This past Thursday, we had dinner at Leonardo's 706 with Traci's former co-worker and his wife. This co-worker is a UF grad who likes to hit Leonardo's 706 whenever he is in town. We hadn't eaten at Leonardo's 706 before, but already had an unmemorable experience at Leonardo's By The Slice.
I liked the vibe and history of Leonardo's 706, but thought the food was a bit expensive for what we got. Our check for the two of us (with two entrees, a shared appetizer for the table and two soft drinks) came to around $35. The 706 menu is a mix of personal pizzas, salads, pastas and seafood dishes. I ordered a bbq chicken pizza and Traci ordered a lotta tomata pizza. The table also split an order of a dozen garlic rolls. The rolls were very tasty, but then most food tastes great drenched in garlic butter.
Monday and Thursday are the live jazz nights at Leonardo's 706, and the music set a nice backdrop for our meal. Our table was in the main dining room, but right next to the bar/lounge area, which worked well, as we were able to enjoy the music, but still carry on a conversation throughout the meal. My pizza certainly tasted fresh and the presentation was nice, but the mix of flavors didn't do that much for me. I honestly may have enjoyed the leftovers of my pizza more the next day when I munched on it cold.
Overall, we had a good experience at Leonardo's, but given the restaurant's pricing (higher prices generally equal higher expectations in food, service, etc for me) and how excited Traci's former co-worker was about the place, I was hoping for more. The live jazz we may check out again sometime.
On Saturday afternoon, we wanted to explore a little and decided on Blue Highway Pizzeria on U.S. Highway 441 in Micanopy for lunch. We were in the mood for pizza and Blue Highway was one of the restaurants that Gainesville.com had written positively about. What we found was our kind of place.
Blue Highway has a funky, relaxing atmosphere inside and the focus is definitely on the pizza. Our server was friendly and gave us some suggestions. Traci and I decided to split a meatball and roasted garlic pizza (enough for two unless you're ravenously hungry). We also each had side salads to start that were much better than a typical pizzeria salad. Our pizza was simply delicious. The meatballs, the crispy crust, the roasted garlic slices, the cheese, everything mixed together pretty darn perfectly.
Before our visit to Blue Highway, I thought Satchel's had the best pizza in the area, but now I'm not so sure. We'll definitely be visiting Blue Highway again and I look forward to trying out some of the other pizzas on their menu. After lunch, we walked around some of the antique shops in Micanopy. I don't remember the name of the little deli/restaurant, but we also stopped into one place along the main strip and had some ice-cream (just two bucks for "one scoop" and one scoop is really like three scoops).
Bottom-line: Leonardo's 706 was an enjoyable experience , but the food didn't knock my socks off for the price. Blue Highway Pizzeria, on the other hand, was a very pleasant surprise with delicious pizza at a more reasonable price. A great excuse to visit Micanopy and check out the antique shops afterwards.
