Pizza Junction

 Hillsboro. Mo
 On Facebook

* Very important disclaimer at the end of this post!


This choice was obvious. It's a brand new place in Hillsboro that we'd been been eagerly awaiting to open.
Before we start though, I'd like to give a shout out to a new friend, Suzi. She sent a nice email this past week and called Eat and Critique ". . .one of the highlights of my week". I of course, suggested she seek immediate counseling from a certified get-a-life coach. Anyway, she was very sweet and funny, and I always appreciate hearing form you, my loyal fans, as long as you're not one of those freaky nut jobs I occasionally hear from, or a Russian spammer... what is it with those guys anyhow?
Suzi also said "You go to some horrible restaurants. . ."  I couldn't completely disagree, but I can assure you this, I may indeed go to some horrible eateries, but this particular place is not one of them, at all.

The Place:
 A few months ago Bobby Munzert's closed its doors. A nice building at the northwest corner of the intersection of Highways 21 and B. Across from the mall (Dollar General).
A few weeks ago we noticed that the Munzert's sign had finally been taken down, but we also noticed a busyness around the place. Then signs and ads started popping up indicating that the spot was about to become Pizza Junction.
Hillsboro doesn't have a pizza joint, unless you count Imo's, which I don't. I was happy to hear that someone would be giving it a shot.
We arrived for lunch on Saturday for reasons I'll explain later*. Angela and I went, Adam was at work.*
The place had not been gutted, there would have been no reason  for that, it wasn't in bad shape before. As we entered the foyer we noticed that to the right, which had been the non-smoking dining area, was now an area that could be reserved for parties. In the foyer itself some large arcade machines had been installed. The  area on the left, which had been the bar/smoking area was now a bar/dining area. It had been filled in with nice booths, several of them. The motif was brown and black, the walls a neutral cream. Several overhead fans spun quickly. The lighting was muted, but more brightly than Munzert's had been. It smelled much better that I had remembered it, it now carried the narcotic aroma of yeast and garlic.
    It wasn't very busy when we arrived so we were told to sit wherever we liked. Two or three wall mounted TV's were on, muted, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I noticed they were not tuned to sports, but rather, the Discovery Channel. Finally, a bar/pizza joint that didn't assume that their patrons need a 24/7 sports fix.
On the back wall was a new-style jukebox, wall mounted, playing something contemporary. I'm not in to the music the kids are into these days, at least it wasn't too loud or offensive.
We sat back against the wall, I turned sideways and took up the entire bench. Sydney brought us the menus.
We snickered. The plain paper menus had been glued to a part of a pizza box lid. Cute.
We ordered our drinks, tea and sweet tea.
The menu was three pages, one for pizza the others dedicated to sandwiches, salads, etc.
I was tempted by the lighter salads, and sandwiches... yeah, right...PIZZA!
The Food:
There were a few pre-defined pizzas and they looked okay. But the interesting choice of toppings for a free-style was too good to pass up.
I made up my mind on a nine inch, traditional crust, with crab meat, pepperoni, Italian sausage, green peppers and onions. Yeah, Crab meat!
Angel picked a niner as well, thin crust, because she doesn't understand pizza. She topped it with shrimp, Italian sausage, black olives and mushrooms.
I was tempted to add another interesting option, sauerkraut. I know! Long time fans will realize the karmic irony of this from this review.
We assumed Adam would want some when he got home from work, so we also asked for a twelve inch  traditional 'Junction', to-go from the pre-defined list. It contained mostly meats. A twleve incher so we could all share it with him and not have to prepare any meals for the rest of the weekend. Mmmm, breakfast pizza.
While we waited I glanced around, taking in the changes. I liked it. It opens at eleven most days, and offers wi-fi. We wondered aloud about how Adam was doing at his new job. He'd only started the previous weekend, part time, but he seemed to like it.

12" 'Junction'

The aroma reminded me of the pizza places I'd worked at. Garcia's Pizza in a Pan in Rantoul, Illinois, (home of the Flying Tomato Brothers.) They had customized delivery cars, AMC Pacers, decorated with green plastic stems on their tops, you know, so it looked like a tomato.
I also worked at one in Springfield, I don't recall the name. I was officially a delivery driver at both, used my own car to get the mileage reimbursement. I also worked the back and learned a few tips and techniques of the business. The delivery bit also permanently odored my cars with that same delicious smell that I swooned over when I first stepped in this place, yeast and garlic. Lovely, simply lovely.
We watched the muted TV's, closed captioning was enabled. As best we could tell this was one of the newer reality shows devoted to documenting the stupid things rural hicks are willing to do to sustain a reality show.

