The Venue
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| Venue Outside |
121
Iowa Ave.
Iowa
City, IA 52240
(319)
337-2010
This
restaurant is located stone is in the historic college town of Iowa
City, Iowa. Among many college bars lies this classy establishment,
with thick dark curtains, classy wood paneling, tile flooring, and
high end Italian food. Aside from the pizza, common favorites include
the meatball sub, prosciutto chicken, and chicken milanese. The wait
staff was professional,and accommodating. One thing to note is try to
make reservations even on weeknights. They luckily got our large
group in at the last minute. Major props to them!
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| Menu |
The Pizza
Chicago Style: No
Crust Thickness: Thin-Average
Menu:
http://www.bastaiowacity.com/images/Basta%20Dinner%20menu%207-7-16.pdf
We had
eight
participants
so we ordered five
pizzas. They offer one size, somewhere between 12” to 14”. They
serve three types of crusts, regular, thin, and gluten free.
Margherita
-
San Marzano tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil, extra-virgin olive oil,
Regular, $13.00.
Salsiccia
–
Handmade Italian sausage, San Marzano tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil
Crust, $15.00.
Pepperoni x2 - Regular Crust, $13.50.Lobster – Maine Lobster, sweet corn, fire roasted leeks, pancetta, mozzarella, ricotta, Regular Crust, $18.00.
Pepperoni x2 - Regular Crust, $13.50.Lobster – Maine Lobster, sweet corn, fire roasted leeks, pancetta, mozzarella, ricotta, Regular Crust, $18.00.
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| Chef making pizzas |
The Verdict,
After cooking, the
pizzas cut into triangular shaped wedges. The sauce had a nice spicy
zing to it, it was delicious! The crust was a little burnt on the
edges of some of the pizzas, yet it was chewy, which is terrific for
my tastes. Unfortunately, it was soggy in the middle of most pizzas.
The pepperoni. Where do I start?!? It was simply the best I've ever
had!!!!! Upon seeing the chef make the pizzas, I noticed the the
pepperoni had big chunks of fat on it-no wonder why it tasted SO
good. It was clearly not your mass store bought topping-this was high
quality ingredients.
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| Oven |
The cheese also was high quality. The entire
time I kept thinking that this place is about on par with the Lincoln
wine bar in Mount Vernon, Iowa. The main difference lies in the
crust-the wine bar's was thinner and less chewy than Basta's. The
sausage on the Salsiccia was spicy...awesome for those of us who
enjoy a little heat. Many participants raved about the lobster and
its white sauce. In fact, the Lobster and Salsiccia tied for the
favorite pizza. So, if you have some extra cash in your wallet and
want to try out Basta's, you won't be disappointed!
Here are our ratings, where 1 =
worst and 10 = best.
Overall 8.94
Overall 8.94
Cheese 8.63
Sauce 8.25
Topping 9.00
Crust 8.25
Venue 9.00
Favorite: Lobster
/ Salsiccia (Spicy Sausage)
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| Lobster, $18.00 |
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| Margherita, 13.00 |
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| Pepperoni, 13.50 |
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| Salsiccia, 15.00 |
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| Slices |
