Wood Fired Pizza’s Ingredients Please the Palate

(photo: tampabay.com)

Pizza is to college like peanut butter is to jelly; they just go together. With that said, it’s difficult to find pizza places that’ll satisfy an appetite for variety when you live in or around campus. Wood Fired Pizza solves this problem. Being located right near the corner of Bearss Avenue and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, Wood Fired Pizza is just a couple miles away from University of South Florida’s main campus.

(via tampabay.com)

All of the pizzas are cooked in a large, wood-fired oven that resides in the back left corner of the dining room. Using this particular type of oven to cook pizza gives it a signature look and taste. If you like to eat the crust, this is the place to go.

Not only is the pizza cooked differently, but their toppings are also unique. “The Big Sexy ” is a popular favorite on the menu, featuring toppings such as ricotta cheese, artichoke, Brussels sprouts and pistachios on naturally leavened dough with an oil based sauce. These flavors tickle the palate and can be washed down with one of the many craft beer or wine selections the restaurant offers.

Pizza is not the only thing they specialize in: there are specialty appetizers featured on the menu like Burrata–a mix of black truffles, mozzarella and cream–and wood-fired meatballs. They also cater to students with a daily lunch buffet at the low price of $9.99.

The restaurant is hard to find, being that it’s nestled between a nail salon and a martial arts studio, but it’s worth the find when you take your first bite of delicious, wood-fired pizza.

For more information on Wood Fired Pizza’s menu and location visit their website here!

Unique Eats Close to Home

As a college student, it’s pretty easy to settle into a routine with classes, studying, working out and eating. Midway through the semester you’re probably pretty bored with the same few meals you cook over and over again or the same restaurants that have become your go-to. Tampa is a melting pot of cultures, which is reflected in the local restaurant scene. So why is it so hard to find a new and exciting place to grab some food around the university? It’s not. Just ask around and students will tell you where they go to get the best food.

Mr. Dunderbak’s

Mr. Dunderbak’s was suggested by multiple students who claim that this spot is the best place to get traditional European comfort food and the best beer in town (if you’re old enough, that is.) It’s clear from the moment you step foot inside that this restaurant holds true to European-style dining. The tables are long benches which small parties are asked to share, the atmosphere is uniquely pub-like and customers drink out of oversized room temperature mugs.

Mr. Dunderbak’s is everything a college student could ask for: huge portions of great food at reasonable prices. And if you’re missing mom’s comfort food from home, this restaurant can help with that too: essentially every menu item is a hearty option that makes everything seem just a bit better. If you look at the menu and feel overwhelmed (likely because it’s near impossible to pronounce most of it) just ask your waiter for a suggestion or two.  The sauerbraten, one of the most traditional items on the menu, is perfect for roast beef lovers, and the wide array of schnitzel options are great for anyone wanting to try something different. They also offer homemade applesauce and homemade apple strudel to satisfy your sweet tooth.

With Mr. Dunderbak’s located just 3.5 miles north of campus, this is the perfect spot for students to take a break from the books and enjoy some uniquely delicious food.

What is Flan?

(photo: 12tomatoes)

While flan may be an increasingly popular dessert dish, how many people actually know what it is?  It’s not only important to know what you’re putting in your body with this fluffy dessert, but also what makes it so yummy.

To learn exactly what flan is, find a recipe for it, that way you also learn how to make it in the process. ASOTO at allrecipes.com provides a straightforward recipe for flan.

Gathering information from the list of ingredients, it’s clearly the vanilla extract and white sugar that make flan so sweet, but where does it get the fluffy texture from?

The texture comes from the step in the process in which the eggs are beaten together with the milk and vanilla.  After being cooked, the eggs expand and give flan that fluffy texture without compromising the taste.  Flan’s syrup gets its brown/golden color from the way the sugar caramelizes when it is melted.  The liquid sugar is poured over the flan before it is served to make it even sweeter.

Now that you know what flan is and how it is made, hopefully you can appreciate the hard work that is put into making it just as much as you enjoy its delectable flavor!