Brix Wood Fired Pizza

At last night's west suburban get together at LSC, I mentioned a new pizza place in downtown Lombard...at which point I was accused of keeping it to myself so I guess I've been found out and now have to share

I've enjoyed several pizzas here over the past couple of months. Each pizza featured a lovely crisp crust and a softer center, all cooked in a hot wood-fired brick oven. The space is small (about 5 tables) but clean and bright. Menus are posted on screen-printed fabric signs as you walk in. This is an order at the counter kind of place. Friendly staff bring food to your table. A couple of tables are available on the sidewalk outside.

Offerings include a variety of pre-designed pizzas or a build your own. Salads and sandwiches round out the menu. I've enjoyed the Portobella-- with roasted mushroom, basil pesto, garlic and mozzarella cheese and the Very Veggie with Roma tomatoes, sliced red and yellow peppers, sliced Bermuda onions, fresh cut spinach and mushrooms with mozzarella and goat cheese.

Pizzas are large individual size and prices hoover around $10.00. Drinks are the canned/bottled variety.

It is in downtown Lombard on the north side of St. Charles Rd.

Brix Wood Fired Pizza
104 W. St Charles Road
Lombard, IL 60148-2231
ph (630) 691-1900
fax (630) 691-1905
http://www.brixwoodfiredpizza.com

Per Diannie's post, I tried Brix this week. A pretty mixed bag for me.

Nice oven and people. Interesting selection of pizzas. This place could be really good, but they make some choices, either for convenience or economy that deliver a disappointing result.

The crusts are pre-made, maybe even frozen, but certainly not hand-tossed or with that simple crusty freshness that the best have. Yes, crispy, and with a nicely chewy top/center, but the bottom is a little too chewy, verging on the cardboard-y if not quite there, not the satisfying snap it should have.

Slight burns on the outer rim, no blisters or bubbles (I really should have a picture here). The crust is a lot more flat and regular than it should be.

Pizza Margherita is made with tomato sauce, not tomatoes, and regular, not fresh, mozzarella. Nice massive leaves of basil and little nuggets of roasted garlic round it out. Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad pizza, but the aspect is a small cheese pizza, not a Margherita.

The chicken prosciutto pizza was better, since they chose to use tomatoes, crisp shavings of ham, chunks of chicken and sweet onion.

I would go to Brix if I was in the neighborhood and wanted a pizza. Some of the combinations are quite tasty. It just bugs me that everything is there to do something very good, and for some reason they chose not to do that.

Sorry Diannie, hope you don't regret sharing, 'cause I don't regret going. I just want them to set their sights higher. Show the crust some love, please, and use the freshest ingredients all the time, not just selectively.

Brix is now Bricks Woodfired Pizza and Cafe with a new location and a reformulated crust.

They've moved into expanded quarters slightly west of the original location and changed the name to avoid confusion with another establishment in South Carolina (?).

Husband and I ate there yesterday for lunch. The new restaurant is over 2x the size of the old one. The oven's the same, still firing pizza at over 650 degrees. The crust is crispier and I saw no evidence of it being premade or frozen. We tried a custom pie with goat cheese, Parmesan, mushroom and Italian sausage. The mushrooms were fresh, not canned or sauteed.

Other menu options include salads, sandwiches, soup and a few apps. They've introduced fountain drinks as well.

Bricks new location
132 W. St Charles
Lombard
630-691-1900
www.brickswoodfiredpizza.com

Looks interesting. Do you know if they allow BYOB (it does not look as though they have beer or wine)?

They do serve beer and wine. I neglected to note what's available but I expect a quick phone call would answer that question.

Thanks, Diannie.