An invite to check out the new Rudy’s pizzeria in Harborne coincided with a catch up with a good friend who lives nearby. For me, the trip from Worcester is pretty easy usually, there are three train stations which serve University station, then a 15 min walk into Harborne high street. However, on this occasion there were rail strikes, again! Whilst I can see the sentiment on these strikes, the politicians in power do not care, as they rarely use trains. For Joe Public, and the businesses that reply on trade into the cities or towns, it is disastrous. Regardless, I drove and parked nearby to avoid missing what we had already arranged.
Since opening their first pizzeria in 2015, Rudy’s have spent years perfecting their light, class Neapolitan pizza, this expanding Northern brand, has now arrived in affluent Harborne!
Rudy’s pride themselves on being a relaxed neighbourhood pizzeria, following the traditions and artistry of pizza from Naples – the birth place of pizza.
The dough is double fermented over 24 hours which makes the pizzas here light, fluffy and easy to digest.
This particular venue, existed previously a craft ale bar, and something similar before that. I sampled both and they did a lot of ground works to make this unit a viable option for what Rudy’s is now. However, a craft ale bar and a pizzeria don’t really differ that much in terms of décor. Industrial, bare brick, wood fixtures with exposed girders all add to the raw home made feel to Rudy’s. Large windows on two sides allow in plenty of natural light, and a busy atmosphere with open kitchen makes for an interesting back drop to enjoy time at your table.
Before Rudy’s, we nipped into The Plough beer garden, which was similarly busy. My fave pub in Harborne (as well as the Bell), and I guess the New Inn for sentimental reasons (where my parents used to drink in the 70s and 80s). The Plough is the main contender for fine pizza in this leafy suburb, and I am going to be honest, they still rock, the attention to detail Adam and his team have invested is tangible, the sweet fig pizzas were something to behold, one of the best pizzas I have ever had the pleasure to savour both hot, and cold with a hangover. Alas, no longer on the menu.. anyway I digress.
Rudy’s is going to give The Plough a run for its money on the pizza offerings in Harb’un.
The service was professional, friendly, attentive, the three main things you want in a restaurant. We weren’t pestered too much, or left long enough to have to try and catch anyone’s attention.
And so to the food, we started with unpitted Nocellara Olives which were large and delicious, it didn’t take long to finish these off and the main event arrived at the table promptly. I had a Poretti lager to accompany which was fresh and light.
The staff were clued up on the menu and after a bit of deliberation we went for Calabrese (San Marzano tomato, fior di latte, basil, olive oil, Grana Padano, spicy nduja sausage) and Rocket + Grana Padano (rocket, oven dried tomato, red onion, parmesan shavings and balsamic honey vinaigrette). Really enjoyable sweet tasting pizza with alight base and not too spicy.
It’s worth mentioning that Rudy’s use Caputo flour for their pizzas, founded in 1924 it is recognised as the gold standard of flour. The dough is double fermented over 24 hours which makes the pizzas here light, fluffy and easy to digest. San Marzano tomatoes from the shadows of Mount Vesuvius are used as they have thicker flesh, fewer seeds and the taste is sweet. The pizzas are baked in hand built Stefano Ferrara ovens imported from Naples for that charred spotted crust!
An overall lovely afternoon eating great pizza in a wicked little Brummie neighbourhood. Harborne high street really is changing. So many new places to try, and I think the addition of Rudy’s will compliment places such as The Plough, which can get extremely busy at times, so all good! I would definitely return and can imagine it being quite cosy on a wintery evening too!
Words by Nick Byng for Grapevine Birmingham