I’m kind of obsessed with Whole Foods. Even though most of the stuff is crazy over-priced, I could (and do) spend hours in there looking for items I can’t live without. There are a few fresh vegetables I only find there and I used to buy a lot of bulk rice/beans/grains there until I discovered Sprouts. Usually I buy whole chunks of Parmesan cheese and the whole wheat pizza dough because its delicious, inexpensive, made in-house, and I can portion and freeze it. Of course there’s no Whole Foods in Stillwater… sadly it would never survive in this town. So whenever I go to OKC or Tulsa, I make sure to stop there. A new Whole Foods just recently opened not far from where I stayed the night of Shannon & Erin’s baby shower, so the next morning I went and checked it out. Walked around for over an hour, bought maybe 4 items.
By the time I was done with Whole Foods I was starving. And I had read about Russo’s New York Pizzeria, which had recently opened practically across the street. There’s a large patio that wraps around 2 sides of the restaurant, but only 8 tables so there’s lots of space out there. The inside is beautiful, with rich wood floors, floor-to-ceiling windows along the entire expanse of the patio, smallish bar area with several flat-screen TVs.
The restaurant was packed, but luckily there was one table left in the dining area and I was seated immediately. The dining area itself isn’t very large. There are 6 booths along the windows and 15 tables so its pretty compact, but it works.
My server was very nice, but also extremely busy. Personally I would have liked to see one more server working, particularly since its the Sunday post-church crowd, and therefore very crowded. The menu is huge. It reminds me of Cheesecake Factory or BJ’s Brewhouse, with lots of pages.
While I perused the menu, my server brought bread to the table
The bread was fantastic. It came to the table warm, which I absolutely love. It was flatbread baked with lots of herbs, and the additional herbs with the olive oil just added to the flavor. I could have eaten that bread all day. I was disappointed though because my server didn’t mix the oil with the herbs, as is customary in other restaurants. And I saw other servers doing it for other tables. Maybe it’s because I was by myself… maybe it’s because she was busy… but I was still disappointed. But I got over it, mixed the oil and herbs myself, and dug in.
I knew it would take me a while to decide what to eat, so I went ahead and ordered a house salad
Crisp romaine lettuce, red onion, bell pepper, cucumber, olives, roma tomatoes, and red cabbage, tossed in balsamic vinaigrette dressing
I really like the it’s all romaine lettuce. The veggies were ice cold and fresh, and the Chianti balsamic vinaigrette was delicious. I forgot to ask for no olives. I love olive oil, but I’ve never been a fan of olives. I ate one because I keep trying to like them, but I just can’t get past the saltiness.
I had so much trouble deciding what to order. Everything sounded good, but I knew I wanted pasta because they make their own. The manager eventually came over and helped me decide on the chicken al pesto.
Grilled chicken with house-made pesto sauce, Romano cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts, over penne pasta.
What really sold me on ordering the dish was the pesto. I have a big basil plant at home and love making pesto, and have become kind of obsessed with it. I have to say I was really disappointed that this was a creamy pesto so the dish was heavier than I expected. Don’t get me wrong I love cream sauce with the best of them, but I wasn’t expecting it. To me the menu should say “pesto cream sauce”, because not everyone eats or likes cream. I guess I could have asked, but I didn’t think I needed to. Lesson learned. Disappointment #2 was that the dish was little more than room temperature. While I waited for my meal I noticed that other dishes came out screaming hot, and I could see the steam from 2 tables away. So my dish had obviously been sitting for a little bit.
Negatives aside, the dish was very good. I love all the ingredients and they meshed very well together. And, the food lower down in the dish was hotter. So it had definitely been sitting. I thought about complaining, but it had already taken quite a while for me to get my food and I really didn’t want to wait more. So I continued to eat the bread while I was eating my main dish. Even once I was full, I couldn’t stop eating the bread. So when my server came to take my dish I made her take the bread too.
I noticed the manager walking around constantly checking on tables. I think Russo’s has only been open less than a year so I’m guessing he’s making sure people are happy. He’s also very involved; I saw him constantly walking back and forth from kitchen, cleaning off tables, helping to seat customers, etc. I like that in a manager. I try to do that myself, because I feel that when staff sees their boss not afraid to do the dirty work, it inspires them.
Will I go back? Yes I will. The place was packed, and I saw numerous tables turn over while I was there. And I saw other servers doing the things that my server missed. So obviously they’re doing something right. I want to give it another chance, try another dish, and get some more of that amazing bread.