Blackstock Road counter dining
So, what do we need to know about Yard Sale?
This is their second restaurant, the trio behind it opened their first pizzeria in Hackney back in 2014. Expect huge sourdough pizzas.
Where is it?
At the top end of Blackstock Road, not far from Salvation in Noodles and across the road from Blighty Coffee. Your nearest tube station would be Finsbury Park station.
Where should we meet friends for a drink first?
A tricky one, this. There's the newly renovated Blackstock Arms just up the road. That's still a bit of a spit and sawdust live music joint, but it's a useful meeting spot. Otherwise, there's not much in the immediate area.
Caprese salad
And where should we sit?
There's a nice counter running along the window and two booths which are bound to be popular as well as some high tables and stools. If you're a group you'll be wanting the section at the back. There are two larger tables here which can be brought together giving you the whole section to yourself. Yard Sale have plans to put in a live pizza cam so you can still enjoy a view of the action and you can bluetooth your music so you control the sound system too.
So, the food, pizza yes?
There are five regular pizzas on the menu - the standard margherita, the Squash (butternut squash with goats cheese and honey drizzle); TSB - tendersteam broccoli with manchego and pinenuts; Holy Pepperoni - made with Cobble Lane's pepperoni and nduja and finally The Full House with pepperoni, spicy beef, fennel sausage, peppers and mushrooms.
To add to that there are various specials - some of which are exclusive to the Finsbury Park branch. We had two whopping 18" pizzas, a straight margherita, made with their slow cooked tomato sauce and fior de latte mozzarella and then another split into the TSB and the Finsbury Park special - the Mullered Mushroom, featuring mushrooms braised in Five Points porter and xx chutney. And they were good. Very good. We'll put some of that down to the double fermented dough and stone baked technique.
We tried a nicely put together Caprese salad too (£6) and some of the garlic pizza bread (£4) and if you're after something to nibble while you're waiting, the gordal olives aren't bad either. They make a point of their dips - and of the three we tried, the Hickory BBQ with a decent chilli tang was our favourite.
Desserts are courtesy of Nonna's Gelato in Hackney. They've come up with a number of exclusives to this branch including the Five Points porter and choc (££) but our hands-down favourite was the salted toffee apple gelato (£2.50).
Half and half - the TSB and the Mullered Mushroom
And drinks?
There's a short but well put together drinks list - Brooklyn lager, Five Points pale ale and Borough Wines red and white of the month - available in glass, carafe and bottle from £3 a glass. For families, there's just as long a list of soft drinks.
Overall thoughts.
There's a real enthusiasm spilling over here with attention to detail given to everything from how they source their toppings through to the drinks. But what you really want to know is are the pizzas any good, and the answer is they are.
Yard Sale Pizza is at 54 Blackstock Road, London N4 2DW. Find out more about Yard Sale Pizza.
Hot Dinners was invited to Yard Sale Pizza. Prices were correct at the time of writing.
