Pizza was never a significant part of my life until I moved to Brooklyn. I could generally pass on a slab of refined carbs used to support pools of grease from fatty cheese and pepperoni of uncertain origin. This was before I had a slice of cheese and a beer on a hot New York night.
Now I live in Massachusetts and I have Celiac Disease. The first kills the craving for a NY slice, the second makes it impossible anyway. Beer has either wheat or barley, and sometimes both, and I have yet to try a gluten free beer that I would mistake for something straight from the tap. When I want pizza, it's the archetypal slice I crave, and I know I may never taste it again. I have not found its GF substitute, but I did manage to achieve the comforting buzz that comes from devouring a slice with a longneck.
It had been over a year since I last enjoyed that breakfast of champions, beer and pizza. Finding ourselves in Cambridge, we decided to seek out Stone Hearth Pizza, at 1782 Mass. Ave in Cambridge, a few blocks before Porter Square coming from Harvard Square. Stone Hearth Pizza is food with dogma: its menu shows the local farms, food producers and breweries it patronizes, with a significant portion of its products coming from New England. Organic, sustainable, and local items assure diners that their carbon footprint will not swell with a visit to the restaurant.
The restaurant is small, and we had a wait that was taxing for my son. We were eventually seated at a table meant for 2, and I worried equally about spills and cross contamination from my non GF family. There was definitely immaturity in the waitstaff, whose attitude was pleasant but not altogether there. I got the sense that the waitress may not understand the seriousness of the needs of the celiac patron. I would have expected her to point out GF selections, or really to say anything to indicate that it has registered with her that I can't eat wheat, but she did not trouble herself in this way. I still managed to come out unglutened.
The gluten free items on the menu are a dollar more per item, but celiacs are used to paying more for what everyone else takes for granted. The meatball poppers were what you would expect, meatballs in red gravy. I expected more flavor, but someone had a light hand with the spices and herbs. The margherita pizza had a very thin crust, and unlike an Amy's pizza, it didn't cause me heartburn afterward. It needed more spice as well, either basil or oregano, to marry the fresh mozzarella to the tomato, but it was still good despite being a bit on the bland side. I ordered a large so that I could enjoy the leftovers throughout the week. Of course, when having pizza and beer, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Bard's Tale brought out the sweetness in the pizza sauce, so I would probably add something savory or salty to the pizza next time for a more rounded palate.
It was a pass on dessert - after a slice I don't want a bowl of ice cream. I would like to see GF cheesecake or tiramisu on the menu. The two non GF dessert options were cookie and tiramisu, with ice cream comprising the other 3 options, so I didn't feel as excluded as I would if there were cakes, pies, and ice cream sandwiches that weren't GF.
The place is kid-friendly, as a pizza joint should be, with a kid's menu and young patrons' artwork on the wall. My son found his ice cream sundae to be a little too low on hot fudge, but he didn't need a sugar high so close to bedtime anyway.
The restaurant has locations in Belmont and Needham, with addresses and hours available on the website. The website is lacking information about its gluten free options, however. There are appetizers, salads, pizza, pasta, desserts, and beer that are all available gluten free. Effort is made to avoid cross-contamination, but I didn't note a specifically GF kitchen area. On a scale of 1-10:
Attitude to GF Patrons: 8
Variety of GF Foods: 8
Quality of GF Foods: 8
Kid-Friendly Food: 10
Kid-Friendly Attitude: 10
Overall grade: B+
