Mellow Mushroom

There are very few chain food places I like and will eat. It is not a railing against corporations, big money, or whatnot - I am a real capitalist afterall- but the vast majority of the time their food, while consistent, is consistently crap and uninspiring.

One of the few chains I enjoy is Mellow Mushroom. They have good ingredients, a nice variety of such, quality crust, it is not loaded with grease, and you get consistency when visiting the different ones. Food wise, there isn't anything overly unique about the Mellow Mushroom in Asheville. However, the interior is more inline with what a Mellow Mushroom should be - funky, more down to earth, and "hippy." In comparison the others I have been to in Columbus, Greensboro, and Burlington follow a hippy corporate theme. Corporate in that they are uniform and clean, and hippy only in the fact that they stick to the purple theme that conveys words like "purple haze," chill, and relax.

That is all null since I did take out this time. Since this was full day number one of the move-in the house was still a disaster and the focus was on putting things in their place. As a note, when picking the pizza up, and thus needing to park close to the pizzeria, parking proves a challenge since I don't feel walking the potential blocks and blocks with two pizzas and bread - as you may potentially have to do in downtown.

We had one pizza with pepperoni, for it is P's favorite ingredient. The other pizza was geared towards me in the form of onion and tempeh. I am drawn to tempeh whenever it is on the menu. It is one of my favorite proteins and I like the nutty, earthy taste it has, as well as the versatility of it. It really is not a hard ingredient to cook. However, one mellow mushroom that I have been to really screwed it up - I think Greensboro. That time, it was crumbled (it can be crumbled if you want though - normally it is cubed) and a greasy disaster, which ever has me peaked with curiosity as to what will come out. Not to worry as it was fine. The cheese quality is good and the crust is very nice and sweat. Also the garlic bread they have is better than normal. Most places load the bread with butter and a few bulbs of garlic, consequently I avoid the bread. Mellow Mushroom makes it less greasy and buttery, though I would prefer none, and leaves the taste and texture of the bread in tact by not loading it with butter and garlic.

In short, the pizza was good as normal. The only complaint I have about Mellow Mushroom is the nonability to have a thinner crust.