Mmmm...Za!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! I hope all of you are sharing the love in some gourmet-rific way tonight! Matt (my husband) and I have our own tradition for this, the 14th of February. We try and avoid the craziness that surrounds this day with some takeout from a very special pizza joint near us. Pizza and our DVR...does it really get any better than that?

This special pizza joint I speak of is called Za and it's located on Massachusetts Avenue in Arlington, MA. My favorite part of this restaurant's concept is that many of their ingredients are locally sourced and the menu rotates based on what's growing in the area. They even serve locally brewed beer, along with some wines.

We frequent this establishment quite often but we've made it a special tradition to get takeout on Valentine's Day. The menu consists of salads and pizzas, both interesting and unique combinations. Their trademark chalkboard depicts the seasonal specials up on the wall, and we usually choose from those, rather than the regular varieties available on the everyday menu.

From Za's website

While the pizzas are on the small side, we've found that getting one salad and one pizza works well for a two-person meal. On special occasions, like today, we usually add a dessert or two as well. Tonight, we opted for the Crisp Iceberg Lettuce salad with tomatoes, red onions, grated carrots, Applewood Smoked Bacon, and blue cheese. It's all topped off with a Creamy Buttermilk Dressing. As our main course, we chose one of the special pizzas, per usual. Pears, gorgonzola, fontina, toasted walnuts, cranberries, thyme  and scallions top this yummy 'Za! They had some really interesting special desserts on the menu so we decided to try one each - and try each other's! :) I decided on the Lemon Tart with Organic Strawberries, and Matt opted for the Chocolate Goat Cheesecake.

The salad is from the regular menu, and we order it all the time. I'm not sure how they do it, but they've managed to get the dressing to drip in-between each layer of iceberg lettuce, making each bite totally delicious. The pizza was piled high with nice big pieces of crisp pear, and I thought the dried cranberries were really a lovely touch. The flavors meld so well together in all of their combinations. Dessert was yummy, and mine was quite colorful wasn't it?! I found that the tartness of the lemon went really well with the light, fluffiness of a slight bite of whipped cream. Yummy!

We washed all this down with a lovely bottle of white wine. It was a very enjoyable dinner, and everything is packaged nicely for take-out. I find the restaurant itself endearing as well. The owner has an adorable collection of different pigs on all the shelves in the restaurant: piggy banks, pig statues, pig collectibles, you name it. The walls are adorned with local artwork that's also for sale and rotates on a regular basis. It will always be a different scene when you walk in! The staff is super-friendly and welcoming, and the surroundings are cozy in the winter, airy in the summer. I love when they open all the windows!

If you haven't visited Za, I highly recommend it. They can be found at 138 Massachusetts Avenue. They don't take reservations, but I do think they'll take a call-ahead on busy evenings.

Hug someone special tonight!