Rise Woodfire San Mateo

After a delicious meal at Elia the night before, I wanted to treat Cable Car Guy and fam to lunch.  You see, trying to fight for the bill with him can be futile since he uses every trick in the book.  I've been desperate enough to give my credit card to the server before we order so I can have the pleasure of paying!!!   Anyways, upon his suggestion, we traveled across the Bay over to Rise Woodfire in San Mateo.  This location is in addition to the Santa Clara store, both are locally owned.  Entering the place, we were greeted to high ceilings and a spacious dining room.  The menu focuses on wood fire pizza and rotisserie.

As such, we started with the Woodfired Chicken Wings in Chipotle BBQ and Buffalo.  Since these were not fried, the skin was not as rendered.  However, that also meant the wings were not dry nor too crunchy.  With that being said, the skin wasn't flabby either.  A bit vinegary with mild heat, the buffalo wings were best dunked into the side of peppercorn ranch.  As for the chipotle BBQ, they were a bit more saucy being sweet and tangy with a decent amount of spice.  The chicken meat itself was tender and almost juicy.

Continuing on with poultry, we tried their whole Pitman Family Farms Local Chicken.  This slow-roasted rotisserie chicken had a beautifully roasted exterior with rendered and flavorful skin.  The meat itself was on the drier side while lacking seasoning.  As you can see, the chicken was large and wasn't lacking in meat.  In addition to the charred half lemon, we had a choice of sauce where we went for the slightly spicy chipotle BBQ.  It had a nice tangy sweetness.

Included with the whole bird, we had a choice of two sides.  It was without a doubt we'd go for the Mac & Cheese with applewood smoked bacon (+$3.00) and the Parmesan Truffle Fries.  Both were good where the mac & cheese was super saucy and cheesy.  It wasn't really all that salty though but the addition of crispy (and not overly fatty) bacon took care of business.  Noodles were not too soft either.  As for the fries, they were crispy with plenty of creamy potatoness left.  I think there needed to be more parm though, but the truffle was evident.

Of course we would have some pizzas too right?  Instead of getting the usual baseline pie in the Margherita, we opted for the Burrata.  This was pretty much like a Margherita with crushed tomato sauce, sea salt, parmesan, torn basil, EVOO and of course di Stefano burrata.  Although the crust didn't look like it had much charring, it still ate very well.  There was some smoky leoparding on the bottom and the dough was properly salted.  There was a nice chew to it while the exterior was crispy.  Although you might think that there was far too much sauce on top, it worked well due to the robust nature of the crust as well as the limited amount of toppings.  It was a nice contrast to the creamy burrata.

As good as the burrata pizza was, the table favorite happened to be The Brunch pizza.  It was liberally topped with mozzarella, applewood smoked bacon, Yukon potato, organic egg, red onion, thyme, sea salt and parmesan on white panna sauce.  This was a hearty concoction where the breakfast nature of the components really came through.  The salty smokiness of the bacon obviously went well with the tender sliced potatoes as well as the egg.  There was a good amount of mozzarella that was stringy where it melded with the creamy sauce underneath.

Personally, the pizza that was the most impactful was the Calabrese + Honey with crushed tomato sauce, mozzarella, spicy salami, fire-roasted jalapeño, parmesan, torn basil and drizzled with Calabrian chili infused honey.  Beyond the crispy chewy crust, the combination of sweet, salty and heat worked our taste buds.  Furthermore, the amount of toppings and sauce made this pizza not-so-dry, which was great in my opinion.  

We also ordered a couple of gluten-free crust pizzas including the Pesto Lemon Shrimp with basil pesto sauce, mozzarella, seasoned shrimp, roasted garlic, housemade dried lemon, red chili flakes, chives and parmesan.  Despite all of the components, the flavors were harmonious and focused.  We had an herbaceous cheesiness going on with some acidity and spice.  The briny sweetness of the juicy prawns still stood out.  As for the gluten-free crust, it was thin and almost cracker-like.  Not bad.

The other gluten-free crust pizza was the Prosciutto di Parma + Arugula with crushed tomato sauce, mozzarella, sea salt, parmesan, torn basil, EVOO, topped with freshly sliced prosciutto + fresh organic baby arugula.  Sitting on the same crunchy and well-charred gluten-free crust, the plethora of tangy tomato sauce helped provide moisture.  The saltiness of the prosciutto was tempered by the peppery and bright arugula.  There was a proper amount of cheese to compliment without making the pizza heavy.

Onto dessert, we had the Basque Cheesecake with cherry sauce as well as the Flourless Chocolate Cake.  On appearance alone, the cheesecake looked dense.  In reality, it was actually decently airy and light (typical of this type of cheesecake).  It had a caramel-taste to it due to the aggressively browned top.  As for the chocolate cake, it was like a rich ganache where the sweetness was muted, giving way to an appealing bitter finish.  Overall, the food at Rise Woodfire is quite good and served in large portions.  Great for a group of friends and family alike.

The Good:

- Solid pizzas

- Rotisserie items are great too

- Large portions

The Bad:

- Chicken could be more moist