Mine

In this episode the silly hillbillies were picking through a landfill for fortune and fame and then went out at night, hunting for mythological creatures. I didn't actually see any laying around, but I assumed copious amounts of alcohol were involved.
The pizzas arrived soon enough. They looked great. I knew I'd like mine, I'd already had a sample of one of the Junction's pizza's the weekend before*.
Sure enough it was thick, gooey, generously topped,  and very, very cheesy.
It looked bigger than nine inches, but I'm a guy and can't estimate sizes like that very accurately. The toppings and cheese extended all the way to the edges, no cutting of corners here. It seemed massive, I knew I wouldn't be able to finish the whole thing. That's what they make boxes for though.
The tea was okay, it wasn't too old or bitter.(insert wife joke here if you like, I won't. Angel occasionally reads these things.)

Angel's

Angel and I savored our pies. These were really, really good. She mentioned what I just did, that the toppings were generous and filled out to the edges. The crust was perfect, charred a little at the edges for some crispiness, not too thick to be too filling, perfect. The sauce, which I knew to be made in-house*, was great, once again nothing flashy, but good, fresh and generous. I came across the lumps of crab, I'd never had crab on a pizza before, I  can't recall it even having ever been an option. It was subtle, compared to the sausage, and I might have not even noticed it had I not been looking for it. But that's the nature of crab. The peppers and onions were finely chopped, I prefer larger pieces but that was a minor point.
 Most St. Louis Style shops and pies default to provel, that regionally popular, sweeter cheese blend. It's offered as an option at the junction though. Ours had a more 'traditional' provolone and mozzarella blend.  They also have different sauces, but I highly recommend the house sauce.
Summary:
 Sure enough, I only made it halfway through. Angel, probably because of her wafer-thin crust, finished all but one square. We had absolutely nothing to complain about, this was seriously good pizza.
Yeah, that good, better than all the local franchises, by far. There was obvious attention to quality and flavors.
The service was pretty good. I'm going to give them a break on the few minor serving errors. They've only been open a week and they hired the staff less than two weeks ago. The fact that Sydney came back to our table twice to confirm some details about our order I actually appreciated. She seemed to be working hard to get our order right, not just get it over with. She'll work out fine.
One more minor thing, easily fixable. There were no napkins on the tables. This was a problem as pizza, a hand-food, is messy. Especially if it is made well, and this was. We had to ask for napkin refills, but like I said, easily fixable. Angel pointed out that they also didn't offer silverware/plates like some of the snootier pizza joints did. I didn't see it as a problem and frankly, it didn't seem to slow Angel down much.
The bill for the two customized pies and the big take-home standard came to forty seven dollars and change. that sounds like a lot, but remember, breakfast pizza, mmmmmm! We ordered thirty combined inches (9+9+12)of pizza, that comes down to a little more than a buck an inch. Don't make me do the math for you.
I wish I could get  there for lunch during the week, they offer a pizza and salad buffet for a very reasonable price.
I highly recommend Pizza Junction. I'm always excited when a new place opens up in my adopted hometown, especially when it works hard to serve quality food at a good price. Pizza Junction succeeds at this, even in their first week.

* Disclaimer.
Yeah, now for all those asterisks. 
If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, I am not a professional journalist. I'm a writer, a clown, and a very emotionally fragile and needy, yet undeniably handsome man. I do have ethics though, so I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Adam's new job is at this very place, Pizza Junction. That's how I'd known it was good pizza, he'd brought some home after the soft-opening the previous weekend. He was in the back on this very day, and probably helped prepare our pies. We never saw him while we were there and we didn't want to skew the experience or interfere with his work, so we did not introduce ourselves. He pretty much guessed it though, six ingredients each on a pair of nine inch pies caught his attention, especially the shrimp and crab toppings. Not their typical orders. The sauerkraut would have nailed it.
So am I biased in my review? Maybe? No, not at all. I decided ahead of time that if it was bad, or worse, awful, that I'd recuse myself from reviewing it.
I did enjoy it though, I highly recommend it, whether Adam works there or not. It's a local place in a small town and I'm bound to have some sort of connection through family/friends at any locally owned place.
But I figured I better be up front with you about the familial connection.
Seriously, try it.

