Ironwood’s wood-fired pizzas are out of this world, but also a little out of the way. It was 17 minutes from my Clarendon Street home, but this little, rustic pizza restaurant made it worth every minute of the drive.

Approaching the restaurant, I was greeted by a little walkway lined with a cute, wooden fence pathway covered in vintage license plates. This is a decorative feature repeated on the walls inside the open floor plan restaurant.

The minute you walk into the room, your eyes are drawn to the huge bar in the center, circling a large silver oven with a blazing open fire.

I was immediately received and seated at a table near the front of the restaurant. The first floor is set up as a more casual area, brightly lit with natural light streaming through the large windows.

The bar takes up the majority of the room and is surrounded by the Munich steel stools you see in hip coffee shops. High tables and regular tables are arranged around the edges of this floor. The adjacent room, the dining room, features less natural light but bigger tables that cater to larger groups.

To start, I ordered the bruschetta plate, which featured four small, diagonally-cut pieces of hearth-baked bread, heaped with soft chopped tomato and small cubes of fire-roasted garlic, sprinkled with fresh basil and grated parmesan reggiano.

They were delicious. The bread was soft and buttery but not soggy. The garlic was a nice bite without being overpowering and despite being a bread dish, it didn’t feel heavy at all. I just wish that for the price it had been a little bigger.

For the main course I, of course, ordered pizza. Unless you want salad, pizza is actually the only option on the menu. The margherita seemed to be the most popular dish, but I skipped that one for the more elaborate sounding fire-roasted chicken and arugula pizzas.

The pizzas quickly followed the starter. It was awesome since from where I was sitting, I could watch the pizza being placed into the oven. The oven also had the additional benefit of filling the room with the delicious aroma of melted cheese and grilling meat.

The pizzas were the size of a large plate and cut into four huge slices. The website explains that the wood-fire oven means that the pizza cooks at a higher temperature — the pizza cooks faster and the heat caramelizes the toppings, sealing in the taste without drying them out.

I tried the fire-roasted chicken first. It had a base layer of olive oil, garlic and sweet caramelized onions covered in fresh mozzarella and generously layered with fire-roasted chicken breast, pancetta and wilted spinach. The dough was divine — thick and chewy and soft and crunchy around the crust.

The sweet caramelized onion was offset by the salty pancetta and the soft gooeyness of the mozzarella cheese. Each bite had a peppery woody infusion from the fire. My only critique is that I found the chicken breast to be a little too chunky, and it was falling off my pizza as I was trying to eat it. Apart from that, it was a slice of bliss.

The arugula pizza I tried next was an actual slice of heaven. It was a simpler pizza with more subtle flavors. The base was drizzled in garlic infused olive oil, and it was covered in prosciutto and parmesan reggiano topped with fresh arugula.

Without as many base flavors, it was lighter and eating it in the setting afternoon sunlight, it felt like summer could be right around the corner. And if you still have room for more, Ironwood also offers a dessert selection of homemade gelatos.

Ironwood is simple, classy and downright delicious. It should be a must on everyone’s bucket list while here at Syracuse University.

Published on April 12, 2015 at 9:02 pm