The Best Sourdough Pizza

The other day my good friend from college, Ashley, invited me to meet her for dinner in quaint little Hudson, NY. Hudson is only one hour south of Albany, so it wasn’t too much for me to drive down there after work. My GPS had me take the scenic route. I didn’t really mind, because I got to drive through some towns I’ve only ever heard of. In a shorter amount of time than I thought, I was in Columbia County!

I had been wanting to visit Hudson for a while, as I never never been there. I got there and Ashley and I explored the area up and down Warren Street. There were tons of shops, antique stores, restaurants and coffee shops!

We stopped at this artsy espresso bar for some coffee, tea and conversation.

I chose Jade Green Tea, brewed in a loose leaf teapot.

After catching up for a while, Ashley wanted to take me to one of her favorite local restaurants, Baba Louie’s. Baba Louie’s specializes in woodfired organic sourdough pizza.

Lately all I’ve been craving is carbs, carbs, carbs (probably due to training) so I was happy to oblige. Baba Louie’s is great because their pizzas are made with organic sourdough crust, which also means they’re yeast free and supposedly easier to digest. They also use fresh vegetables. According to their website, “the fruits and veggies we use are all fresh so you can be sure there are no additives or preservatives and all the vitamins and minerals are still present. Our grains are also freshly ground locally, so you won’t find any artificial preservatives there either.” You can’t go wrong with pizza made from local ingredients! I really love supporting local businesses and especially ones that really try to get their food products locally.

To start I wanted to try their soup of the day, which was a vegan, tomato based bean soup. It came with an herbed roll, which was still warm, crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside–perfect. Ash and I split the roll, of course we had to save room for the pizza. The soup itself was amazing–it tasted like a thick tomato bisque and black bean soup combined.

Then it was time for the pizza. Ashley said her favorite pizza on the menu was Riccardo’s Pizza Famosa: a pizza with tomato sauce, chêvre, sun dried tomatoes, asiago, calamata olives, mozzarella, roasted garlic, basil and parmesan.

Of course, we had to try it–I love anything with goat cheese on it, especially pizza. The nice thing about Baba Louie’s is that you can order two types of pizza on one pie! We also decided to try the Melanzana Cardinale: a pizza with fresh mozzarella, eggplant, tomatoes, smoked gouda and pesto garnished with parmesan and red pepper flakes.

The pizza took probably less than 15 minutes to arrive at our table! I was pretty surprised at that. There weren’t many people eating dinner when we got there but it was almost full when we left.

Two pizzas in one!!!

Riccardo’s – sun dried tomatoes and goat cheese. This one was my favorite of the two. The crust was thin and crispy. The topping weren’t overpowering the crust. The flavors were bold, I could definitely taste the sun dried tomatoes and the goat cheese. It was one of the best combos on pizza I’ve ever had!

Melanzana Cardinale – eggplant with pesto. This one was a little bit more interesting of a flavor. It wasn’t horrible, but not my favorite. I can’t even explain how it tasted. I couldn’t taste the eggplant, so the weird flavor I tasted must have been the pesto. The red pepper flakes also gave it a bit of an unexpected kick.

I was so in love with the pizza here. It just may be some of the best pizza I’ve ever had! Ash and I had a great time devouring the pizza and chatting! I really love hanging out with good friends while enjoying really good food. If you are ever in Hudson, you need to stop at Baba Louie’s and get the pizza, it is amazing!