Pizza Port: Round Two in Carlsbad

Place:
Port Carlsbad
571 Carlsbad Village Dr.
(760) 720-7007

Time:
5pm (the day after the winter solstice, so it was dark and felt late)
22 December 2009

Investigation Led By:
Agents Devon, James and Joe

Pizza:
7.5 out of 10

Atmosphere:
7 out of 10

While the pizza at Port Solana was some of the best pizza yet investigated, its sister port, Port Carlsbad, proved itself to be the Cinderella, only without a fairy god mother. We've had our eye on this pie factory for months, since late last summer, in hopes for an experience that sequels Port Solana. The pizza was good, the people are nice (and no doubt eye-candy), but nothing extraordinary. With all the many pizzerias around San Diego, Port Carlsbad does not warrant further investigation. Perhaps our anxiety to visit Port Carlsbad placed our expectations at an unreasonably high level, or after a dozen investigations our taste for good pizza is dull and needs honing. Perhaps, but our experiences are all that we experience, and this review is based on those experiences.

We decided to split a large pie, half with Vallarta and the rest with the Solana. The Pizza Vallarta consists of Canadian bacon, olives, onions, and jalapenos. The Pizza Solana is a seafood special containing shrimp, clams, onions, bell peppers and mushrooms. We learned after digging in that the Solana seafood style did not mesh well with the spicy Vallarta. The notable points about the Vallarta were the spicy jalapenos and the Canadian bacon. The Vallarta is definitely spicy, so those of the faint of heart look out. And the combination of Canadian bacon and jalapenos was original and nicely complimented each other. The shrimp and claims on the Solana, however, did not seem to have the same fate. The seafood pizza was new, but their compatibility seems more like a struggle for something new rather than something delicious. Agent James thought the pizza was good, and it may be the seafood pizza requires a certain mindset going in.

The pizza bread was whole grain and properly cooked. Both the crust and the bottom had a crunchy outer shell and the inside was tender, soft and had just the right amount of chewy texture. The mozzarella cheese was stringy and not too greasy. The greasy factor is a sort of feature you notice only after having dealt with grease problems. The grease factor for pizza is analogous to what people say about sex: you don't really notice it until you're not getting any. But in the case of the grease factor it should actually be: you don't really notice it until it is ruining a slice of pizza. The bottom of our pizza stayed crunchy until the last piece was in our mouths. We had no soggy crust issues due to excess grease.

I asked Agent Devon, being our in-house architect, what he thought of the structure of Port Carlsbad. He was not very impressed and replied by saying something along the lines that Port Carlsbad's outstanding architectural feature is its lack of architecture. And after he made that point it was clear that we were in basically a large box. Nonetheless the interior design made up for this lack of architecture, so it wasn't as bad as our critical architect made it out to be.

The theme, naturally, was surfing. Half a dozen long boards hung from the high ceilings, and black and white pictures of people surfing in what looked like the 1960's were hang up around the tables. The bar and the tables, and pretty much all other furniture was polished wood. Near the front door toward the bar sat a giant brewing tank. The music was difficult to hear, the volume was low and the crowd murmur high. From what I could make out it didn't sound like we missed much. I asked Agents Devon and James what type of music they were playing. Devon said "beachy music" and James said it sounded like 1980's country. I don't think those two analyzes are compatible with each other, but this will give a feel for what we were half listening to. The pizza ports are not only known for their pizza, but for their own handcrafted beers. In fact, pizza port is making a name for themselves nationally after recently taking home some awards from a prestigious beer festival in Denver.

So, we decided to see what all the fuss was about. Agent Devon suggested that we order the Chronic, but I told him that we investigated that beer in Solana. We took a second look over their brews and opted for the Sharkbite, a hoppy ale that promised its bite. I wasn't sure how it would go wiht the beer, but I already felt like the beer choice was taking too long and had to act fast. Fortunately, the beer and pizza worked together well, even if the beer overpowered the pizza pound for pound.

We were helped by a short brunette when ordering our pizza who was friendly, and worked with me through my embarrassing moment when I could not figure out the proper amount of tip to write on the receipt. I asked her if she could just fill it out for me, which in hind sight was a ridiculous thing to do, but that is what happened. I ended up taking the receipt back, focusing for a moment, and writing down the tip like a normal human being. We then migrated over to the bar where e were helped by a sexy blond with a nice smile, who directed us to the list of their own hand crafted brews.

Port Carlsbad is a bit pricey but this seems to compensate for the quality. I wouldn't say that Port Carlsbad is overpriced, like a $300 umbrella I once found in Banana Republic. A large pizza ran about $23 and a pitcher of beer about $17. And this is a sort of place where the pizza AND beer are a must. You cannot have the one without the other.