Munzert's

10857 Business 21
Hillsboro, Mo

We wanted a good, solid meal. We chose Munzert’s.

The Place:

Awful tea.

Across Highway B from the Hillsboro Mall (Dollar General). The parking lot was filling in, but not quite full. We stepped in and noticed something odd. Munzert’s has a bar area to the left and a dining area to the right. The dining area was empty and blocked by an impenetrable barrier consisting of two high chairs. Apparently someone had rented out the entire main dining room.We were led to the left, around a pool table, several large video game, a crowded bar and to a booth in the back. The place was packed. It was also stuffy, and very loud. This is also Munzert’s smoking allowed section, and it reeked. A half dozen ceiling fans were spinning at full speed, to no avail, the foul air just moved in swirls from one place to another. We decided to tough it out anyhow. For all those that claim ambiance doesn’t really matter that much I’d love to have had you along for this fiasco.

“I prefer the other side.” Posited Adam in a very rare display of unsolicited commentary.

After we were seated and handed our menus by the hostess, another lady took our drink orders. I regretted my decision almost immediately, un-sweet tea with lemon. Angel asked for a Diet Coke and Adam a regular Coke. I recalled that Munzert’s tea was not very good in the past and had no reason to expect it to be any better this time.

The Food:

Dinner Salad

Angel announced earlier that she was after the fried chicken. I was unsure at first. I looked over the steaks, I always get steaks at this place, they’re very good. I also looked at the burgers but they all seemed too big. I then noticed that below Angel’s favorite half-chicken plate they offered a two-piece chicken plate with two sides, so I decided on that. I knew I wanted the German fried potatoes, I also opted for a dinner salad. German fried potatoes are thick potato slices fried with lots and lots of onions. In the fried potato war, I choose German over French without hesitation.

As expected, Angel ordered the half-chicken saying she'd happily be taking half of it home in a box. She really likes the chicken. She added a Caesar salad and German fries.

Half Chicken + German fries

Adam surprised me by choosing a chicken and penne pasta plate, mashed potatoes on the side, with gravy. Yeah, pasta with a side of mashed potatoes.
The salads were somewhat slow to arrive, but they were quite good; fresh and crisp and not too large. Adam stole his mom’s crackers and maybe a crouton or two. In the meantime the noise grew louder and the stench stronger. Adam was covering his face.

The wait for the main course was even longer. The wait staff seemed disorganized and off-kilter. Drinks were refilled in a timely manner, for what it was worth, the tea was simply awful. Water next time.

2 piece Chicken + German fries

By the time the plates arrived we were ready, ready to leave. The noise and the smell were getting to us. I’d like to say the food made up for it all, but it didn’t. By the time the meals arrived our senses were clogged, saturated. The food was good as long as I concentrated on tasting it. The potatoes were crisp and onion-y, the chicken, lightly breaded, crispy and moist. The chicken was also very, very hot, I had to cut it open and let it cool off before I could start tearing away at it.  When the plates were delivered we were told that the rolls would be there soon, they’d had to make some. That was the last we heard of the rolls, we never saw any.

Chicken/bacon penne

We asked how Adam liked his pasta. Actually we shouted the question. “It has bacon!” he smiled. No wonder he ordered that particular dish. Sure enough mixed in to the creamy sauce and penne noodles were luscious bacon bits.

Summary:

If you can’t say something nice, at least keep it short and to the point. Is my philosophy. Well, for the sake of this review anyhow.

I usually like Munzert’s I really do, but if this had been my first experience I would almost certainly never have gone back.
The waitress seemed to sense our discomfort and displeasure and offered an apology about the service. By then of course, it was too late. I rushed her through the process of payment by asking for the check then having my card ready when she brought it. Another lady brought us two take-out boxes. Angel and Adam spared no time scraping their extra food into them. We got out of there as soon as we could, relishing in the quiet and fresh air outside.
I had a headache from the noise. Angel and Adam were suffering for air.

