Blue Baker Bakery, Pizzeria, Deli, Cafe

   As some of you know or may not know, I'm a second semester Paramedic student.  Why do I mention this?  Because I do not have many chances to just drive around with my sister to find a new place to grub down.  And as I have mentioned in a previous post I love pizza, so when we were driving past the Arboretum, the Blue Baker pizzeria obviously caught my eye, so I made my sister turn around and turn into the bakery/pizzeria/deli/cafe.

I of course order my favorite meal...pizza.  I ordered the 9" Three Meat Pizza, but not after much deliberation.  I wasn't expecting the plethora of options that I was awaiting me when I opened the menu.  Not only are do they have pizza, they have sandwiches, pastries, lots and lots of artisan breads and soups.  I even ended up buying a loaf of sourdough bread to go.  But before you say "a 9" pizza isn't going to fill you up," I also ordered a cup of broccoli cheese soup.

   The pizza was okay.  It wasn't the best I've ever had, but it wasn't the worst either.  I would have liked the sauce to have more of a kick, something a bit spicier.  The mini pepperonis didn't really have too much flavor, but they did add a great crunch.  The Italian sausage actually tasted pretty good, again not spicy but still good.  And my favorite ingredient for pizza...bacon was very crispy and I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of bacon that ended up on my pizza. The crust was a little under-done and probably could've used about 5 more minutes in the over to crisp up.  So between the lack luster 3-meats, the just barely par pizza sauce and the wobbly crust (not even a New York style type of crust), I'd only have to rate the pizza a grade of "C"
   But I did say that I ordered a soup, the broccoli cheese soup.  The soup had a great flavor, but I would have liked to have some broccoli pieces so to have something to bite into.  The soup actually was the best part of my dinner; it was creamy, rich and had me actually wanting more.

   My sister ordered the Grilled Indigo sandwich...except instead of focaccia bread (because they were sold out of it) she had it on sourdough.  I didn't try her sandwich, but from what I saw, I'm sure she would've appreciated the sandwich more if the sourdough was toasted(I only know that because I know that my sister loves toasted bread for sandwiches).  However she seemed to like the sandwich nonetheless.  She too had the broccoli cheese soup as her side, but she did have bite sized pieces of broccoli in hers opposed to mine which had none.  Though she had pieces of broccoli in her soup, she couldn't enjoy it because the pieces were fibrous and inedible.

   Even though the pizza wasn't exactly mind blowing or anything, I wouldn't mind coming back to try some of the other menu items, including some amazing looking tarts that were resting on full sheet pans for their public debut (the next day).  I don't know how long this place is going to last, its has quite a few restaurants surrounding it; Macaroni Grill across the street, the Cheesecake Factory behind it, another Italian restaurant right next door, Amy's Ice cream right next to Five Guys Burgers, which is next to the Cheesecake factory.  I won't even start mentioning the places right down the street.  So I guess I'm saying that if you really want to try this place, do it soon, 'cause you don't know how long it'll be there.