By: Cori Sue

My perfect recipe for a date-night-in: take pizza, wine, and a good book; then mix it all with a cozy couch and a thoughtful boyfriend. This week, we hopped over to 14th Street to two recently opened businesses, Homemade Pizza Co. and Cork & Fork.

First to Homemade Pizza Co., where you pick from different pizza creations, or choose your own ingredients, and take the pizza home to bake it (hence the “homemade”). It’s affordable if you pick one of the pizzas off the menu (they range from $14.75 to $16.75). But we wanted lots of fresh veggies so we made our own, and it was about $24. That’s a little steep for a pizza, if you ask me.

Photo credit: Cori Sue Morris

Although they give you baking directions, everyone’s oven is different, and baking is the tricky part. Luckily, our pizza turned out well. It was delicious, but not exceptional. When you’re in a hurry for a “home-cooked” meal, Homemade Pizza Co. is a safe bet to fill you up. But, next time, I’ll probably buy the ingredients and dough from Whole Foods and make a “homemade” pizza myself.

Photo credit: Cori Sue Morris

After collecting our pizza, we strolled to Cork & Fork to pick up some wine. Hopefully Cork & Fork is still prepping the store, because they were very low on inventory and much of the product was unlabeled (they may not be fully opened yet). However, the clerk was helpful—he let us try some wine before we purchased. Compared to its competitor down the street, Cork Market, Cork & Fork offers a wide range of affordable wines (less than $50) for a budding oenophile to sample and not break the bank.