Grandpa Gotta Eat—Taco Pizza

Those of you who have been following the Grandpa Gotta Eat series will know that as part of my job, I am once a week on the Oregon Coast between Toledo and Lincoln City. In the latter, I discovered a pizza place called Gallucci's Pizzeria. I really like their Hawaiian Pizza and have eaten it (and variations of it) several times.

As I've driven the route, I've noticed another pizza place, Tie Dye, that seemed to have good reviews, and seemed a little out of the ordinary, given the name. For a few weeks now, I'd been thinking about trying a pizza from there, but since the pizza I was eating from Gallucci's was so good, I was hesitant.

Well, this week I managed to break the hold Gallucci's has over me and made my way to Tie Dye. How was I able to do this, at least for one week?

The answer: Taco Pizza.

Now, just like most things, not all taco pizza is created equal. It may be called taco pizza, but many of them don't live up to the name. Not because they're not necessarily tasty in their own way, but because they fail to provide one essential ingredient: refried beans.

That's right. It can have the ground beef, the lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and maybe even olives or salsa, but too often they opt for the traditional marinara sauce (which doesn't go anywhere near a taco) instead of the refried beans.

Tie Dye, though, as I was looking through the list of the ingredients for their taco pizza, not only had refried beans, it was listed first.

Along with the other ingredients I mentioned, they also go the extra mile and crumble up and throw on some tortilla chips.

I normally order my pizza ahead of when I'll be passing by the shop so I can just run in, pay for it and be on my way. Most of the time I'm still on the clock and eating it either as I finish the route, or on my way back home. Such was the case this Tuesday.

I'm not sure what I expected to see when I went into Tie Dye, but it wasn't what I saw—there was quite a mess on the counter and the kitchen in back, wherein two men were working, one who took my payment and handed me my pizza, and the other who probably baked it. They did not look like stereotypical hippies. If I had to describe them in a polite way I would say, they looked hardened, a little rough around the edges.

If I were rating the placed based on cleanliness, demeanor, atmosphere etc., I would probably give it a two and maybe call the health inspector.

As it is, very not the experience I was expecting from a place called Tie Dye.

The good thing is, the pizza made up for it.

It was very flavorful, and just what I hoped for. The crust was good, the refried beans mixed well with the other ingredients, and the salsa, while a tad vinegary for me, had the right amount of zest and heat.

Now, generally, my take home pizza comes in a box. At Tie Dye, they give you a plate (which is actually handy) and place tinfoil on top. Again, something that I wasn't expecting, but nevertheless, it was very practical.

The one thing I would have liked to see is some sour cream, at least on the side, to slather on later. Regardless, I intend to eat this taco pizza again.

I also stopped by Dutch Bros. and got my standard tropical soda with cream (not whip cream—there's already way too much sugar in there as is). I finally got wise a week or so ago and instead of getting the soda iced (where basically they give you 24 oz of ice and fill in the remaining 8 oz with actual soda, syrup and cream), I got it blended—the flavor lasts until the very end and because it has to melt, you get to savor it a little more rather than basically gulping it all down at once.

All in all, I would say this particular meal was very satisfactory.

Tie Dye Pizzeria also makes a seafood pizza. Unlike Gallucci's, which I posted about a while back, Tie Dye's seafood pizza has smoked salmon (instead of clams), along with the bay shrimp and smoked oysters. I'm inclined to eat smoked salmon before clams (unless it's in clam chowder), so I'm intrigued by the combination and may be trying it next week.

If I don't go back to Gallucci's for their Hawaiian. They know my name there. I kind of feel bad, even though the pizza was good. I'm sure I'll get over it.

_{Images courtesy of Glen Anthony Albrethsen}

Grandpa Gotta Eat is published in conjunction with Food Fight Friday, a weekly contest for food lovers all over the world. To take part, all you need to do is write about food, post on a Friday, use the #fff tag, and then take a look at the other entries. You'll get a chance to vote on them to help pick the winner.