Thursday, October 08, 2009
D.P. Dough disappoints
TOM ANGLEBERGER Special to The Roanoke Times
D.P. Dough has brought new life back to this Main Street Blacksburg building, also home to the venerable Ton 80 Club.
Tom Angleberger knows what he likes. So we've asked him to eat at NRV restaurants and write about them. If you have a restaurant to recommend,
e-mail him. Tom Angleberger
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I'm a big fan of calzones, and since D.P. Dough specializes in calzones, I was sure the shop would sell me a great one.
Alas, no.
Which is too bad, because I liked a number of things about the restaurant.
First of all, I was glad to see it fill one of the empty spaces in downtown Blacksburg. It may be a chain, but it's a pretty friendly one. Instead of the faux enthusiasm I've found at some chains, the attitude here is more like a local pizza joint.
The atmosphere has a little of that generic chain feel, but the big-screen TV blaring "classic" pro bowling events lent a certain personality.
Second, I love the setup. The restaurant sells wings, chicken tenders, bread sticks and cookies, but mostly it sells calzones -- about 36 varieties.
The Roni Zoni features pepperoni, mozzarella, ricotta and Parmesan cheese. The Danger Zone has hamburger, cheddar, onions, hot sauce and "Mexican spices." The Work Zone has steak and potatoes with cheese. The Falling Rock Zone has potato and bacon and cheese. And so on.
No matter which one you pick, it will cost $6.29. (The eatery has a special where you get the calzone with a drink for $6.99.) I like that kind of efficiency.
I ordered the Spinner -- spinach, mozzarella, ricotta and garlic. Or at least that's what the menu said.
The item I got seemed to have only a few flakes of spinach in it. And there was way too much mozzarella compared with the amount of ricotta -- if that was ricotta. The crust was nice and crispy, but didn't seem to have the desired taste. The marinara sauce, however, was very good.
It didn't help that my calzone came in a box, which is not the best way to serve something that requires a knife and a fork to eat.
I didn't walk away mad, just sorry I couldn't give the little calzone shop a better review.
Bottom line: It's great to see a new restaurant in downtown Blacksburg, but this one may need to update its recipe book.
