Eyptian Pizza

When I first moved to the area I remember asking a co-worker where to get good pizza. He mentioned Egyptian Pizza, and while I drove by their location in Belvedere Square a million times since,  I hadn't developed the courage to walk through the doors. I wasn't sure what "Egyptian" pizza meant, and besides, Ryan's Daughter is 100 feet away. To get me to forgo a chance to drink a good pint and eat a Reuben is asking a lot. However, Groupon, once again came through in a big big way.
For reasons I'm not privy to I've become a hummus eating machine the past few years. While perusing their menu for an appetizer I came across Foul. It's very much like hummus with the notable difference being fava beans replacing the garbanzo beans in hummus. The texture is a bit like refried beans and it has a nice garlic flavor. The pita bread they serve for dipping is awesome. It's not the best pita I've ever had but it's definitely up there. Even if you aren't a huge fan of hummus or foul, it's worth ordering just to try their pita.

As for pizza, we decided to order one more traditional style pizza and another that we considered semi-exotic (at least as far as pizzas go). The first was the Romano pizza. The Romano has mozzarella cheese, garlic herb butter, roasted garlic, red bell peppers, slivered green onions, marinated eggplant and goat cheese. I really liked the addition of goat cheese as it made for a very creamy texture. And while I don't see it on their online menu, I'm pretty sure sundried tomatos were on the pizza. Typically, I'm not a huge fan of sundried tomatos and their overpowering flavor, but mixed in with all the other ingredients it added just enough of a burst of sweetness. The best part of their pizza is the crust. The woodfire oven the pizza's are baked in add a flavor you're not going to find in a typical pizza shop.

The second pizza we chose was the Wild Mushroom pizza. This pizza has fresh sliced tomatoes, caramelized garlic cloves, mushrooms, marinated potatoes and mozzarella. No, this isn't a list of crazy ingredients nobody has ever heard of, but I haven't ordered a potato pizza too many times in my life. Personally, I loved this pizza. It didn't have huge flavor, but the creamy texture you get from the potatos is excellent and extremely unique in a pizza. And if you are a fan of mushrooms the flavor is very nice. Most importantly the tomatoes give the pizza just enough acidity/sweetness to keep this pizza from being too one note.

The restaurant itself is kind of small. We got lucky and didn't have to wait very long but on a busy weekend evening I can see wait time being an issue. Big parties (I'm talking bigger than 4) would probably be better served going somewhere else as this is a "take a date" kind of place with it's small intimate dining room.

Overall, I was very pleased with my trip to Egyptian Pizza. Nothing that I ate was out of this world, but if you're looking to try a pizza that goes beyond the everyday toppings and combinations this is great place to visit. The next time I'm in Belvedere Square Ryan's Daughter is going to have some competition.

Price: Reasonable
Recommendation: Give them a visit.
What to order: Wild Mushroom Pizza and Foul