Thursday, August 28, 2008

Rockwood Filling Station again

After going to the new Rockwood Filling Station Pizzeria on opening night, I decided to wait a few weeks to try it again. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it the first time, but I wanted to wait for the crowd to calm down and the staff to get into the swing of things.

I went back for a second try a few nights ago with a friend. I had the eggplant pizza that is topped with roasted eggplant, onions, ricotta, and fried capers. The crust was thin and crispy with the right amount of toasty brown. It was not at all burned. I loved the salty fried capers. Maybe I will try that at home. They'd be very good on a salad or in a butter sauce.

My friend had meatballs on his pizza, and he seemed to enjoy his meal. The meatballs are made with pork and duck. I confirmed this with the owner because I overheard the following conversation:

A guy said to the waiter, "There's a rumor that the meatballs are made with duck. Is that true?"
The waiter said, "The meatballs are 100% pork. Who told you they were duck?"
The guy said with a sort of satisfaction in proving someone wrong, "I read it on a local blog Delicious Durham."

It's not every day you hear your own blog mentioned in public, and I was quite certain that the waiter was telling the man inaccurate things. So I walked up to the owner in the bar to ask him to clarify whether or not there is duck in the meatballs. He said there certainly is duck in the meatballs and that he would correct his waiter.

I don't like the suggestion that I might be misleading people on this blog. Certainly I offer a large dose of my opinion but I try to be clear on what is factual. I get my facts by either reading on the menu or asking. I'm not going to make statements about what is in a certain dish unless I either know for certain or preface it with words like "I think."

Anyway, after this second visit, it seems like Rockwood is doing well and they have their act together. I highly recommend for people to give it a second try, especially those who went the first week or two it was opened.

My only complaint is that my red Italian wine showed up in what looked like a highball glass. So some people might find that hip and cool, but I'm not one of them. One of the great joys of life is that glassware comes in a variety of shapes and sizes to suit every imaginable kind of beverage. I can't see any good reason why the wine should appear in what is more suitable for a mojito.

7 comments:

SportsBizPro said...

That's definitely good to hear. We'll give it another go in the next few weeks.

leandra said...

I have to say that I was just there for lunch on Tuesday and the pizza was just awful, mushy in the middle (hard to blame the sauce for this as there was barely any on the pizza) but with a super crispy outer crust. They forgot to put cheese on it, so I had to send it back and then the "chicken livers" were golf-ball sized fried and tasteless, totally unappetizing. The owner comped my meal, so at least I didn't have to pay for a pizza I barely ate, but still.

I can only imagine that dinner is better since I've heard so many good reviews of this place, so I am baffled.

K said...

Ewww, that lunch sounds gross. I should have mentioned in my post that the pizzas don't have sauce in the traditional American pizza way. I actually like less sauce. When I had pizza in Naples, where it was invented, it was basically crust with olive oil, tomato slices, basil leaves and cheese. Rockwood is making pizza in that tradition.

Vera said...

i rather like wine in something other than a stemmed glass sometimes. for example, I love the glass they give you at toast, very reminiscent of old European servings around a family dinner table...

plus, i generally drink my wine out of jelly jars at home...:P

Unknown said...

My experience is that the wine there isn't that great, and that you should stick to beer. That's really my only complaint. I like that they slice the pizzas for you now. The first few times I went there, I got quite a workout trying to cut my pizza without it flying across the room.

Anonymous said...

Do people in this town know what a real pizza is supposed to taste like? This was a lousy pizza. A pepperoni pizza with 6 pepperoni pizza sprinkled on the top as a afterthought makes this pizza place one of my least favorite.

yoshimi said...

How were the cannolli???