First, a little flashback to last semester. I was a third-year student in college and I didn’t have a care in the world. My job as managing editor here at The Spectator required me to show up and watch the editor-in-chief do his thing.

This was under the assumption that I would take over the next semester, but meanwhile, I had all the time in the world to tour the local food scene and come on here to rattle off out-of-pocket, off-the-cuff opinions about them.

So the question is, now that I’m editor-in-chief, am I going to put my time at the helm of this ship behind me? Am I now too good for the belly stuffing and lighthearted riffing that is EC Eats? Heck, no. I’m back and you best believe I’m hungry.

I thought I’d do a little follow-up on my review of CoVizza, they were all about being different and eclectic, if my memory serves. 

Visually and structurally it looked like your average pizza pie, but if you took a bite you’d notice the details of a slice that was seeking to shock just as much as it was seeking to satisfy.  

All the while there was another pizza spot just about to open, waiting to give Eau Claire something a bit more comforting, while still shaking things up. 

Cast Iron Pizza Co. opened up this past summer in downtown Eau Claire. According to their website, they boast a menu full of fresh, local ingredients from their locally-raised dairy to their house-grown basil. 

But honestly, that’s not what intrigued me upon my first visit. “Fresh” and “local” are great, but they have sort of reached buzzword status in the realm of food reviewing. What did catch my attention was a key detail in the way the pies are made. 

As the name suggests, pizzas are made in garlic and basil oil seasoned cast iron skillets. This sounded quite promising. 

I also just so happened to know somebody who worked there. I would have asked them to slide some slices my way on the low, but I didn’t want to pull them into that world of crime.

I was content to arrive with my roommate (one of the few human beings I’ve met whose appetite rivals my own) to put the new pizza on the block to the test with my own funds. 

Sure wish a place would send a little food critic special treatment my way, but I digress.

Upon arrival, my roommate and I began game-planning the best way to attack the menu. We settled on one of us getting the pepperoni and one of us getting the margarita and splitting the two.

I tend to view the margarita slice as the best litmus test for any pizza spot.

After a wait in line and the awkward moment of having to leave a tip for someone you know while they watch, we awaited our munchies. 

The pizza arrived and I was impressed by the presentation. There was an old-timey newspaper to catch the grease on the bottom and the pizzas themselves had a good bit of color on the crust. 

All that’s well and good, how did them jawns taste?

Let’s start with the crust, which was just about perfect. Nice and sturdy but it didn’t have that tough, we-make-too-many-these-a-day-to-care doughiness of a chain restaurant slice.

Had we gotten a more topping-stuffed, adventurous flavor I could have rested easy knowing the integrity of the slices would have held up. This mix of lightness and dexterity is no doubt a product of the unconventional method of using cast-iron skillets, but more on that later. 

The sauce was also solid, it didn’t stand out too much, but I think that bodes well for the toppings. A great sauce is well … great, but sometimes when it’s too powerful it can draw attention from the rest of the pie.

The tomatoes on top of the margarita managed to keep that juicy burst you want from a slice like that, but still had a little char from the oven which was noted and appreciated by yours truly. 

The pepperoni slices didn’t do the cool thing where they curl up on the outside, but I honestly find that a tad gimmicky when it’s not done by an ‘authentic’ pizza spot, which kind of leads into my final thoughts on this place.

It’s not an ‘authentic’ pizza spot. It’s also not mimicking a traditional spot in its presentation like the previously chronicled CoVizza, but I’m okay with that.

It embraces its unique nature. It’s literally named after the signature departure it took from the traditional, brick oven method of pizza-making.

The flavors and ingredients still come through just as strong, and the change to the well-worn formula for making a slice of pizza has its benefits. 

They’ll definitely have my business again in the near future. 

Check out Cast Iron Pizza Company’s website here if you are interested in snagging a pie yourself, otherwise, they are located at 329 Riverfront Terrace, Eau Claire, WI. 

Obadiya can be reached at [email protected].