HALLELUJAH!!!

I came home to find that Backyard Pizza has reopened in their new location! I can't count how many times I have been trying to decide where I might want to eat dinner and thought longingly of the seared tuna at Backyard Pizza. Late last summer there was a fire in the downtown building where Backyard Pizza was located and it closed them down. Was quite a while before I could find out anything about there plans but finally heard they were moving to a bigger location one street closer to the river (Third Avenue) and hoped to open in November of this year. And they did!! So often a new business will open and give a date when they plan to be open and go way past it. So, one of the first things I did when I got back from my trip was to look up Backyard Pizza and was so elated to see they were back in business. Called my friend Cindy with whom I've enjoyed a meal at BP numerous times and we went there this week. It's a much larger area and for me doesn't have quite the same ambiance as it did, but the menu was exactly the same - I think it may have been the actual menus from the old restaurant because not only were all the items the same, but the prices were still the same. I think they are also planning on re-opening their other restaurant which also got burned out in that fire. It was The Peddlers and I never even got a chance to eat there. Also, from the looks of the unfinished side of their new space, the Peddlers will have a micro-brewery. Hopefully when it is all done they will fix up the front entrance to appear more inviting. Right now there's a huge sign in the window (with all the microbrewery vats behind) saying "this project financed by Sentry Bank" and I'd say that front space is probably about 3 or 4 downtown-store-sized windows. So along with the sign, you see people sitting on straight back chairs, all in a row, and it turns out they're waiting to get into BP but as far as I could see, there was no sign saying Backyard Pizza so I wasn't even real sure if the door into that front space was the door we needed. Finally noticed through a further window lots of tables with lots of people so in we went and then there was another door into the actual restaurant. None of that description is a complaint - They must have only opened in the last week or two. They were, as usual, very, very busy with people waiting when we came in and people waiting when we went out. The tuna was wonderful and we had some breadsticks I ordered to celebrate (I normally only get one thing) and Cindy also got the tuna and ordered their scallops. So we shared the breadsticks and scallops and oh, my goodness those scallops were wonderful! The bread was pretty darn good also. They have a wood-fired grill and pizza oven so that's partly why everything is so delicious. So, welcome back Backyard Pizza and I'm so, so glad you stayed Backyard Pizza!