Preston Rd. just south of Sam Rayburn Tollway (Plano)
Alright - Mr. Music is back! We want more Mr. Music!!
He's excited about a new place - let's see what he has to say:
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What if I told you about a place that combines the all-you-can-eat serving atmosphere of Fogo de Chao and the beauty of woodfired Neapolitan pizza? Not only that, the toppings represent flavors from around the world. Delucca Gaucho Pizza is that such place! For $24.50, you get the full experience. All-you-can-eat pizza and sides. There are kids prices too. For happy hour, 4:30 - 6:00pm, you can sit at the bar and buy a single pizza for $9. They offer 4 or 5 of their different pizzas. They also have a couple of their sides available for $8 a serving.Mr. Music (me!) and a crowd of my favorite foodie buddies with international roots converged at Delucca in Plano to check things out. With 6 including me, Thailand/Laos, India, The UK, Bangladesh and the USA were all represented at our table! The restaurant was spacious and new and super clean. We were greeted by a couple of friendly staff members and they were friendly and attentive the entire time. In the back we could see the woodfire oven and pizzas being turned and pulled from the fire. Yum! Seeing that, brought a new level of excitement for what was in-store! They offer a large wine menu, a good array of exotic mixed drinks and beer for those inclined. The beer menu was not as robust as one might hope. A few non alcoholic specialty drinks were offered as well as iced tea, soda and water.
Similar to churrascarias, some side items were placed on the table. Arugula salad with lemon honey dressing, homemade kobe meatballs in san marzano marinara and the much awaited lobster bisque. The bisque came a small cup at a time and was thick and rich with plenty of lobster flavor. It also had a light, but noticeable heat that was welcomed! It might have been the table favorite with some getting 3 cups of it. I liked it very much, and had 2 cups but was there for those specialty pies! The salad was very fresh and dressing light; I really liked the flavor. The kobe meatballs were great as was the san marzano marinara. The others were fans of the meatballs too. The waiter suggested saving some bisque and/or marinara to dunk pizza crust into, which some of us did.
Not surprisingly, a round disc was supplied to the table that was green on one side and red on the other. If you've eaten at the gaucho styled Brazillian steakhouses, you'll know you turn it to green if you want them to bring more pizza, in this case! Red means NO MORE, I'M STUFFED! So just flip it from green to red once you need a break or are done. One of the staff announced "we have 18 pizzas tonight! 13 for dinner and 5 for dessert!" Green was up and pizzas started coming! First, with flavors of India, we were offered chicken tikka masala topped pizza and tastes of Brazil with garlic pichana beef topped pizza. Turkish lamb and Mexican Elotes with corn, sour cream and red chili pepper flakes were next. Then from Italy, a margherita was offered along side hot soprasetta salami pizza.
Other pizzas came: Buffalo chicken with gorgonzola BBQ sausage with roasted jalapeno 4 cheese truffle; Spinach and bacon; Classic pepperoni; Halal chicken with Catupiry cheese; Mushroom, fontina and vodka tomato and more. For dessert they had several sweet and fruity pizzas. I tried a few including Brazilian guava with mascarpone, dulce de leche with toasted coconut, Italian Nutella with vanilla mascarpone and sliced pear. I really liked most of the dinner pizzas. My favorites were the Turkish lamb and Indian Chicken tikka masala. The pichana and mushroom were great too. I didn't have the pepperoni or buffalo chicken only because I had limited stomach space and they seemed less exotic to me although I plan on it next time. They actually look quite good. If I had to pick a least favorite, I'd have to say the spinach and bacon. I love spinach and spinach on pizza. I am pretty sure it was because of the creamy bechamel sauce. For me, it didn't work on the pizza. Plus I'm not a huge bacon fan. I'd love to see spinach on a different pizza there. The crust in the pizzas was great. As with Neapolitan style, the crust was thin on the bottom of the pie, but fluffier on the edges with a nuce char here and there It had a nice flavor and great chewiness. Now don't think I'm saying it rivals Cane Rossa, Partenope or Pie Tap (let's not get silly here!), but it's good Neapolitan crust.
The crew had a mixed bag of comments about their favorite pizzas. One thing is for sure, everybody enjoyed the experience and liked the pizza a lot. The Turkish lamb, chicken tikka masala and garlic pichana we're mentioned the most. As far as the dessert pizzas go, they just aren't my thing. I'm glad I tried them and they were very good/interesting, and the nice woodfired chewy crust was a nice contrast to the sweet toppings, but I'm not as much into sweet as I am into savory and spicy! The consensus from the foodie club were very similar. There is no doubt I will be back, and hopefully very soon! I certainly want to bring Lady Music, Music Junior and Baby Music as well as other foodie friends. I am a big fan! It's a great experience!
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Delucca Gaucho currently has 5 locations: 4 in DFW (including our old stomping grounds of Southlake) and 1 in Austin. I think they would look really good in Colorado too :-)
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