We have decided that if this is the only option on subsequent visits to this or any other bar/grill then we will just go elsewhere. Not that we believe our health was in immediate danger, the jury’s still out on that for non-asthmatic folks, but because the smell permeated everything, including our taste buds.

    The price was very reasonable. A steak, which I usually get  is kind of pricy here, but with two chicken dinners and a pasta dish the bill came in at a very reasonable $33. I didn't tip very much though. On this night the service was far less than ideal and there were no rolls. To fail to deliver a twice-promised component of the meal, even something as simple as bread, is a serious error.

Soapbox Time:

There have been many communities in the area, as well as all over the country, passing ordinances to ban smoking in restaurants and in some cases, bars. I’ve never really supported that. I always thought that owners should be able to make the smoking/non-smoking choice for themselves, customers could vote with their feet and purses. I still feel that way. I could have easily turned around and left and dined somewhere else.

As for the employees, well, my thought on that is this. I don’t like watercraft and I am at best, a lousy swimmer, therefore I have never sought out a job on a cruise ship or merchant vessel. I don’t like confined spaces, especially underground, so I am not a miner.  There are many restaurants, even in our little area, that do not allow smoking indoors. If you want to, or have to wait tables, you still have options. If you are bothered by smoke, you may seriously want to reconsider seeking employment in a sports bar in rural Missouri.

Bobby Munzert’s

Hillsboro, MO

http://www.bobbymunzerts.com/

A rare Sunday dinner. We usually go out on Saturday, but couldn’t because of my ride-along with the Sheriff’s department. Angel pimped homeless doggies at Petsmart on Sunday and got home just in time to feed our own flock, clean up and head out with us. It was her week to choose. She said she did not want to experiment, she was too hungry. She wanted to go somewhere close that she knew she could get a good meal. That should tell you something about Munzert’s.   

The Place:

It hadn’t changed much since our last visit. The door opened into the center, smoking section on the left, second-hand smoking on the right. The low October sun shined into the doorway lighting up the haze inside. We were immediately greeted and seated in a booth under a large black and white poster of Audrey Hepburn. There’s lots of pictures of famous dead people in the restaurant. The booth behind us was under one of Marylyn Monroe, who was famous for dying famously. I hear she was found naked, by that I mean without clothing, an apparent suicide. I’ve never been able to figure that out, why so many women, especially famous women, get naked to kill themselves. I think I’d rather be wearing something loose, warm and comfortable, but that’s just me, I don’t exactly have a million-dollar body. I wonder if Mama Cass was found nude? (Actually she did NOT gag on a sandwich, she suffered a heart attack, but still. . .)

Anyway, the place was, as I said, a bit smoky. It was also about half full. There were a couple of TV sets fired up, noisily blasting a baseball game throughout the joint. Some sort of playoff I was able to determine, though I was soon able to ignore it completely.

  Once we were seated the hostess told us that our waitress would be with us shortly, so we casually scanned the menu. The waitress brought us our drinks, tea, sweet tea and Coke/Pepsi, as before served in heavy, stemmed glasses. We decided on an appetizer, teriyaki wings, and placed our order. I decided to have a bacon cheeseburger, and German fries. Angel asked for the fried chicken special with mashed potatoes and green beans, the meal also came with a salad, Angel asked for the Caesar.  Adam opted for the bacon-ranch chicken sandwich and steak fries.  

The waitress was rather busy, busing, taking orders, delivering orders at all the tables in the room. She was the only waitress we saw in the area the whole time we were there.

I sat and stared at the thin rolling haze, illuminated by the sunlight, which also highlighted a thick area of dusty footprints in the entry. This was probably dust from the huge construction site across the road. There’s a very large shopping center going up, construction has been underway since spring. We know the town’s premier department store, Dollar General, is moving and expanding to the new center, we’re not sure what else is planned, though we are genuinely excited about a bigger Dollar General.

The Food:

The appetizer arrived, chicken wings, breaded, fried, then coated with dark, sweet caramelized teriyaki sauce. I don’t usually order wings, except at Hooters. Not that theirs are any good at all, they’re not, it’s just that they are served by young, scantily clad, flirtatious women with prominent breasts. How can you NOT like that?

