THERE are plenty of good reasons to pay a visit to the Rook and Gaskill on Lawrence Street.

There’s the Saucery IPA from Magic Rock Brewery, for example: a ‘lightly sweet and malty’ Indian pale ale with a ‘balanced bitterness and layers of tropical fruit’. Or the Theakston Barista Stout, a ‘craft keg coffee stout brewed and cold filtered in Masham’.

If those don’t grab you, what about the Dunkel ‘Urbayerisch’ ABK (Aktienbrauerei Kaufbeuren), described as a ‘gloriously dark, rich and fruity aromatic beer’. Or the Bad kitty from Brass Castle Brewery, a ‘chewy chocolate vanilla dream of a porter’.

Admittedly, you won’t be able to get all of these on the day you visited: the Rook updates its ‘beer board’ regularly, so there’s a constantly changing selection of great draught beers to try. All of which helps explain why the Rook has twice been named CAMRA’S York Pub of the Year in recent years (at least, according to the award certificates tacked up on the walls of the gents’ loo).

Even if beer isn’t your thing, all is not lost. The Rook has won awards for the quality of the ciders on offer, too...

But what if you want something more than just liquid refreshment. What if, whisper it, you’re looking for something to eat, too?

Well, rumour has long been doing the rounds amongst journalists at The Press that the Rook serves up some pretty amazing stone-baked pizzas, cooked in-house in its own wood-fired ovens. So we felt duty bound to investigate...

The first thing we learned on plonking ourselves down at a large wooden table in the pub’s bar was that yes, it does indeed serve stone-baked pizzas - and a pretty good selection of them, too. There were vegetarian pizzas, mushroom pizzas, diavolo (ie hot chilli) pizzas, plus Sicilians (cheddar, onions, anchovies and black olives), Capricciossa (cheddar, artichoke hearts, gammon and mushrooms) and pepperoni. All these, plus a great selection of Calzone (ie folded) pizzas too.

The second thing we learned was that the pizzas were just the start of it. The Rook also offers a range of ‘Mexicana’ dishes (mixed bean and pepper burrito or pulled pork quesadilla, anyone?) plus a selection of tempting-sounding classic burgers (including bacon and cheese, pulled pork and the ‘hangman special’, a two-beef patty with double cheese, double bacon, mushrooms, lettuce and tomato). There was even a veggie burger - beetroot, chickpea and garam flour blended to form a patty, with sliced fresh beetroot, lettuce, tomato and onion.

I was seriously tempted by the beet burger. But our mission was to check out the quality of the pizzas. So ultimately, that was what we resolved to do. I ordered the Pizza Vegetariana (£8.99), a traditional 12-inch pizza base with a topping of mozzarella, cheddar, roasted red peppers, artichokes and mushroom, while Lili went for the Calzone di carne (£9.49), a folded pizza stuffed with mozzarella, cheddar, grilled chicken breast, ham and pepperoni, all in a garlic and tomato sauce. We also ordered a side of the Rook’s grated garlic and parmesan ‘dirty fries’ (£4.50) and another of onion rings (£2).

The wait was no longer than you’d expect for a freshly oven-baked pizza - and with that great selection of beers to choose from, I was as happy as a pig in muck.

The pizzas, when they came, were very much worth waiting for. The base of my 12-inch Vegetariana was light, fresh and chewy. It was generously topped with lashings of melting mozzarella and cheddar, piquant red peppers, nutty artichoke, and tasty mushrooms. The tomato sauce had a hint of chilli to it, and the whole was deeply satisfying, especially with a couple of beers inside me. Lili’s Calzone had the same light, chewy pizza base, this time folded, and the same slightly spicy tomato sauce. And it was stuffed literally to bursting with chicken, gammon, pepperoni and cheese.

So yes, we’d say those rumours circulating the office about the quality of the Rook’s fresh-baked pizzas are justified. But the real treat was something we hadn’t been expecting.

The onion rings were OK. But the grated garlic and parmesan ‘dirty fries’? They were spectacular. The chips were mid-way between thick and thin, nicely fried so that they were slightly crisp on the outside and yet moist, fresh and well-cooked inside. But it was those slivers of grated garlic mingled with grated parmesan sprinkled on top that really made them. The tastiest chips I’ve had in a very long time.

Our bill for two, including a couple of pints for me and a long, cool glass of orange juice for Lili, came to less than £30. And OK, it wasn’t gourmet dining. But it was good, well-cooked food cheerfully served in a classic drinker’s pub. What more could you ask for?