Andolini’s Pizzeria. Homemade, delicious food, no freezers and a wide selection of beers. With 4 Tulsa area locations and a food truck, you can’t go wrong.
Two weeks ago, the OSU women’s tennis team played Stanford for the National Championship. The match was at University of Tulsa, only 90 minutes from Stillwater. Of course, almost the entire athletic department was there, as well as several thousand other OSU fans. Unfortunately we lost, but it was a fantastic season, full of firsts. Had they won, they would have been the first OSU women’s team to win an NCAA title.
I didn’t eat lunch before we left Stillwater, because the match was at noon. My plan was to grab lunch at the match, but it was so hot that my only focus was on drinking as much water as I could. I’m pretty sure I drank 4 liters during the 3-hour match. When Kevin told me they were going to Andolini’s Pizzeria afterwards, I immediately invited myself. I had been to Andolini’s once before, and absolutely loved it.
The original Andolini’s is in the historic Cherry Street area. There are 2 other Andolini’s locations in the Tulsa area, as well as a food truck. Andolini’s is in a very cool old building, as are many businesses in the Cherry Street area. The long and narrow building has tall ceilings and exposed brick walls. As you walk in, there is an open kitchen on the right, where you can watch them make pizzas all day. A large bar takes up most of the right wall; the rest of the inside space is seating for maybe 50, and there is patio seating on the side of the building. The building is on the corner, and both front and side of the building are mainly tall windows that let in so much natural light. Along the back wall there is a huge American flag, as well as lots of old pictures. The bar itself is made from reclaimed wood
The Andolini’s menu is simple Italian fare, featuring appetizers, salads, sandwiches, entrees, baked pasta, stromboli, calzone, pizza, and dessert. Andolini’s doesn’t have a freezer, so absolutely everything is fresh. You can’t beat quality like that.
I actually kind of forgot about the fact that I hadn’t eaten since breakfast…until we walked into Andolini’s and the gorgeous smells overtook me. And then my stomach immediately began to grumble. After a glass of water, it was time for a beverage. Andolini’s offers many different beers, including drafts, bottles, flights, and beer cocktails I’m not really a big beer drinker, so I was having trouble deciding what to get. I finally settled on Not Your Father’s Root Beer. My friend Keith turned me on to them last year, and I am a big fan. It’s a little sweet, but not overpowering, and it packs a punch. Unfortunately, though, they were out. The server brought me a Bayou Bootlegger, and recommended that I try it instead.
Bayou Bootlegger is definitely better! It is less sweet, and even more flavorful. I am officially a huge fan.
We started with the fried mozzarella and arancini
The mozzarella was just as good as it was on my first visit. Unfortunately the pieces weren’t as scorching hot, but the sauce made up for it. You could literally see the steam.
The arancini is outstanding. These risotto balls are scorching hot, have so much flavor, and a delicious crispy coating. I’ve only had arancini one other time, and they were much larger. These are more like poppers. The only negative? Not enough on the plate! I could have easily eaten them all myself.
Andolini’s offers a wide variety of pizza options. With their basic pizza you can choose from White Label Member’s toppings or Black Admiral’s Club toppings. They also offer 18 Classic Pizzas and 9 Purple Label Luxury Pizzas. They are pretty specific about the luxury pizzas: no substitutions, no halfs, no compromises. But with all the others, you can choose from 14″, 16″ or 20″ pizzas.
We discussed pizza options, and decided on the Demarco of Brooklyn pizza, and added Italian sausage. The best part?
I’ve never seen this at a restaurant before, and I love it!
This pizza was fabulous. I’m not normally a fan of thin crust pizza, but I make an exception at Andolini’s because it’s so good. You can tell that the sausage is homemade, and it is excellent. The only thing, we agreed that it didn’t have quite enough sausage. I will say, the pizza wasn’t as hot as I would like. But that didn’t stop me from devouring 2 pieces of it.
Our friends Andy and Katelyn came into Andolini’s as we were eating appetizers, and sat down next to us. They split a pizza, half pepperoni and half Italian sausage. I didn’t get a picture, but Andy gave me a slice of the pepperoni. I didn’t realize that Andolini’s also offers regular crust pizza, which is what they got. Both crusts are delicious I absolutely love the regular crust. The pepperoni was fabulous, they were very generous with it, and you could tell that it was fresh.
I very rarely get dessert at a restaurant, and we were all kind of full. But by this point it was storming really hard at home and on the way, so we decided to at least check out the dessert menu. Andolini’s has 2 desserts, both of which are handmade at the restaurant. Because we couldn’t help ourselves, we got one of each.
I’ve never seen desserts that large before. But whipped cream makes up 90% of the size. Fabulous, delicious, homemade whipped cream. The Oreo was Sarah’s favorite. It was good, but the cake was a little too rich for my tastes…especially after the appetizers and pizza. Robbie and I both loved the Italian buttercake. You could taste the cheesecake, but the poundcake made it lighter and fluffier. The caramel sauce was rich and delicious.
After we ate, we went to Target…you know, just to make sure all the storms were really over. Thankfully we only hit a little bit of rain getting out of Tulsa, and then the sun came out.
There is no question I’ll be back to Andolini’s soon, and I’m getting the pepperoni pizza next time.