Barra

Margarita

 Tonight I went out with a group of friends to Barra, a relatively new restaurant in Philly.  Barra is located at 239 Chestnut Street in Old City in the same space that used to be Paradigm.  Walking up to the door there is a sign advertising the best brick oven pizza in Old City.  I would not go as far as saying it was the best brick oven pizza. 
     My friends and I sampled a good variety from the menu.  We started with one of each salad.  In my opinion the only salad that I remember from tonight is the Wild Mushroom salad.  The lemon thyme vinaigrette was light and the lemon complimented the mushrooms nicely.  The sweet and spicy calamari was very good.  The sweet hits your tongue first followed shortly after with the spice leaving a warm feeling left in your mouth for the next bite.

Gabagool

     We finally get to the pizzas as they come out one at a time.  We ordered 4 pizzas which were all red.  They do offer white pizza but I prefer red.  The pies we ordered were: the Margarita, the Gaaahlic, the Gabagool, and the Roasted Veggie.  The sauce they used had a bit of heat to it but the crust was unremarkable in flavor and texture, although the presentation was nice.  None of the pizzas really stood out to me.  The consensus from my friends were that the two best pizzas were the Margarita and the Gabagool.  If you're looking for great brick oven pizza I would venture to Nomad Pizza Company on 7th between South and Bainbridge.  Look for the upcoming review.