Fun Times at the Flatbread Company
I was first introduced to the Flatbread Company by my friend Mary when I was living in Maine. I didn’t know that many people in the area when I move to Maine, and I certainly didn’t know where to go for good food on the cheap. Mary took me to the Flatbreads in Portland and I still remember the pizza I had, even though it’s been about seven years. It was wonderful – the crust was thin, but not cracker-like, with a bit of heft and chew to it, and everything was natural and fresh, with many organic ingredients incorporated. My pizza had potatoes, cheese, and herbs. It was one of the specials that night, and it was fantastic. iI keep hoping to see a similar one on special again, but no such luck yet!)
I’ve since been to several other Flatbread locations – Portsmouth, NH, Amesbury, MA, and Bedford, MA. They’re all great, and despite being a chain (most locales are in New England), each location has its own personality. Part of this may be due to Flatbread’s commitment to staying involved with their communities and using local, organic ingredients whenever possible. Each location posts a listing of several ingredients and where they are sourced from, making Flatbread a localvore’s dream restaurant. The atmosphere is casual and family-friendly and the service is always great – I’ve never had bad service at a Flatbread location. The servers always seem happy to be there. Each restaurant has a brick oven that’s visible from the eating areas, so you can watch the cooks baking the pizzas (kids especially love this aspect).
The menu at Flatbreads is a bit limited – they know what they do well, and they stick to it. You won’t find much on the menu other than flatbread pizzas and salads, but you won’t want for anything more. They also have great drinks and beverages, though, and they change a bit with the seasons – they often have lemonade in the summer and warm cider in the fall, for example. The list of beers on tap is also great – I had a great Peak Organic Ale on my last trip.
Flatbreads typically has a vegetable and a meat-based special flatbread every night. I typically order the vegetable special, but we did create our own pizza on our last visit with portobella mushrooms, caramelized onions and Great Hill Blue Cheese. It was fabulous as always – their flatbreads satisfy a pizza craving without making you feel weighed down. You can’t beat good, affordable, healthy pizza!
Tags: Amesbury, Bedford, flatbread, Flatbread Company, localvore, organic, organic ale, Portland, Portsmouth, specialty pizza
Thank you for your kind words about Flatbread.