Weekend Foodie Warriors – Take 54!
Hello hello, again, Foodie Friends 🙂 Hope you’ve had a great week so far! For this edition of Foodie Adventures, we’re taking you to the renowned Myles Pizza Pub for our review of their infamous pizza, and check out two new recipes we tested and approved!
I’ve been so lucky to have made so many great foodie friends living in Greenville over the years. Coming up on three this June! One of my most recent friends I met, Jackie, who I helped write our Valentine’s Day guide with (specializing in non-dairy and allergen friendly restaurants), recently told me about another pizza place that I had to go check out that was becoming a local favorite. I had heard a lot about Myles Pizza from all the hype when they first moved to Greenville from Bowling Green, Ohio.
I love reading stories about how they decided to pack up everything and moved from Ohio to Greenville, and how dedicated their fanbase was to follow them here or come and visit from their native Ohio. When a restaurant has that kind of a cult following, you definitely have to add it to some kind of a food bucket list and check it out. Jackie took this picture of me outside of Myles, as my obligatory touristy shot, saying “Here I am at Myles Pizza” to anyone who saw it!
They have a great outdoor covered patio, where we sat last week when we visited. We were lucky enough to have Meredith, the owner’s daughter and head baker at Myles, sit with us while we ate and tell us a little more about the dishes and the history of the restaurant itself while we waited.
We started out with drinks, a rose and a hard cider. The rose brand I’ve had before (1911 Established), who make a really awesome apple cider donut flavored hard cider, and the other one (Artifact Hard Cider) was a newer one that I hadn’t heard of, but tasted really good!
Jackie was a big fan of their Greek salads so we definitely had to try that out as well! I’m going to humblebrag here for a minute because I absolutely love how this picture turned out! If only all salads look this good! The dressing on the Greek salad definitely made all the difference. Meredith actually sells it in to-go containers as well in case you want to take it home and make your own salad creations!
After that it was on to the carbs! We had to try their house breads and John got their club sandwich (see picture for that below). The cheesy bread we ended up going with was the tomato bread. This one was topped with garlic butter, tomato slices, oregano, and two types of cheese – on 1/2 we had the mozzarella that they’re known for, and the other half had non-dairy cheese for myself and Jackie! Super glad to hear when we came to visit that not only did they have non-dairy and dairy-free options for both cheeses and pizza sauces but also gluten free options.
Both Meredith and her daughter are gluten-free, so she made it a goal of hers to make gluten-free items on the menu that tasted as close to the original thing as possible. Knowing that my mom is gluten free, I definitely wanted to try something that was gluten-free on the menu. So, the pizza that I got had both non-dairy cheese and her infamous homemade gluten free crust.
She made sure to stress that this was not like the crust that you would get from frozen gluten-free pizzas or things like that and this had more of a crispier, normal pizza dough like consistency, which is quite polarizing to some people who taste it, surprisingly. Some gluten-free folks came in expecting the crusts they had grown used to, and love the new version, while others were disappointed it didn’t taste more like they were expecting it to. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but as someone who typically doesn’t eat gluten free crust on pizza, it definitely did taste a lot more like a regular pizza crust as opposed to any sort of cardboard cracker like gluten free crust I’ve had in the past.
The pizza I got was the “Chicken in the Greens Lovers”, which had their dairy free pesto sauce, chicken, and artichoke hearts.
Jackie got their “Breakfast Lovers” pizza, which included eggs, ham, and bacon strips.
What you can’t see and what isn’t clear maybe by the pictures is that these pizzas are assembled almost like a deep dish pie would, with the crust, then tomato sauce (or whatever sauce you pick), then the toppings, and then the cheese on top.
And when they say ham and bacon, they mean full, thick slices of this stuff layered underneath of the cheese, so when you’re cutting through the pizza, you’re cutting through whole slices of ham and cheese and veggies, which is awesome!
