I'm well aware that I won't be the first to tell you about Rudy's. Castle Street's newest pizzeria has been the name on everybody's lips for the past few weeks and this weekend they've finally opened their doors to a flood of Instagram pictures, a multitude of excited tweets and a resounding 'YES!' from all of us lucky beggars that managed to get down there on opening night.
So why the excitement? Rudy's already have two really popular Manchester branches and now they've taken the plunge and set up shop in Liverpool in the huge, (now empty) building where CAU used to be- and it's good. Really, really good.
In contrast to Castle Street's usual vibe, Rudy's is super casual. The interior is all concrete, wall murals and minimal with a spattering of Ikea touches thrown in for good measure (I should know, I have the exact same crap all over my house, too).
On the upside this means you can come for a nice dinner in your jeans and comfiest trainers, on the downside it means all the drinks are served in glass tumblers. Whilst it's not much of an issue when you're sipping on one of their (excellent) Aperol spritzes, the experience of drinking red wine out of one takes me back to my uni days drinking vodka out of a sports direct mug: it does the job but it's not ideal really is it?
On the upside this means you can come for a nice dinner in your jeans and comfiest trainers, on the downside it means all the drinks are served in glass tumblers. Whilst it's not much of an issue when you're sipping on one of their (excellent) Aperol spritzes, the experience of drinking red wine out of one takes me back to my uni days drinking vodka out of a sports direct mug: it does the job but it's not ideal really is it?
Fans of Santa Maluco across the road who might be worried about a bit of competition can rest easy as the two offer completely different pizza experiences. While Santa's is all about the wacky, the weird and the wonderful, Rudy's is all about the authentic, the rustic and the quintessentially Italian.
The dough is made Neopolitan style and is cooked in just 60 seconds flat which makes for the softest, fluffiest pizza crust you can imagine, charred and blackened around the edges. If I'm honest I don't often eat my pizza crusts (I know, I'm terrible- I'm sorry) but I polished off every last bite of this one.
The menu is, like the restaurant interior, simple but well done. There's a small selection of meaty Italian toppings like proscuitto, salami and n'duja sausage but there's loads of interesting veggie bits too including portobello mushrooms, wild broccoli, smoked mozzarella and sun-dried tomatoes. Loads of them are available as 'white' pizzas so you can have them without the tomato base, although the sauce was so sweet and flavourful you'd have a pretty hard time trying to convince me to drop it.
There's a grand total of just three dessert options up for grabs but I found each of them just as charming as the rest of the food. A Tiramisu crammed in to another one of those glass tumblers was served a bit like a pineapple upside-down cake, a big messy mash up of all the ingredients but it definitely hit the coffee sweet-spot for me. Even more intriguing was a scoop of Orange Blossom ice-cream served with a sweet and sticky honeycomb sauce- I've never really had anything like it before but it was fab-u-lous.
Ultimately, Rudy's is one of the best pizzas I've had in a while. The food is simple, inexpensive and absolutely delicious and I've already convinced 3 mates to go back with me.
Make sure you go soon- I reckon you'll love it just as much as me.
x
*Rudy's kindly invited me to eat for free at their launch night but as always all opinions are honest and my own- it was fab!