Home Slice, Take 2

I first talked about Home Slice Pizza back in October. While I had high praise for their wonderful food, I also lamented the fact that I had only been there once. Whelp, over the long Christmas break, I righted that wrong.

My mom was in town for Christmas. Shortly after she arrived, we made up a “to do” list for the visit, just to make sure the week didn’t get away from us. There’s nothing worse than boarding your return flight and realizing you didn’t do anything. (Of course, I can also argue that there’s nothing better than that as well.) I printed out an empty calendar for the week and proceeded to fill it in:

  1. Monday: Sleep in. Eat. Take a Nap. Eat. Go to Bed.
  2. Tuesday: Sleep in. Eat. Take a Nap. Eat. Go to Bed.
  3. Wednesday: Sleep in. Eat. Take a Nap. Eat. Go to Bed.
  4. etc.

While this worked perfectly fine for me, it didn’t past muster with the rest of the crew. So we brainstormed all the stuff we actually wanted to get done. (Which, to be fair, still contained a large amount of sleeping and eating.) Of all the things we listed, what’s important right now is that for Friday, December 26, 2008 we wrote: “Go to Home Slice Pizza!”

Pizza Eating Out Tip #1. If it’s Friday night and over a holiday and it’s a popular pizza-eating destination, consider rescheduling.

We got there around 8 pm and the wait was about an hour. A bit long, but not too bad. If it were just me, I easily would have stuck around and waited. After all, there were plenty of places to stand and Home Slice would have allowed me to drink all the beer I wanted. But with a couple hungry kids in tow, we decided to come back Monday night.

We headed over to Shady Grove instead. You’ll never guess what happened there. Ready? Everybody ordered chips and queso and I didn’t have any. It was probably my one and only moment of strength during the entire break. Wish I could have kept it up. Anyway, we sat outside (sorry to everyone who lives where it’s 20°F on Boxing Day) but eventually decided to move inside when it got too windy.

Ironically, the temperature dropped about fifty degrees as we passed the doors and entered the main dining room. We (mostly) ordered burgers, which, although one of my favoritest foods ever, was a poor substitute for that thin-crust, NY style pizza I’d been dreaming about ever since I woke up from my second nap that afternoon.

Fortunately, since this was a vacation, Friday turned to Saturday turned to Sunday turned to Monday in a total span of about three hours. It was finally time to satisfy that pizza craving.

Pizza Eating Out Tip #2. Don’t assume that just because it’s Monday night that you’re the only one on the planet who decides to have pizza.

As we drove down Congress and passed Home Slice for the second time in seventy-two hours, we noticed a long, long line outside again. Dang it! To make a long story short: we put our names in around 6:50 pm. The pizza hit the table at 9:00 pm. That’s when I suddenly had a theory. Perhaps this wasn’t the best pizza it town. It was conceivable that the plan was to starve the customers to the point where you could serve them tomato sauce and styrofoam on cardboard and they’d think it was the greatest thing ever.

I kid! Seriously, the pizza is still very good and still definitely worth the wait. Our waiter apologized for the delay and explained that they were short-staffed that night. Frankly, it happens. I really don’t mind. I was on vacation and had no other plans than to get that pizza.

So if you live in (or will be visiting) Austin, do stop by. Just maybe call ahead if you happen to be in a hurry and you really would rather not eat cheeseburgers in a freezing Shady Grove dining room.

Footnote: I think one of my favorite things about pizza is the leftovers. Here’s my secret for re-heating. Put a slice on a plate and microwave for about forty-five seconds. Then put the slice on the George Foreman grill for another three or four minutes. This fully revives the pizza without being soggy. In fact, nine falls out of ten, I find the leftovers to be better than the fresh. But that’s because I really like crispy crusts and the grill will give you just that!



8 Responses to “Home Slice, Take 2”

Christy said
on
January 9, 2009 at 1:04 am

Dang it…now I want pizza. Hmm…maybe for dinner.

Michelle said
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January 9, 2009 at 5:11 am

A pizza stone in the oven is a great way to reheat pizza and get a cripsy crusy as well.

Biz said
on
January 9, 2009 at 6:50 am

I’ve never had NY style pizza before -can you believe it?

Jennifer said
on
January 9, 2009 at 7:59 am

I never thought of using the GF! I will have to try that. We have party pizza friday every friday night (except we get delivered) and I am in my pajamas!

Meg said
on
January 9, 2009 at 10:12 am

What great pizza revival tips!!! I will have to get my husband to that place next time we visit Austin!

txdona said
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January 9, 2009 at 11:56 am

Home Slice is one of our favorite places to eat in Austin as well. Love those garlic knots and pear gorganzola salad! YUM! We usually get there before 6pm so typically dont have to long of a wait. Or, on Saturdays we hit the lake first for a walk/run/feed the ducks and then head over to Home Slice for lunch. A great start to the weekend! 🙂

Nicole said
on
January 10, 2009 at 6:23 pm

Mmmmm… pizza.

Quix said
on
January 12, 2009 at 10:38 am

Ooh! Good revival tip. I usually just oven bake mine for about 10 minutes and find that if it’s sorta crappy pizza in the first place, it actually tastes better!