options as well as the staff behind the counter yelling “welcome to Broadway” upon entering the building. A montage of pizza toppings filled the menu in addition to their specialty pizzas, The Manhattan, The Bambino, Cheese Steak, and Spicy Buffalo Chicken. I was honestly overwhelmed by the variety of pizzas and other items that the restaurant served. Wood-fired wings and muffaletas caught my eye, but I knew I was on a mission to have pizza. After perusing the pizza options, we decided to go with a 12 inch Bambino pizza featuring pepperoni, ham, Italian sausage, beef, bacon, and mozzarella. Since I felt guilty for ordering a pizza sans veggies, we opted to split a chef salad to appease the dietitian in me. While we waited on our food, I took in the ambiance around me. Black and white checkered floors and adequate seating was pleasing to my eye while a TV in the corner kept my husband busy with sports updates.
The chef salad came first accompanied by Captain’s Wafer crackers and an ample amount of blue cheese dressing. The salad was quite large and a more than perfect size to split between the two of us. I was excited to see that there was enough blue cheese dressing for the hubs and I to have with our pizza. Side note: yes, blue cheese or ranch dressing with pizza is delicious. After woofing down our salad, our server brought The Bambino, and it did not disappoint. Generous amounts of meat, cheese, and sauce covered the perfectly textured crust. I consider myself to be a bit of a “crust snob” so it was refreshing to have a crust with good flavor, texture, and just plain ol’ deliciousness. Our server Rachel checked in to make sure we were fine, and I was too busy stuffing my face to indicate how happy my mouth was.
Overall, I was satisfied with our Sunday lunch outing. I was a little disappointed with the few number of folks dining in, especially when I am a sucker for wanting to support family business. Though the atmosphere of the restaurant doesn’t scream romantic, dim, Italian restaurant, it is certainly worthy of a group of friends and family coming to chow down. Though there are tons of pizza options in town, there’s nothing like the flavor that comes from a pizza made in a wood-fired oven. In fact, the owner Eric tells me that their gluten-free pizza is even more delicious just because of the way it’s cooked. The staff is more than accommodating and the price is hard to beat for the quality of food that Broadway churns out.
Broadway Pizzeria is located at 2880 Rice Mine Road and open from 11:00 a.m. till 9:30 p.m. with a 10:30 p.m. closing on Fridays and Saturdays. Tweet us @ThePlanetWeekly and let us know where you are eating!

Sheena Gregg, MS, RDN,LD is a registered dietitian and local “Filipino foodie.” Follow her on Twitter @AFilipinoFoodie