February 23, 2007

D Note Does Pizza

A Review by Stan Dyer

Located in historic Olde Town Arvada, D Note is a great place to hear live, local talent in a variety of styles. Its high ceiling, wood floors, and classic architecture make the location a comfortable and attractive gathering place. Visitors can also entertain their eyes and minds viewing the alternating displays of art by area artists. With all this going for it, some of the best performances may still take place in the kitchen. D Note does pizza.

With a few exceptions, most pizza around town is mass-produced, cookie-cutter, and ordinary. D note pizza is different and special. It is "modern" pizza done the "old-fashioned" way. While still catering to those who prefer "factory" pizza, they also offer the variety of choice reminiscent of days gone by.

They only offer the "semi-thin" crust, but you have your choice of the traditional white, or the whole wheat. If you like, they will even put your pizza on a tortilla. Offered in the standard three sizes, 8" small, 12" medium, and 16" large, there are twelve varieties of Veggie pizza and ten varieties of Meaty pizza on the menu. The prices are $9.25, $14.50, and $18.50 respectively, but add .50 each for the Meaty varieties. You can also "build-your-own", or BYO, starting with the basic cheese at $6.00, $8.00 and $12.00 and adding the toppings you want. The toppings come in two classes: basic and gourmet. The prices for toppings on the small "BYO" are .75 per for basic and $1.00 for gourmet, the medium is $1.00/$1.50 and the large is $1.50/$2.00. Yes, it costs a bit more than chain, delivered pizza, but it is less mass-produced and more personalized. The change of pace and variety may be worth it.

For variety, you can choose from nine different sauces, seven of which are vegan, 10 different cheeses, and 37 different toppings ranging everywhere from the completely traditional to the very unusual. Among the toppings offered are four kinds of nuts, three kinds of olives, spinach, tofu, black beans and even artichoke hearts. With variety like that, you can eat a lot of different pizza without eating the same variety twice. Variety and choice are nice things.

I sampled the pizza on four different occasions and tried four different varieties. I found the "traditional" crust to be O.K., but not my favorite. It is very "status quo". The whole-wheat, however, was tantalizing. I also tried three different sauces and, even though they were all good, I preferred the Traditional Red. The kitchen tends to go too light on the sauce, and, when they do, the red sauce seems to be the one sauce that can still come through. As for the toppings, have fun! They are all good. It did seem that the menu pizzas I ordered received a better "pile" of toppings when compared with the BYO pizzas. In addition, I noticed that the green olives I ordered looked mysteriously like kalamata olives. That's OK, but I still think of the classic Spanish olives when I think of green olives and I was disappointed.

I have two final words of caution before I post my grade. One word is appetizers. We ordered the large, Mediterranean sampler and I was disappointed. The hummus was lumpy and I do not think it was made fresh. I would think twice about ordering that one again. The other word is parking. D note, as will all Olde Town merchants in the future, suffers from the developing parking situation. There is not that much room on the streets and the spaces fill up fast. The parking lot near the carpet store disappeared when the carpet store disappeared. There is still parking across the street from the new library but that is still a couple of blocks away. I would be interested to hear from readers how they are dealing with the Olde Town parking situation.

Now, here is the grade. D Note rates high for a variety of reasons. Most of all, it has the variety and comfort that customers like. D Note gets the caution flag, however, for the parking situation and the borderline prices. Both of those may be due to the Arvada Urban Renewal Authority. Overall, based on over seven visits, I rate the D Note a B+/A-.I find that I can expect a consistent product being served, and I recommend it to anyone. Most people will enjoy D Note for the food, fun, atmosphere and comfort it offers. D Note is located at 7516 Grandview Avenue in Arvada, (Across the street from the Bank), phone 303.goDnote, or on-line at www.dnote.us A full menu as well as a schedule of events is available at the restaurant or on the web. D Note does pizza and they do deliver to locations within three miles.