Cuisine Review

Buck’s not just pizza – these wings can fly, baby!

By Kinnon Phillips

Cuisine editor

With BayFest upon us, there are several restaurants in the downtown Mobile area music lovers could visit during the weekend. It is the perfect opportunity for those who rarely come downtown to have some positive experiences that hopefully will bring you back at other times during the year.

I felt it was also necessary for me to review a recent addition to downtown that meets the needs of a family, couples and take-out/delivery. It is my office neighbor on Dauphin Street at Claiborne, Buck’s Pizza. Buck’s is a chain, but this is their first-ever freestanding restaurant and it is locally owned. They are doing the right thing so far, with a strong emphasis on customer service, quality and affordability.

If you have been to any previous restaurants that were in this space – Fletcher’s, a Mexican restaurant and Janino’s, you know what the inside looks like. It is rather cavernous with an open ceiling and a great deal of space. When crowded, it can be loud, but it works.

You are not really coming here to have an intimate meal. I have eaten in, brought into the office and had it delivered to my home. I am not sure how far they deliver, but I know at least to Ann Street. The delivery, eat-in times for Friday and Saturday are from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., during the week until 9 p.m. and on Sundays they do not open until noon.

So there are no late night pizza deliveries, but I understand from the owners that business both inside and delivery service are doing quite well and I am of the opinion that if they see a market for late night, perhaps they will expand the hours.

The menu goes beyond pizza. They have salads, wings, stromboli, hoagies and chicken tenders. I will start with the salads. The salads contain non iceberg lettuce, beginning with a nice garden salad (all salads come in small or large) with romaine, cucumbers, red onion and tomato. The night we had delivery, my crazy married girl friend (notice not one term here) got the side garden ($3) with ranch, they were out of blue cheese which was a disappointment since we also got wings and blue cheese is a requirement. Other salads are Caesar, chef, Greek, spinach or chicken tender.

One of our editors had regaled me recently concerning the excellence of their wings, so we got the Large Party Pack ($24), which comes with one, two-topping pizza and 15 wings. We selected a half pepperoni with sausage with the other half sausage and mushroom. My first time eating at Buck’s I had gotten a pepperoni with spicy, thick slices of the meat and this time it was combined with sausage of a superior grade. We also were smitten by their four cheese medley pizza (medium, $14) that contained a blend of cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan and feta – it was if they had allowed the cheeses to get to room temperature and then melded them together. None of the cheeses overpowered the pie, and their crust is not the typical deep-dish but nowhere near thin, either.

Other pizzas co-workers, friends and I have tried are the chicken alfredo – “classic alfredo sauce,” as the menu says, with chicken, red onion and bacon topped with mozzarella cheese (large, $21). A large can well serve four adults. All pizzas come in personal size, small, medium, large and extra large. I have had a bite of the Greek pizza (medium, $16), which is not only unique but very tasty. A light garlic sauce is the base with mozzarella, black olives, red onion, artichoke heats, fresh Roma tomato slices and feta cheese. A chat with the owners revealed to me that they purchase as much food from local sources (mostly the vegetables), which is another plus to trading with them.

I have also had the Margherita pizza (small, $9) also the light garlic sauce with blended Parmesan, sliced Roma tomatoes, chopped fresh basil and mozzarella. There are so many others that are my delicious, but this is a good basic pie, and like the Greek, (if you take off the bacon) an acceptable vegetarian option.

Others to try are the chicken club pizza in the light garlic sauce and mozzarella cheese with marinated chicken, Canadian bacon, red onion and bacon; a steak and cheese; vegi-delite, the deluxe, all meat, BBQ chicken and bacon cheeseburger. Some friends of mine ate the bacon cheeseburger (small, $8.50) topped with hamburger, bacon, mozzarella and aged cheddar and said it was one of the best they had ever had. They also ordered the lasagna and said it was just passable – well, you cannot be stellar at everything.

The wings are a nice surprise. They come in the hot varieties, BBQ, honey BBQ, buffalo ranch, Jamican jerk, Thai, teriyaki and hot garlic. They only use zero trans-fat oils for their wings and tenders.

We got the medium heat and their wings will stand up against the best in Mobile. You can get anywhere from five ($4.20), going up in increments of five to 20 ($13), all the way up to 100 ($56). I recommend this as a wonderful option for a football or Mardi Gras party. I have not spoken to anyone who has tried the tenders or the stromboli. I have eaten the oven baked Italian sub (six inch, $5) with ham, hard salami, onion, melted cheese, green peppers, lettuce, tomato and Italian dressing and will certainly order this again. There are several other combos from the plain to creative.

Now take all this the correct way, Buck’s is very good, but not up to the level of our smaller, local pizza makers. It is far and above any other chain in quality, consistency and service. For example, on our delivery night, when we called they immediately told us they were busy in the restaurant and the delivery would not be for 40 minutes – that is proactive, rather than being told it will be 30 and end up being 45 minutes. They have the service and quality of a local mom and pop pizza house with the power of the chain.

Kinnon Phillips is Lagniappe cuisine editor. Contact him at kphillips@lagniappemobile.com.

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