These were not hot-wings though. Instead they were almost, but not quite sweet, the sauce had been cooked on and the effect was a marvelous crunch on the outside, and tender and moist meat on the inside. They were also quite messy, which, like at Hooter’s is part of the fun. I had two, Angel three, Adam two or three. This left a couple that we would eventually box up and take home.

Angel’s salad arrived, with a roll that she didn’t really want. Adam and I both turned it down as well since we were getting sandwiches. The roll went into the wing-basket. Angel’s salad was small, saucer sized, which for us is optimal. Enough to sate an urgent hunger, but not enough to fill anyone up.

Service was not quick, due primarily to the one-person floor staff being so busy running from table to table. But even with that the wait was not extreme, the main event soon arrived.

Bacon Cheeseburger with German fries

Bobby’s burgers are great. He uses Grade A Angus beef. Angus is a breed of cattle, not a specific body part, so please, no childish jokes about the word ‘Angus’. The Angus breed was created in Scotland in the early 1800’s and remains highly favored because it is naturally polled (which means hornless. Horny cattle can easily and stupidly, savagely injure each other, which is not profitable, so less-horny cattle are more desirable to many ranchers.) They are either solid black or red (the cattle, not the ranchers), with the black being preferred in the U.S.. I don’t know exactly why American’s prefer the black, that seems historically contradictory, but the only other option was red, and history doesn’t exactly show an American affinity for that flesh-tone either.

All I know is this, Angus is mighty tasty. Bobby’s Angus seems leaner than most places that prefer an 80/20 lean/fat ratio. But the meat was thick, tasty, tender and perfectly cooked. I piled onions, lettuce, pickles and tomato on mine. No ketchup or mustard, it just didn’t need any. The German fries are a new favorite of mine. 1/8 inch thin slices of actual potatoes, pan fried to crispness alongside a pile of onions. When served the chopped onion is almost cremated, caramelized and smoky. The potatoes are perfectly crunchy on the outside . . .

Angel’s chicken was cut just like that I had at Kim’s a few weeks back. Four pieces, leg, thigh, breast and head….. Just kidding! It was a leg, thigh, breast and wing. Lightly breaded, very, very hot. Among us, there was not a thing we didn’t love. Angel was absolutely correct in her prediction, Munzert’s always serves good food.

Summary:

The bill came to thirty seven dollars, less than I had expected. In fact it was a pretty good price for so much food. So much food that none of us finished. All three of us requested a box. I had half a burger left and a third of my German fries, Angel still had a large, untouched breast (I was going to put something really funny here, but decided against it.) and half a thigh. Adam was about halfway through his sandwich and fries as well, though he only boxed the sandwich, something about thick steak fries going limp when microwaved. The waitress had offered dessert, which we once again had to turn down.

Other than the light staffing, I have nothing at all negative at all to say about the meal. It was all properly prepared, tasty, and generous. The waitress was friendly and professional, no mistakes.

There’s a reason Angel chose this place when she wanted a certain excellent meal, Munzert’s delivers.

Bobby Munzert’s

Hillsboro, Mo

http://www.bobbymunzerts.com/

It had been nearly a year since we’d been to Munzert’s. We went soon after it  first opened, and again a couple of months later. At the time we discussed new-restaurant concerns and gave them a break since they were just starting up.

Over a year into it, it was time to take the gloves off.

The Place:

Located at the intersection of Highway B and old 21 (Main Street) in Hillsboro. It was early in the evening and the place was less than 1/3 full. We were seated in a back-corner booth immediately. The place had changed a little, but not drastically. It was neat, clean, dark, and lined up with white tablecloths and folded navy-blue napkins enveloped the silverware settings. An oil candle burned on each table, the music was big-band swing and classic crooners, Tony Bennett, et al.

The hostess handed us menus and shortly one of the two or three floor staff asked for drink orders. Tea, unsweetened for me, because I’m already sweet enough, and sweetened for Angel, because, well lets just leave it there. Adam asked for a Coke/Pepsi, got a Coke.

The menu was smaller than I recalled. Sure enough, a couple of the items we’d ordered previously were no longer offered. If there was anything new it wasn’t apparent. They’d pared down the menu some, which is a good thing. It shows they react to customers’ wants. The remaining offerings covered a good deal of ground of the basics. Steak was the headliner, along with high end burgers and some pasta dishes. Picky children might not have a lot to choose from, but for adults the selection was just right. The wait staff moved around smoothly, professionally, smartly dressed in black pants and shirts.

