pizza

Toppers

Posted on by Amanda @ The Hungry Wanderers

On Sunday night, after returning from another trip out to Virginia Beach, the Husband and I wanted a quick dinner on our way home and I decided I was craving pizza.  However, I didn’t want any of the pizza that we’ve had in the past.  So, the Husband pulled out his iPhone and started searching… and found Toppers.  We’d never heard of it before, but we figured you can’t screw up pizza too badly so why not?

When we walked in, it looked like any other delivery/take-out pizza place.  There were a number of specials on their dry-erase board and we decided to try two pizzas.  They had a lot of unique combinations and quickly decided on two.  We hung out for the 15 minutes it took to make them and headed home to dig in!

Our first selection was the Buffalo Chicken Topper.  Their website describes it as having a mild buffalo/ranch sauce, mozarella, bacon bits, diced buffalo chicken, and more buffalo and ranch sauce.  (I got excited and took slices before taking photos!)

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Our second selection was the Mac N’ Cheese (of course!)  :-)  This one had pizza dough, macaroni, and mozzarella and cheddar cheese.

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The missing slices!

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These pizzas were AMAZING! So very good! We were so pleased with finding this location.  The Buffalo Chicken pizza was the right proportion of spicy and creamy while the mac n cheese was creamy, cheesy, and doughy.  We had lots of leftovers and found that they were great both cold and reheated.

We will definitely be going back!

Checking out the website, it looks like you can find Toppers in the following states: Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and North Carolina.  Which one of these doesn’t belong? ;-)

Have any of you ever had Toppers?

Oh, and for those of you in Charlotte, there’s two locations: University City and on South Blvd between Woodlawn and Tyvola.

What’s your favorite pizza chain?

Toppers Pizza on Urbanspoon

Brixx in Dilworth

Posted on by Amanda @ The Hungry Wanderers

On Monday night, my cousins stayed with us on their way to Auburn from DC.  While trying to determine where to go for dinner, the Husband and I went back and forth about whether to go to a new restaurant or one of our favs.  We end up choosing a fav but a new location for the two of us: Brixx in Dilworth.

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When we arrived it was pretty busy so we decided to sit outside even though it was in the 90s.  To cool us off, we all decided to get a beer.  The Husband and I love all of the options that Brixx offers (and each location has a slightly different selection).

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The four of us were pretty hungry, and while many of us contemplated getting the Brixx Salad, we decided to get the Wood Fired Pita Chips and Three Dips.

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So good!  (There were way more pitas, but I was too hungry to remember to snap a photo!)  While the menu calls them chips, they’re really super warm and tasty pita triangles.  There was a consensus that the roasted red pepper hummus was the best.

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As for our entrees, I debated for a long time about what to order.  Half the table considered pasta while the other half was thinking pizza.

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Then the waitress reminded me that you can do a half and half pizza! That helped cut down the options just a bit.  I ended up ordering half Americo (mushrooms and pepperoni) and half Chicken Florentine on a wheat crust..  It was enjoyable, however, I’d prefer small pepperoni slices.  So excited to now remember the half and half option!

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The Husband decided to mix it up a bit and went with pasta.  He had the Shrimp Carbonara (sautéed shrimp, bacon, red onions, and sun-dried tomatoes tossed with alfredo sauce and penne pasta).  He thought the shrimp were excellent!

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He’s looking forward to pizza next time we visit though.  Perhaps I’ll mix it up and get pasta myself :-)

We had planned on getting frozen yogurt afterward at a new place in the NODA area: Tasty Yo.  One of the creators of this place is a former student of my cousin’s and she was really excited to check it out.  Unfortunately we arrived 45 minutes after it closed :-(  We promised that we would check it out soon and let her (and you!) know what we think.  I’m quite excited as we don’t have many frozen yogurt places in the Queen City and driving around NODA for the first time showed us how cute and cool it is.  Can’t wait to check it out soon!

Brixx Wood-Fired Pizza (Dilworth) on Urbanspoon

Brixx

Posted on by Amanda @ The Hungry Wanderers

Back when the Husband was writing the blog, he posted about Brixx, one of our favorite local chains here in Charlotte.  For the first year or so living in Charlotte, we heard about Brixx but didn’t check it out and didn’t know what the big deal was – it’s just pizza, right?  Wrong!  Some time in the last year, a friend’s daughter was selling Brixx coupons as a fundraiser for her high school basketball team.  We thought – what the heck – bought some and tried it out.  And we fell in love!

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First, there’s their starters and appetizers.  One that we’re big fans of is their wood-fired pita chips and three dips – 3 different hummuses that are soooo good!  (We didn’t get any on this trip though :-)  )

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Brixx has a huge selection of beers on tap and each Brixx location may have slightly different options to choose from.  Many are local to North and South Carolina and Georgia and we usually go with those.  Unfortunately, I can’t remember which ones we ordered on this visit about two weeks ago, but they were good :-)

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To start, we both ordered the Brixx Salad.  It is possibly my most favorite restaurant salad – simple yet delicious.  It contains mixed greens, creamy goat cheese, roasted pine nuts, croutons, and a homemade balsamic vinaigrette.  I believe I order this every time!

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Brixx has a wide selection of freshly made pizzas.  You can choose which crust you want (white or wheat) and even vegans can enjoy the pizzas as they have vegan cheese available if you so desire.  On this trip, I ordered a wild mushroom pizza that was topped with arugala and parmesan.

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The Husband ordered the Bronx Bomber which contains a variety of meats and possibly gorgonzola (he gets this when he knows I don’t plan on sharing).

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Next time we go, I’ll be sure to get a picture of the pizza list so you can see all of the delicious options!  And for those of you not craving pizza, they do have a long list of pastas and other entrees.  We haven’t tried any yet, but we’ll be sure to review them when we do :-)

Brixx Pizza on Urbanspoon