The sauces are also really unique here. Their tomato sauce does contain some dairy, just to be clear. I’m not sure how much, or what kind, as the recipe is a closely guarded family secret. I did get the chance to meet Chip, the owner, who has been making pizzas for 40 years of his life. He chuckled with a twinkle in his eye when I tried to point out certain ingredients I thought I tasted in the sauce. To me, it definitely reminded me of more of a New Jersey style tomato sauce, with a very particular type of tomato in it (possibly a San Marzano variety), a good bit of oregano, and a distinct sweetness. It wasn’t like some of the overpoweringly sweet tomato sauces I’ve had in the past, as it was a very balanced sauce, but it was definitely fun trying to guess what was in it!
At one point, Chip told me a story about how in the past, some people have tried to take his sauce to a food scientist who could break down all the compounds and ingredients of what was in the sauce. However, he has never ever divulged the ratios, so no one has been able to figure out what’s in it (yet). We love to make a good copycat recipe here on my blog! My cornbread recipe (a copycat) is obviously one of the most popular that we have made so far. However, I promised Chip that I wouldn’t attempt to copycat his sauce, as I’m no food scientist, and he laughed. We’ll simply go and enjoy their wonderful creations more often! 😋🍕
The restaurant itself has a really cool vibe, and there is a lot of stained glass and Tiffany lamps. Kind of old school but with a new school Vibe, with Paris blue walls, lots of neon signs, and an old Diner type vibe in some ways as well. If you didn’t check out Jackie’s website about the Flushy Awards, definitely take a look at that for Myles Pizza Pub’s very unique bathrooms with the gorgeous stained-glass (as you can see below).
Of course, we couldn’t end our meal without dessert! Meredith went to culinary school and has crafted a fantastic gluten free cookie recipe as well. She let us know that she actually has a specific flour mixture that is custom-made and ordered for these cookies, which were handed to us fresh out of the oven, warm, and melting into a puddle of gooey sweetness in our hands. The two kinds we got were oatmeal raisin and the “Monster” cookie, which included chocolate chips, M&Ms, and peanut butter, which I could not partake in unfortunately. My oatmeal raisin cookie smells like what a hug should feel like if that makes any sense. Biting into this warm cookie was like getting a hug from your grandma on a winter’s day.
I love how close Myles was to everything too. Still close-ish to downtown, but far enough away that there was plenty of parking around and a great atmosphere. They also do $2 beers on Wednesdays, and there is always plenty of seating to go around, whether you like inside or outside. They’re also looking to get some picnic tables for one of the parking lots they have, now the weather is getting nice! If you have not been to Myles, you definitely need to go and see what all the hype is about! It is absolutely 100% worth the trip and we may have just found our next favorite pizza place! Thank you so much to the Myles Pizza Pub family & team for having us and being such sweet hosts.💜😊
Asian Inspired Lunch
Greenville, SC
Jamie decided to throw together a lunch for his growing team at work, and it doesn’t hurt that one of his first team members was a professional chef for 10 years! They decided to go for Asian inspired as the theme for the lunch, with the following menu: pork fried rice, buffalo chicken wontons, beef pot stickers (and we cheated and bought sushi from Publix). 🍣
The entire meal was actually a real eye-opener as to how easy it was to cook all three dishes for 10 people. The potstickers and the wontons were prepped the night before, totaling around 1 hour of prep time. The rice for the fried rice, in typical fashion, was also made the night before with a rice cooker and put into the refrigerator.
The potstickers were sautéed and steamed, on site the day of, and the wontons were deep-fried in a shallow pot. The fried rice took around 45 minutes and included the following ingredients: spicy ground sausage, garlic, carrots, onions, eggs, Chinese five-spice, Ginger, sambal, and a mix of white and brown rice.
Jamie said everyone was absolutely pleased with how everything turned out and they made just the right amount of food. We will definitely keep fried rice in mind when hosting large parties with minimal preparation. He also said not to forget the sriracha. 🔥
So how was your weekend, Foodie Friends? Have you tried Myles Pizza Pub yet? What did you think of that cheese pull? What’s the next restaurant we need to review? Sound out in the comments below to let us know your suggestions of what dishes to make or places we should visit next. As always, feel free to like, comment, & share 🤗
