BoCo where you can have a pizza and a pint
This week my old college friend and I went to his local restaurant BoCo. A place, where you can have a pizza and a pint. What makes BoCo stand out is the oven they use for cooking. It’s not the typical Italian woodfired oven you would expect to see. Colm Bodkin the owner of BoCo recently explained to Cassie Stokes on her #CuratedWithCassie vlog for her.ie why he chose a Four Grand Mere pizza oven. In a previous incarnation, BoCo used to be known as a pub called Bodkins which had a restaurant called The Hungry Mexican in the back. The Hungry Mexican moved to Ashton Quay and Bodkins got a makeover and is now BoCo.
Walking into BoCo you will notice that the front of BoCo is a pub and the back is where the restaurant is. The tables remind me of the movie Jailhouse Rock. With, some of them surrounded in wire mesh to give a mini cage look.
This unique décor helps to make BOCO what it is. and is also a nod back to its industrial roots. BoCo used to be a Chemical factory before it was turned into Bodkins pub in 1987.
Most of the food on the menu bar the skin on fries, salads and desserts are cooked in the woodfired oven. I decided to go for the #1 pizza which is a ten inch margherita and costs €8.50s. Coming with crushed tomato sauce, toons bridgefior di latte, basil, extra virgin olive oil it is suitable for vegetarians. Having been to BOCO on numerous occasions, I have enjoyed their skin on fries, so, I had to order some.
They cost €4. The pizza’s served in BoCo come with thin bases and crunchy crusts. Which I find easier to eat than pizza pies with their thicker bases. The one problem with thin base pizzas is that the cheese can be loose and too gooey. No such problems with the pizza in BoCo, the cheese and tomato sauce sticks to the pizza base.
The pizza tasted so good and not cheesy either. The crust was chewy, crispy and tasted great dunked in the ketchup I ordered with my skin on fries. The fries, by the way, were not greasy and pretty easy to finish. My college friend had the meatballs, which he said was delicious and the skin on fries. He also had a carafe of the nice house sauvignon blanc and a perfect latte. We also got to taste some of their dough balls with a meatballs dip which was delicious. Colm Bodkin hopes to add them to the menu soon. The pizzas in BoCo are artisan and what goes best with them? The artisan version of beer. Known to you and me as craft beers, including their own BoCo beer. For those of you who love Guinness, they have that too along with some of your favourite bottled beer.
The pizza in BoCo was top class and the service was exceptional as was the price. I think of myself as a pizza connoisseur and BOCO is one of Dublin’s top pizzeria’s. I have not visited every pizzeria in Dublin but I do intend on visiting more. At the moment BoCo, Sano and Rita’s are my pizzerias favourites in Dublin. Of course, you will be wondering what my favourite pizzeria in Ireland is. Well, that accolade goes to Dough Bros in Galway. But as we are in Dublin, add BoCo to the restaurants you must visit.
BoCo 57 Bolton St, Northside, Dublin 1, D01 CK40
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