Lunch Date

Due to fortunate circumstances, I was able to meet Scott for lunch today.  It was nice to get out for lunch, as I am usually scarfing it down over my desk around 2:00 when I realize I'm starving.
We met at Gilbert Pizza, which is located just across the street from the Gilbert Civic Center.  During lunch, the restaurant only offers walk-up service; you have to go for dinner if you want them to take your order at your table.  However, you get the best view of the pizzas they offer, including a baked ziti pizza (yes - pasta on pizza - it's like some sort of carb lover's holy grail) and a chicken marsala pizza, if you walk in and order a slice for lunch.
And all you need is one slice.  Uh, and some garlic knots.  They are also delicious, so don't overdo it on the pizza.
I had the spinach and ricotta slice.  There were mounds (literally mounds) of gooey ricotta covering large pieces of dark green spinach.  Yum - cheesy and spinach-y!  It didn't take me long to inhale my slice and the three knots that were my allotment.  The knots are garlicky and cheesy, too, so I was a happy carbaholic.

Do you see the ginormous globs of ricotta?  Beautiful.

Scott had the chicken pesto pizza.  It was pretty, but you know how I am about basil, so I didn't test his slice for quality control.  However, he said it was great, too.  The chunks of chicken were pretty big and plentiful, and if you like basil, there was no shortage on that pizza.
This place is definitely worth a repeat trip or seven.  I do want to try the baked ziti pizza, but honestly, all of the slices looked amazing.
Afterwards, I headed over to the new TopIt Cupcakes on the pretense of picking up a few for a friend.  Which I did.  But I also got one of the flavors of the day  s'mores - for me.
How can a s'more get better, you might say?  Make a cupcake out of it!

I know that you can only see the heavenly glow here, but trust me,
there was angelic music playing when I picked this guy up.

The bottom of the cupcake is the graham cracker, much like a cheesecake crust, only better, because there is chocolate cupcake right above it.  Then, instead of icing (and their buttercream is fantastic - and I HATE icing), there is a swirl of marshmallow fluff that is subsequently singed with a blow torch.  Graham cracker + chocolate + marshmallow + fire = AWESOME.
So far, I have had the s'more, the peanut butter cup (which actually has a peanut butter cup within the cupcake), red velvet, lemon, triple chocolate, vanilla with chocolate buttercream, and the chocolate with salted caramel icing.  My favorites (clearly I can't have one with that list) are the salted caramel and the peanut butter cup, although the s'more might make a trifecta there.
HOWEVER...on Fridays and Saturdays, TopIt offers a maple-iced cupcake with bacon.  I am dying to have one.  This Saturday is Pat's Run, but we have to pick up our veggies on the way home from the run, so I might just have Scott make one more stop before we are through...