Wood Stone Lends Fresh, Local Flavor to Pizza (Lunch Review)

Skip the buffet.

If you’re out and about for lunch in Fayetteville and want pizza and a salad, try Wood Stone Craft Pizza & Bar in the Mill District at 557 S. School Ave.

Wood Stone, created by the owners of Greenhouse Grille, features the fresh and home-sourced ingredients expected from a restaurant owned by Clayton Suttle and Jeremy Gawthrop.

The restaurant’s workhorse is the nine-inch personal pizza, which is quick to cook and eat, and light on the stomach. For traditional tastes there’s the uncured pepperoni with red sauce and mozzarella. And for those with a more adventuresome pallet, there’s the grilled garden pizza with zucchini, squash and shiitake mushrooms.

Customers can, of course, build their own pizza with ingredients that range from Asiago cream sauce to a local chicken egg, and from rosemary marmalade to Genoa salami.

Before tucking into your pizza, try a salad of organic greens with a dressing of homemade buttermilk garlic ranch, or a decadent herb vinaigrette. But don’t pour all of it on your salad. If you can, save some so you can use it as a dipping sauce for the delicious smoked crust.

While Greenhouse Grille almost feels like a cavern, the interior of Wood Stone is open and bright, highlighted with exposed steel girders and wall-sized landscape photographs. In terms of ambiance, it helps that the pizza oven’s flame can be seen from the dining room.

The service was prompt and casual, and our waiter even put on a new pot of Arsaga’s coffee. And as long as you’re having a cup, you might as well have a serving of chocolate and orange gelato for dessert.

While Wood Stone is appropriate for a standard “business lunch,” it’s also ideal for those who might just want to take a long meal and enjoy the day. Wood Stone has a separate dinner menu, and offers wine, craft beers and craft cocktails, including a house Limoncello and a strawberry black pepper margarita.

The trial and error that went into Greenhouse Grille paid off for Wood Stone. With a mix of fresh food and easy atmosphere, the restaurant is a nice addition to the Fayetteville culinary scene. 

So the next time you’re in the mood for pizza, skip the buffet. Instead, go to the Mill District and give yourself a treat.