Critics Go West For Pieous, East For Salt & Time

This week, Matthew Odam at the Austin American-Statesman visits Pieous, the new pizza-plus joint out in Oak Hill, while the Austin Chronicle's Virginia B. Wood visits east side butcher shop and sandwich stop Salt & Time.

"Family-friendly" Pieous rates a 7 of 10 from Odam, but don't go expecting traditional Neapolitan pizza. The pies are made from a sourdough starter that owners Joshua and Paige Kaner brought to Austin from California, and the result is not a crispy crust, but "something more akin to good, experimental homemade pizza." On the sandwich side, the bread makes for "a wonderful balance of fluff and chew" on the pastrami sandwich, while the sweet pies the "highlight of the dessert menu." Lunch is quiet, but evenings are "boisterous, fun and a bit chaotic."

Virginia Wood is charmed and impressed by the "not quite a restaurant but not just a butcher shop" vibe at Salt & Time, but thinks they've got a ways to go before they find their groove: "all the sandwich components haven't quite coalesced in just the right way yet, but the basic quality here still gives me great expectations." She'd like more amenities for her cold-brewed Cuvée coffee, and the fried chicken was a "stumbling block," and the French toast offered "no evidence of custard under a buttery crisp exterior and scant flavor of syrup." Still, she writes, "I'll be back."

· Family-friendly Pieous bends the rules to serve some solid pizzas [Statesman]
· Alla Salute, Salume [Austin Chronicle]

[Photo: Pieous/Facebook]