Good Pizza and Good Beer come to Charlestown

No, that subject was not in error. The Charlestown Pizza Company opened up several weeks ago in the town square in Charlestown (850 Main Street) Indiana, and is serving up some excellent pizza and accompanying it with a rather nice lineup of beers from the Midwest and from Europe.

We made our first trip to the CPC this past Saturday, and left very impressed. Top notch service, along with great thin crust pizza. 6 of us split two different pizzas (One being spinach, tomato, and black olives, and the other consisting of the classic ham and pineapple) A slightly zesty sauce with a crispy crust, and plenty of cheese. Moderately priced craft beers topped the meal off.

The restaurant was very clean, and was remodeled recently by the owners before opening. It is a very spacious layout, with plenty of room for additional seating once things take off for them. Plenty of retro concert posters lined the walls (not many places have Phish posters up) and 91.9 was playing at a comfortable level in the background, so as not to inhibit conversation. They are very kid friendly, with several older arcade games, including what looks like an original Pole Position, as well coloring books, and a few toys to keep the kids happy when finished with their meals, which gave me time for a few cracks at the record on Pole Position!

It looks like it is smoke free, or at least I never saw anyone smoking in there over the 1 hour we visited, nor did I see ashtrays.

Anyway, this is a great place to check out. Good food and good beer! A tough combination to beat.

It looks like Roger Baylor is hosting their online menus until they can get their own website up and running. Here are links to their wine menu and their beer menu (Roger did not have a food menu from them yet for posting):

http://www.newalbanian.com/CharlestownP ... erlist.pdf

http://www.newalbanian.com/CharlestownP ... nelist.pdf

Hours at CPC are:

Tuesday 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Wednesday and Thursday 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.
Sunday 12 noon – 8 p.m.
(Closed on Monday)

Cheers!

Shawn and Tajana are lontime NABC-ers, both as workers and as friends, and we're quite happy yo see them up and running.

I now have the food menus and will post .pdfs later this morning after coffee.

Shawn and I used to work at Whole Foods Market together. He was the beer buyer and I was the coffee buyer on the specialty team.

I have eaten at the C-town Pizza Co. twice now and the pizza is excellent and reasonably priced. It's a great family and friends restaurant.

I haven't been back for the beers but Shawn taught me more about beer and how its made than anyone else during our time together at WFM (whose shares took another big hit last week - thank got I sold mine last year - as I don't think this is the bottom for that company).

Shawn is one of the most passionate people I knew at WFM. He cared for the quality of the products he sold and the quality of the customer service he provided. He was the real thing over there and he presence is sorely missed.

To try and talk about beer to the guy who replaced him is like talking to cardboard. No passion, no presence, no real insight.

I miss working with him every day but love knowing that the C-town Pizza Co. is allowing him to grow and focus his passions for food and customer service in a way that is more real than shilling for a evil big-box chain that is nothing more than a shell of the once-worthy company it used to be.

[Robin Garr]

evil big-box chain that is nothing more than a shell of the once-worthy company it used to be.

Hey, you sound just like me talking about The Courier-Journal!

Funny, though, I loved Whole Foods when it first opened, but I find I almost never go over there any more. Part of it has to do with reading about how Mackey is "virulently anti-union," but I think a bigger part is that they've gradually dumbed way down since the opening. That's consistent with your observations.

a evil big-box chain that is nothing more than a shell of the once-worthy company it used to be.

Matthew, I've told you many times that holding back the expression of your feelings is not healthy. Tell us what you really think.

evil big-box chain that is nothing more than a shell of the once-worthy company it used to be.

Hey, you sound just like me talking about The Courier-Journal!

Funny, though, I loved Whole Foods when it first opened, but I find I almost never go over there any more. Part of it has to do with reading about how Mackey is "virulently anti-union," but I think a bigger part is that they've gradually dumbed way down since the opening. That's consistent with your observations.

I agree! Seems like all the cool passionate dudes left and those that remain are just there fo the money......

[Robin Garr]

Seems like all the cool passionate dudes left and those that remain are just there fo the money......

What ever happened to that wacky guy in the meat department!?

I have to admit I'm going to WHM less and less. The place does seem sanitized and less focused on being knowledgeable about the products. The basic customer service concepts seem intact. For example, if a product is unsatisfactory they credit or replace without discussion - that's the old WFM way. On the other hand, on at least 4 occasions I've bought challah bread from their bakery that was raw in the center. On each occasion I'm told that they just can't seem to get that one right and here is a free loaf that turned out to be equally raw. That's an example of the new WHM way. The people I dealt with in the bakery were disinterested and uninvolved in the process. I still think the seafood people have the old passion, but it's getting harder ot find. Sorry to get sidetracked, good luck to Charlestown Pizza.

I've put CPC's regular dine-in menu up at NABC's site:

http://www.newalbanian.com/CharlestownPizzaCompanyfoodmenu.pdf

When there's time, I'll make a page with a couple of photos on it.

Seems like all the cool passionate dudes left and those that remain are just there fo the money......

What ever happened to that wacky guy in the meat department!?

That dude is doing a wacky Bastille day thing.......you in??

thanks everyone

roger and dave
you both need to come out and have some pie and beer

you too matt

thanks again
shawn