Robin and I went to our first new pizza farm of the 2017 season; the Stone Barn in Nelson, Wisconsin. It was just a few small towns farther than A to Z on the Mississippi. It was so strange to be in the area on a weekend day. Everything in Stockholm was open! We didn’t have to drive over the speed limit and fight traffic to get our Stockholm Pie Company Pies and Lena’s Lucky Star had a patio full of people enjoying drinks and food.
The Stone Barn has an amazing backdrop of rolling hills. Robin and I picked out a picnic table and sat on the same side so we could both enjoy the view. Then we entered the indoor area to browse the pizza menu and see what beverages were available. The menu had some really unique combinations on it as well as a couple classics and the
option to build your own. We were allowed to get a half and half pizza as long as the base was the same. We ordered one with peas on it and one with muffaletta olive salad, both using olive oil and garlic base. When they handed us a table stand and number and told us we would pay our tab after our meal, it felt a little more like a restaurant with outdoor seating than a pizza farm, but having the pizza delivered to us in just a few short minutes was a nice little treat.
The crust was super thin, almost more like a flatbread, and the pizza was square and looked gigantic. Somehow, Robin and I really dug deep and managed to eat the entire thing. The peas and feta on the one side and the olives and melted cheese on the other were both delicious. I enjoyed the base even though it ended up being a little greasy. I was glad that we brought our own plates and napkins. They may have had some inside, but it was easy to just pull them out of my picnic backpack and dig in. We hadn’t realized they serve gelato for dessert, so we stuck with our pie shop banana cream slice and pie cookies.
It was definitely a successful experience and I am excited to go back to The Stone Barn and try some of their other interesting flavors. Some of the highlights included the beauty of the space on a summer evening. There were rolling hills of green trees, blue skies with cloud formations, and I suspect a bald eagle nest somewhere nearby because I saw one soaring over the fields. It was also nice to go on a weekend instead of having to put in all the effort of going on a weeknight. In some ways the challenge of going on a weeknight makes the experience even more meaningful, but sometimes it is nice to be able to take it easy on a weekend.
