The Hunt for Flatbread Pizza

This past weekend I had a craving for flatbread pizza. A full-on, must-have-right now desire. So Friday night Skylar and I went over to Sagra in my favorite 'hood, Davis Square, as I had recalled having a good mushroom one there. When we sat down and perused the menu we were confused to not see any pizza options listed though. We asked the waitress, and she said that they are specials sometimes but that she’ll check with the chef. When she returned she ‘fessed up that it was actually her second day and that she had made that all up. (haha, I remember those first days as a waitress…) Apparently they had done away with the pizzas. “Fjskldflskfs!” was all I could think.

So fast-forward to Saturday when I dragged my roommate, who is making his Dish This! debut(!!!) as “Sebastian,” to Figs in Beacon Hill, where I KNEW they have pizzas. Now I’ve heard in food folklore that your taste buds change every 8 years. This must be true, at least in the case of Figs, because I used to hate the Wellesley location and now am a fan of the Beacon Hill one.

The restaurant is small and cozy (to the point of being almost a bit claustrophobic), and is the perfect in-between spot if you’re craving Sorellina but have the budget for Bertucci’s. The cuisine falls somewhere in between the two, but to be honest I’ve only tried their pizzas (although a fig and duck risotto caught my eye). Definitely not your average pie, this Todd English restaurant is the first I can remember that offered the flat bread style with the signature unusual ingredients, like a salad of arugula or, you guessed it, figs.

On this particular night we went for the ½ and ½ option and got 1/2 spicy chicken sausage with whipped ricotta, and 1/2 mushroom with fontina cheese (price goes by the more expensive, so $18). Sebastian declared that the ricotta “made the pizza” (but he’s also a self-proclaimed cheese lover and this was approximately his 12th serving of the day…). The spice in the sausage was different than I had expected; it was much more Mexican/taco style than Italian hot pepper, but nice all the same. The mushroom half was creamy, and not over the top mushroom-y.

All in all, Figs definitely saved the day when it came to the pizza craving. Embrace Figs for what it is—a step up from Bertucci’s in ambiance and cuisine—and you’ll most likely enjoy it as well.