The drinks were delivered in those heavy stemmed glasses I’d noted previously. The tea looked clear and bright, fresh, though not as strong as I would have preferred, but infinitely better than old bitter tea.

The Food:

Myself: 6 oz. Filet Mignon, Baked potato (with bacon, cheese, sour cream) and a Caesar Salad.

Angel: 9 oz New York Strip, Baked potato (sour cream) and Caesar Salad.

Adam: Blackened Chicken sandwich (no tomatoes), fries (non-spicy) and Caesar salad.

Our salads were delivered quickly, small portions (thankfully) along with soft, but not too soft rolls served with foil-wrapped pats of actual butter. The rolls were still warm enough to completely melt the butter, which sounds obvious enough but such a thing is rarer than one might imagine. In many places the butter is kept frozen, rock hard and short a thermonuclear event will never melt completely on even the warmest of rolls. Munzert’s had this right. The butter was not frozen, it wasn’t warm either, but those few degrees between ‘rock-hard’ and ‘soft enough to melt quickly’ are crucial to the enjoyment of buttered rolls.

The salads were simple, a few greens, some red onion and a couple of croutons, with a dressing that was not too strong, but certainly more than just oil and vinegar, just right. Served on clear, square, glass plates, it was small enough that it left room for the heavy meal to come. So far, so good.

The wait for the main courses was not long. Each plate was complete, no omissions, no mess, no mistakes. No steak sauce was offered, a good sign. A good steak doesn’t need A-1, and if A-1 improves your steak, it wasn’t really a good one. I appreciated their optimism. We were asked to check for doneness, we did, and were pleased. The steak-maker was a pro. Seared to crunchy on the outside, the pink line inside was just where it was supposed to be. The knives delivered with the steak were more than suitable for the task of breaking down these tender beauties.

The potatoes were clear of blemishes and cooked perfectly. I actually prefer an over-baked potato, I like the crispy skin, but this was done as perfectly as could be without actually initiating the cremation process. It was not over-topped, which was also good.

The filet melted beneath the knife, it sliced like butter. Each bite was tender, juicy and smoky. Angel made passionate moaning, gnawing sounds. She’d had a busy day and had not eaten much of anything.

Adam was making short work of his sandwich, and when asked, grunted a monosyllabic “Good.” Which if you will recall about as good as it gets. His fries however resulted in “Fine.” Which is still pretty good.  Actually I’d asked him if they were okay, he answered “Yeah”, but I know my son and can confidently translate what he said related into what he meant.

The pitcher ladies kept our drinks topped off, and even brought an extra glass filled with ice. “The tea’s hot when we pour it, there’s some more ice for you in case yours melts too fast.” She said to explain the gift. I appreciated more than she could possibly know. This meant the tea was fresh, very fresh. I was starting to get the notion that maybe they’d read my blog. (Earlier blogs complain of too little ice, and the refills being too seldom.)

I finished the vast majority of my steak, Angel all of hers, the sandwich and fries had disappeared completely.

Angel mentioned that it was good to see bread, the rolls that came with the salad were followed up by one each on the steak plates. I recalled that I’d mentioned a bread shortage in my last Munzert’s blog as well.

I asked Angel about her meal. “One good piece of meat.”

And I agreed. The steaks at Munzert’s are the best I’ve had anywhere around.  A couple of places have good steaks, Ruby Tuesdays’ even had a great one, once. These were obviously very good cuts/grades of meat. All the steaks we’ve had here are very, very good.

Summary:

 The service was spot-on, professional and efficient. The atmosphere was comfortable, causal but classy (considering the location). The price was higher than a quick dinner at Hillsboro’s other places, but in this case, well worth it. The bill was nearly fifty five dollars. I can pay the same at TGI Fridays, Ruby Tuesdays, Outback, etc. but the chains, oddly enough, lack consistency. Munzert’s has apparently decided to become a premier steakhouse, it shows in the choice of meat and the attention to detail when preparing it. Most people around Hillsboro can’t afford to pay that much for a meal very often, but at least we know we are going to get our money’s worth when we do.

Highly recommended!