The Pizza Joint

Dood and I lived out of the Marriott in downtown Augusta for a few months. During this time, we were able to walk to downtown each weekend and indulge in downtown living. The great thing about downtown Augusta is that it isn’t too busy and it’s a great way to window shop and support the local businesses.

Some friends and I had gone to The Pizza Joint one night before the David Copperfield show and I wanted to let Dood try it out.

The Pizza Joint is located at 1245 Broad Street, Augusta, GA and the place to stop for a fast, no frills slice of pie. They also have locations in Evans and Aiken, GA. I have not had the opportunity to check out the other two locations. Don’t expect fine dining here – the service isn’t always the fastest or most attentive, but you get what you pay for here. They have a great selection of Pizza, Calzones, Specialty Pies, Sandwiches and of course, Beer. After all, what is pizza without the beer?!

This time around, I ordered the Tree Hugger, which has artichokes, black olives, green peppers, mushrooms, onions, spinach, tomatoes; while Dood – the meat lover that he is had the stromboli. We had a side order of New Castle to compliment our great food.

We managed to snag a seat outside with the entourage of people that we met up with. I highly recommend a seat outside during the spring and fall if you can grab one! The Pizza Joint is set back off of Broad Street so that you can enjoy the downtown life, without the up close personal experience of all the passer Byers and cars.

Wine World

We were invited by a friend to an in shop wine tasting in North Augusta. I love wine, although I don’t know much more than just the simple fact that it tastes good!

Dood (the husband) expressed his interest in learning more about wine. The beer connoisseur himself decided that there were just as many wines out there as there were beer and he wanted to join that world as well. What better way to introduce him to the world of wine than take him to Wine World!

Wine World is located at 133 Georgia Ave, North Augusta, SC, right at the 13^th Street bridge that connects SC to GA. Wine World is owned by a wonderful couple Dick and Sally Benjamin and co-owner Leigh Dye. All three were present at the in shop wine tasting which is such a great treat. The Augusta Chronicle did an article on the 35 year old wine shop. Visit Augusta Chronicle to read the full article.

For a small price of $4.00, you can taste 6 types of wine and various cheeses to compliment each wine. We were greeted at the first wine station by Mr. Benjamin himself. There waiting for us were two wines: Pinot Grigio delle Venezie ’07, Cesari Duetorri, Italy and Chardonnay Pionero ’06, Morande. Maipo Valley, Chile. I explained to Mr. Benjamin our newbie situation: Dood, who never really indulged in wine. I also explained of my lack of knowledge for the art of wine. He began explaining to us the various ways to age the wine and during the explanation, I was actually able to taste the “oak” in the wine. Fantastic! I have always been a fan of Pinto Grigio from the wine tasting I went to at the Biltmore Estate many moons ago.

We then headed over to the cheese counter were we were able to try some of the Havarti that nicely complimented the Chardonnay. I now understand the cheese and wine expressions!

After bogarting another slice of the Havarti, we headed over to station #2 and met our next two wine selections: Rose of Malbee ’07, Crios de Susana Balbo. Argentina and French Red Wine, Roncier, Burgundy, France. The Rose was a bit sweet for my taste, but still very good. The French – my favorite of the night. I got a second taste! We headed back over to the cheese counter and found ourselves tasting some of the Edam that was displayed. I decided then and there, I was a fan of the fine cheeses! No more Velveeta for me!

By our third booth, Dood decided that he was enjoying his wine tasting to my surprise! The third station introduced Dood to Chianti ’05, Poggia Felice, Tuscany, Italy and a Merlot ’04, Powers, Columbia Valley, Washington. There weren’t many raves from the crowd we came along with on the Chianti, however I found myself sneaking yet another taste.

What can I say, I’m a sucker for the dark wines! I wandered back over to the cheese counter to taste the remaining DaVinci and Camembert cheeses. They were a little more pungent, but so very well complimented the two wines!

I soon looked over and Dood was drooling over the selection of beer. We struck up a conversation with one of the employees about the beer ratings listed on the wall under some of the beers. To read more about the beer ratings, visit Wikipedia.

We ended up with two bottles of beer: Saison Dupont (Belgium) and Lion Imperial Lager (Sri Lanka). We also managed a bottle of the French Red Wine. We ended the wine tasting with a wonderful conversation with Dick and Sally as their love for wine and their store became truly apparent during their story telling. I had an absolute wonderful time! Wine World offers in shop wine tasting every two weeks. They also hold various wine appreciation courses and hold beer tastings about four times a year. To learn about upcoming events, visit Wine World and join their mailing list.