Fire Street Pizza
Jason Brumbalow spent three years working through Jeff Varasano's 22,000-word dough recipe before he ever opened a door.1 The crust goes into a 900 degree live-oak oven seven miles out of Belton.2
Why go
Jason and Alis Brumbalow bought the land off his parents in the late nineties and built the place with friends over about twenty years.1 Jason's line on it: This place was built on beer, sausage, and friends.
1 The oven arrived too heavy to shift off the driveway, so they tested toppings there and called it a driveway food lab.1 Thank God our friends were so harsh about our pizza,
Jason told Julia Jones. They don't cut us slack.
1 The house says what the fire buys: The crust has char and chew and a faint smoke that no deck oven comes close to.
2 There are no TVs and no wifi. Jason wanted it that way: Let's make people talk to each other because I believe that they will enjoy their experience a lot more.
1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Roman. Pears candied in wine and sugar, caramelized onions, aged prosciutto, crumbled goat cheese.1
- Order: the Jabberwocky if you want to taste the kitchen work. Its burgundy mushrooms are simmered for hours in beef stock and garlic before they touch the dough.1
- Order: the Splodin' Smores, a deconstructed s'more wrapped in pizza dough and put back in the fire.1
- Avoid: Monday to Wednesday, when the oven is cold and the gate is shut.2
What locals & experts say
- Julia Jones, Texas Highways, 1 March 2019, on the drive out:
The road to Fire Street Pizza seems more likely to lead to nowhere. As you wind around cedar trees and open, mostly empty ranch land on FM 439 near Belton, you might think you've gotten lost.
1 - Alis Brumbalow, on what they are actually selling:
We're creating an environment for people. It's the music, the smiles.
1
Good to know
- Walk-in only. The house is blunt about it:
No reservations, no delivery, no drama.
2 - Timing: Thursday and Friday 5pm to 9pm, Saturday noon to 9pm, Sunday 11am to 3pm. The house names Friday and Saturday 5.30 to 8 as its busiest stretch.2
- The taps are Texas only, in the house's own words:
Texas craft beers only, brewed right here. No national brands.
2 In 2019 that was 13 lines.1 - Gluten: the reduced-gluten crust is not a celiac crust, and the house says so:
Not fully GF, cross-contamination possible.
2 - Bring nothing in. No outside food or drink, and birthday cake is the single exception they name.2
- There is a playground and a covered patio, and live music on weekend evenings.2
Verdict
should-visit — Jason Brumbalow spent three years working through Jeff Varasano's dough recipe before he opened a door, and that is a specific, checkable act of craft. The oven runs at 900 degrees on live oak and the owners say plainly what that buys them, char and chew and a little smoke. Julia Jones reported the whole build with both of them talking, so the story is on the record in their own words. It is seven miles out of town and open four days a week, which is a plan you have to make.