It was Tuesday before I knew we were two days into Pizza Week.  Granted, I never knew such a thing existed, but, dang it, I was missing an excuse to eat pizza!  When we were trying to decide on a place to meet our small group for dinner on Wednesday night, it was determined that we would go to Mellow Mushroom.  I was surprised to learn that I hadn’t blogged about the Mellow, because we’ve dined there consistently for two (of their four) decades.  Our youngest adores the Kosmic Karma pizza and the Esperanza dressing on the salads.  We’ve had great meals (at multiple locations – one that sticks out in my mind was just off the campus of Vanderbilt when we were doing college visits) and one not-so-great meal (at one in downtown Augusta), but the good have far outweighed the bad.

Tonight, we showed up on trivia night at the Hiram location, with a party of ten.  As the trivia teams had already arrived, we originally split into two tables, which wasn’t optimal.  After a brief discussion, we decided to adjourn to the patio.  It wasn’t quite spring (although the next day would be the first official day of spring), but it wasn’t uncomfortably cold.  I never noticed, until today, that the menu varied by location – they had a Hiram- specific menu. Interesting.  And the server, who was extremely pleasant, told us that since the corporate headquarters were just down the road, this was the best Mellow to be found.

Jo started with the Enlightened Spinach salad (fresh spinach topped with dried cherries, apples, homemade candied pecans and feta cheese), which she said was glorious, and followed it with a bowl of the Magic Mushroom soup (a wine and herb broth, creamy Italian MontAmoré cheese, topped with grilled shiitake, button and Portobello mushrooms and fresh chives). She also intended to have a slice or two of my pizza.  She, and two of the other folks in our party had the soup, raved about it and licked their bowls clean.  

I was leaning toward one of the Hiram specials – a pulled pork pizza – but, when I asked about it, the server said she wasn’t fond of the pork pizza and that the second pizza I was considering – the Funky Q Chicken ( BBQ chicken, mozzarella, cheddar, caramelized onions, applewood smoked bacon and a BBQ sauce swirl) was their most popular.  My beloved was more excited about the chicken, so we went that route, with caramelized onions on only two slices.

I’ve always loved the whole wheat crust at MM, and it did not disappoint.  But, the sweet barbecue sauce they make / use doesn’t make for a great pizza sauce.  This will not deter future visits and I’ll go back to my standard – a build-your-own, with pineapple, pepperoni and ham.