local

Wednesday nights are usually the tipping point for us, where we go from a few days of eating really healthy meals to wanting to curl up with some pizza and beer. This is especially the case in the winter and even more so the day after a 15 mile marathon training run.

Luckily, this past Wednesday, I was one of the lucky Boston bloggers able to attend a dinner hosted by Stone Hearth Pizza, Clown Shoes Beer, and Pete & Gerry’s Organic Eggs.

I had only tried Stone Hearth’s pizza once before, at the Taste of Cambridge in 2010, and I was really excited to be able to sit down to try not just their pizza, but some of their fantastic appetizers and salads as well, all washed down by some beer from Clown Shoes.

Let’s start with Stone Hearth as a business. They are doing some awesome things to be SOL, sustainable, organic, and local. Not only have they built sustainable building space, but they also use organic flour, tomatoes, and growth hormone free cheese. They also source their ingredients from local partners and give back to the communities they are in through charity involvement. I love it.

The Allston restaurant is a short walk from the Harvard Square T station (It’s also on a bunch of bus routes, but I passed the bus, stuck in traffic, while walking.), and I lucked out with a warm-ish night. The walk over provided a good stretch for my achy legs and revved up my appetite! I was excited about the guest list for the event; it included some of my favorite Boston bloggers.

Our table was set up with beer glasses, plates, and Clown Shoes pint glass souvenirs.

I was greeted with a pour of Clown Shoes Clementine, a beer I have had and enjoyed before. I love the citrus notes; they make it a refreshing aperitif.

Then the food started coming. I could barely keep up with what everything was!

We had parmesan flatbread with roasted eggplant spread and some spicy meatball poppers.

And my favorite of the starters, cheddar covered olives. I thought they were fried, but the menu says baked. I like them even more now!

Fresh salads galore filled the table. Stone Hearth is a great place for people of all dietary needs as they had lots of veggie options and some cool, creative, and delicious salads. No iceberg and sad shredded carrots here!

I had a few bites of the spinach and avocado salad.

And some of this crunchy celeriac which was definitely unexpected but really good. Clearly a ton of thought has gone into this menu.

Then it was time for the main event, the pizza. I was actually ordering a pizza for my husband when these all came out, so I missed what some of them were. I just dove right in though.

I loved the bacon and blue which had a nice amount of smoky bacon and zucchini on it. I don’t think I have ever had zucchini on a pizza, but it is a good idea.

I also loved this special which featured curly kale, leeks, gouda, and sausage. Again, I haven’t had kale on a pizza before, but I will definitely have it again.

After all that food, there was also dessert, which I ended up missing. My husband and I made a deal that if he picked me up on his way home from work so I could avoid the T, I would bring him home a pizza. I ordered the buffalo chicken pizza about 20 minutes before he arrived, and it was hot and ready for me when I left.

You would think I would be too full for more, but I chowed down on two slices of this as soon as we got home. It was the best buffalo chicken pizza I have ever had.

I love the way that Stone Hearth tops their pizzas with creative ingredients, but most of all I love the thin crust. It is exactly the way pizza should be, in my opinion, with just enough crunch and dough to give you that chew, without being at all soggy or overwhelmingly doughy. We had a go-to pizza place with good crust for years but stopped eating there about a year and a half ago for ethical reasons. I miss it, but I am happy to have found pizza I actually like better from a company committed to being a good business.

We all left with a six pack of heirloom eggs from Pete & Gerry’s along with some coupons for their other eggs, including the eggs we buy, Nellie’s Cage Free.

I love eggs and have been eating them pretty much every day during my training, so I will post about them soon.

I was super impressed with Stone Hearth’s food, and the Clown Shoes beer was a great accompaniment. I think the only downside, for us, is that it is a very kid friendly restaurant. We only like kids that are our blood relatives, so other people’s screaming kids are not what we want to hear at the end of the day. Luckily, the Allston Stone Hearth location is right off the Mass Pike and therefore on my husband’s commute home.

There will be a lot more salad and pizza in my future. In the meantime, Stone Hearth, please open a South Boston or Dorchester location!

I dined at the Allston Stone Hearth location, but they also have restaurants in Belmont, Needham, and Cambridge. Dinner was complimentary, but my opinions are entirely my own.