Artichoke Basille's

I love artichokes so I was intrigued by the name and buzz surrounding Artichoke Basille's.  While there are a few locations scattered throughout the city, the Chelsea outpost is the only location with a dining area and therefore suitable for a super casual ladies luncheon.

The pies at Artichoke Basille's are huge.  One pie is big enough for at least three hungry patrons, but with all of the interesting combinations offered, you may want to opt for a few different quarter pies.  Price wise it is a bit more costly but the upside is the ability to try several different pizzas.

Artichoke Basille had an impressive wine menu for a pizza joint.  Even though beer usually goes best with pizza, my dining companion and I ordered white wine sticking to our ladies who lunch theme.  We ordered a carafe of the Sauvignon Blanc and depleted it happily.

We tried to order the Sicilian pizza but the server told us the restaurant was out.  I was a bit skeptical of this because all of the ingredients used to make the Sicilian pizza appeared on other menu items.  We asked if they could do whatever size they had remaining and she agreed.  I should have let it go because the slice we received arrived incredibly charred, like the pizza chef forgot the slice was in the oven (if we were about to keel over from starvation, I would have sent it back).

The food took way too long, but to be fair, I should have spoken up.  Although I'm not sure speaking up would have made our food arrive in a remotely timely fashion.  Despite the fact that we were the only diners waiting for food (the few other occupied tables were happily devouring their pies), the food took over 45 minutes to arrive.  And while we had been warned the breadsticks would take awhile, it is somewhat ludicrous that they should arrive as we were finishing our pizza, an hour after we had ordered them.

What to Eat:

Pizza is made up of two of my favorite ingredients, dough and marinara sauce.  Mozzarella cheese I could take or leave (after all, it isn't burrata).  Despite my disappointment in ridiculous delay, I would gladly eat Artichoke Basile's' bread sticks at any time, before, during or after the meal.  The thick, long bread sticks were perfectly cooked, unlike the charred Sicilian slice of pizza we received earlier.  The bread was doughy, lightly glazed with a garlic butter and sprinkled with parmesan cheese.  I was overjoyed with the gigantic side of warm marinara sauce to dunk the bread sticks.  If it was socially acceptable, I would consider bathing in the sweet marinara sauce.

For a pie, we opted for the Margarita and requested artichoke hearts on top.  This quarter pie, thankfully, was the exact opposite of the Sicilian slice (aka not burnt to a crisp)  Also, the dough was the perfect proportion, not too thick and not too thin.  I enjoyed the contrast of the tangy marinara sauce and the slightly salty artichoke heart topping.  Was it worth the 45 minute wait?  Definitely not, but I am hoping our experience was an anomaly.

Searching for warm comfort food to fight off NYC's cold winter?  Head over to Artichoke Basille's for the food, certainly not the service,

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