Flatbread Pizza and Candlepin Bowling

Pizza, beer and bowling - probably one of the best combinations ever.  So when G and J brought us to Sacco's Bowl Haven for a couple of drinks at the end of an evening, we knew we had to go back for the delicious Flatbread Company and some true old fashion candlepin bowling.  When our friends told us they were heading over for a fun Friday night out Nick and I were eager to join them.  We called ahead to add us to the bowling and dinner list in hopes of getting ourselves closer to the top (it being a Friday night and all!).

Pizza Oven

Flatbread prides itself on its use of locally sourced organic ingredients - that and the stone hearth with the wood burning fire perfect for cooking the pizza.  Between the 6 of us we decided to order three pizzas to split.  The first was the homemade nitrate-free pepperoni with organic mushrooms, the wood-fired cauldron tomato sauce, whole milk mozzarella and imported Parmesan cheese baked on organic bread dough with homemade organic garlic oil and our blend of organic herbs.

Nitrate-Free Pepperoni and Mushroom

Next up was Jimmy’s Free-Range Chicken, made with oven roasted free-range chicken, black beans, organic cilantro tomatoes, roasted corn, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and sour cream lime drizzle and some jalapeño peppers.

Jimmy's Free Range Chicken

Finally, we ordered (what I believe to be) a special for the evening that I cannot for the life of me remember (I really need to start writing these down!)

Special Pizza - butternut squash and pulled pork maybe?

All the pizzas were delicious with a soft crust that was the perfect bite.  There was a nice crisp to the bottom of the pizza from the wood oven.  The toppings were a well balanced, creative bunch of components.  While there are a number of set types of pizzas on the menu (two of which we took advantage of), you can also make your own pizza based upon the large mix of toppings they have.

Since we were still waiting for our lane (which they were not promising we would get that evening), we decided to order some desserts to split.  When I saw a root beer float on the menu, I could not resist!  Straight forward, but such a great dessert to have on the menu.

Root Beer Float

A and A ordered the brownie sundae, warmed in the wood-fired oven and served with Annabelle’s all-natural vanilla ice cream, warm homemade chocolate sauce and whipped cream sweetened with maple syrup.  This dessert was huge and totally delicious!

Brownie Sundae

Dinner wrapped up, but the prospect of getting a lane was not looking good.  Turns out you can start putting your name on the list when Sacco's opens at 11:00am!  Next time I guess, because the pizza is worth the trip.  However, we were not going to be deterred - we had some bowling to do!



We all climbed into G's car and headed to the first bowling place we could think of - Lanes and Games, over by Alewife Station!  I had not been here since college with my dad when we were in search of a bowling alley with big balls, but in keeping with the original theme of the evening we went straight for the Candlepin lanes.  While this had electronic scoring, it was still had a bit of that old school feel.

Scores!

Nick got a spare!

Turns out, strikes are basically impossible to get in candlepin (at least for our group).  Spares are still tough, even with the three throws per turn and no clearing of the pins.  Our scores were not too great - an average of about 70, but the cheap beer and a lot of laughs made for a great night.