Patio Dining at Tribute Pizza

You might recall in one of our posts from back in June, that the Missus was missing Her visits to Tribute Pizza. As we passed by back in June, the nice fellow told us that if things worked out right they'd be reopening for dining in July. And it did take a while, but Tribute did reopen....but then the Delta variant attacked and we put things on hold. As our latest road trip approached, we understood that we'd be eating in various restaurants along the way and Tribute had started taking dining reservations for both dine in and patio seating. So, we decided to go ahead and make some reservations for the patio......on a Wednesday, which would be slower than, say....the weekend, at 4pm, the earliest time. 

 We arrived right at the appointed time and were seated on the patio. The woman who was our Server was fantastic and we saw really good processes in place; almost everyone, except the bartenders were masked....there were three parties after us all of whom were dining in; they were all seated at different ends of the restaurant. 

The Missus went straight for one of Her favorites here; the meatballs made from grass fed-finished beef and pork. 

This was a bit different than what we'd had before; the meatballs are still very tender and a bit lighter than what we'd had before. The sauce had a mild tanginess; though we really couldn't make out the roasted peppers and onions this time around.....we missed the sweet-vegetal-pungency. The Parmigiano Reggiano added the requisite milky-saltiness to the dish....which went nicely since the meatballs aren't overly salty. Funny, everytime I get a sniff of Parmigiano Reggiano, it takes me back to Emilia-Romagna and one wonderful day where I learned so much. The texture of the bread was wonderful....they do bread pretty well here. The only downfall was the olive oil used for the bread, which seemed to be rather low quality to us.

Speaking of bread, you know I had to get my favorite here; the Sea Salt Foccacia with the Sea Salt Foccacia with 'Nduja.

As my good friend "Alle" who is Italian-Venezuelan says; "this isn't foccacia....but who cares what it's called, when it's this good." Wonderful texture, love the mildly spicy, slightly funky 'nduja, though over the years it's become thicker....it still reminds me of a good pork spread with Harissa.

As mentioned a bit earlier; there's something different with the olive oil these days........still, that didn't detract from how nice the foccacia was.

And of course, we needed to get a pizza and so stuck with the Biancoverde with Prosciutto.

For some reason, this seemed much larger than what we recalled. The crust, well was ice and yeasty, light, though perhaps I'll request it a bit more charred next time. Love the combination of flavors; the bitter-peppery arugula, savory-almost cheesy prosciutto......nice textures; though after the meatballs and "foccacia" there wasn't much room left.

We enjoyed the service, which was warm, friendly, as it always is at Tribute. And while we're still picking our spots; heck the only other place where both the Missus and I "ate in" at in San Diego was Prime Grill back in June when things were looking good here in San Diego. I'm hoping we can stay the course, we do miss eating out.....

Tribute Pizza
3077 North Park Way
San Diego, CA 92104
Current Hours
Wed - Thurs 4pm - last seating 8p
Fri - Sat 4pm - last seating 9p
Sunday 4pm - last seating 8p
Closed Monday - Tuesday
Patio seating available by reservation

Red Devil; I know you've been waiting to visit; have you made it back to Tribute yet?

Funny thing, you can tell we're missing travel so much......for some reason, my love of culatello came up......oh man, it was just love at first bite, I just couldn't get enough of the stuff when we were in Emilia-Romagna. Of course, the funniest thing was when I mentioned this to Massimo Bottura during our dinner at Osteria Francescana and to our immense surprise he called out to the kitchen and personally brought us a plate of his own 46 month aged culatello which he makes for his staff and himself. I love to watch the Missus roll Her eyes when I do the old man thing and say; "did I tell you about the time Massimo Bottura served me culatello"? Sigh.......we're looking forward to the day we feel comfortable travelling internationally again. 

Hope everyone is safe and in good health!

Comments

[Joy]

I’ve been impressed with the pizza here, and they’re honest about the ‘homage’ factor rather than pretending it’s traditional-style stuff like every other Italian place in the city. In the end that’s secondary anyways - it’s tasty stuff, and that’s what matters most.

[kat]

glad you & the missus got to get your fixes:)

[amanda]

I'd be telling that Massimo story weekly! I bought some nduja last week and was wondering what to do with it - I had only had it on delicious pizza - but spread on some good bread sounds good.

[Kirk]

It's quite tasty Joy and used to be one of favorite Happy hour stops....you know, when that was a "thing".

We enjoyed ourselves Kat!

Toasted bread and 'nduja with some good olive oil and perhaps a touch of Balsamic is good Amanda. Nice to hear from you and hope all is well in spite of the circumstances.

[RedDevil]

Sadly, still have not been back. We’ve tried takeout a few times but failed due to long wait times.

[Kirk]

That's a bummer RD......I know you're really busy; but maybe doing an early patio (4-415pm) reservation might work?

[Lynnea Fleming]

Matthew and I tried take out from Tribute a couple of times too and failed! Not sure what the hangup was, but I sure do miss it! glad to see they are still in business even if the pizza's do look a little less charred on the edges...

[Kirk]

It might be worth eating on the patio early on a slow day Lynnea. We were the only one's eating al fresco.

[Zmirzlina]

We had the strange problem of not being able to make an outside reservation as a party of 3. Only indoors and we’re not there yet. Miss Tribute. During the pandemic we did takeout from them twice a month… and now they don’t seem to be doing takeout when we’ve tried.

[Kirk]

That's strange Zmirzlina. I just tried to book for three people for tonight and you're right. It allows for two people in the patio area but not for 3. You might want to call. I think that online ordering opens up at 4pm....but I've never really tried it.

[caninecologne]

I miss their nduja and their foccaccia. Time for a revisit. Their pizzas are always delicious.

[Kirk]

We really enjoyed this CC! It had been so long since we dined here.