Earl’s 377 Pizza provides a sneak peek

As DFW.com contributor Teresa Gubbins says in her review of Olivella’s Camp Bowie this week, more pizza is a good thing. But if you live north of Loop 820, it can be a bit of a drive to such modern Fort Worth stars as Cane Rosso, Thirteen Pies, Pizza Snob or Vivo 53.

It can take less time – and depending on the time of day, less traffic — for some north Tarrant residents to head further north, to the Denton County community of Argyle, to check out Earl’s 377 Pizza, a new pizza spot on U.S. 377 near its intersection with Farm Road 407.

As we’ve noted previously, Earl’s is a collaboration between chefs Keith Grober, formerly of Rodeo Goat and then Fred’s Texas Cafe, and Chad Kelley, currently at Denton’s Barley & Board and previously as Dallas’ Meddlesome Moth.

Argyle is about eight miles south of Denton on 377, and Earl’s — in a converted old fire station — is yet another concept from the team behind Barley & Board and courthouse-square neighbor LSA Burger Co.: John”‘Sparky” Pearson, one of the minds behind LSA Burger; entrepreneur Steve Watkins; and financier Earl Herrington.

We’ve liked these guys’ other restaurants, so it was with curious anticipation that we checked out a preview of Earl’s on Wednesday night, days before its official opening on Monday.

The vibe: Hipster rustic — or is that rustic hipster? At least that was our very first impression, as we walked in from the large back parking lot to the host station on the back patio, part of which is covered, part of which is open and sandy in that Woodshed style, with even more lawn furniture that reminds me of the stuff my parents used to own. This sounds snarky, but I mean it as a compliment, and the patio looks very inviting. Actually, despite the unusually-cool-for-mid-May temperatures, it was inviting, and a lot of people were taking advantage of it.

The rustic touches continue inside (where it is considerably more noisy but not so much that it renders conversation impossible), but with doses of quirkiness and cleverness, all of which ties into the still-in-development story of Earl and Isabella, the fictional wartime couple that lends the restaurant a name and visual theme (Pearson told the story Wednesday night, but it was pretty byzantine and it was a little hard to hear him). A Norman Rockwell-style painting of a soldier, done by Denton artist Dan Black, looms above the bar (where World War I-era helmets act as light fixtures).

Part of “Earl’s” story is that he designed the restaurant, and had to use some ingenuity — hence the “shovel-lier” and “banjo-lier,” chandeliers made from said objects. A number of open footlockers hang over the open and busy pizza kitchen. Tables include old-fashioned decorative plates chosen by “Isabella,” who is also, in the Earl story, the woman behind the food.

The serving staff was friendly and enthusiastic about the opening night. We had a question about the beer menu — heavy on the local, including nearby breweries Audacity (Denton), Rabbit Hole (Justin) and Shannon (Keller) — and our waiter apologized for having to pull out some crib notes, but better that he check and get the answer right than reel it off incorrectly off the top of his head.

The food: As usual with a first-impression piece, we’re not going to go into to much detail here. Pizzas were of the thin-base, slightly thicker outside crust variety; we were reminded of the pies at Vivo 53 and Thirteen Pies, all of which steer clear of thick or deep-dish crusts. Toppings on the vegeterian Farm Stand (roasted fennel, peppers, onions and mushrooms) and the carnivore-friendly sausage (which also includes roasted mushrooms, salt-cured olives and sweet onions) were generous without being heavy-handed. There were a dozen pizzas on the preview menu, all $12 for a regular (which we found to be a shareable size) and $18 for a large.

Also on the menu are three starters, including a crawfish and artichoke dip ($9) that had a pleasant gooey spiciness thanks to the roasted peppers and pepperjack within; the most expensive app is a charcuterie-style snack board that’s 12 bucks. Salads included a huge Caesar ($9) and a slightly more moderate baby arugula that got a big boost from lots of sliced prosciutto and dried figs. Did we say these guys are generous?

The verdict: We’ll be back. Cool things are happening at this place, and our preview experience had very few bumps in it. We are especially curious about the Forager (mushrooms. sweet onions, spinach and truffle oil) and N’Djou (spicy prosciutto sporead, shallots and ricotta) pizzas, but there’s enough here to merit our adding this to our pizza rotation.

This story was originally published May 20, 2016 at 11:05 AM with the headline "Earl’s 377 Pizza provides a sneak peek."