So .... they wheeled Pizza Boy out in a two wheeled hand cart and dumped him at home ..... finally.

Stinky The Clown

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Fri Mar-06-09 06:15 PM
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So .... they wheeled Pizza Boy out in a two wheeled hand cart and dumped him at home ..... finally.

No need to take pictures. Every pizza that came out looked just as good as the ones in their artwork. Some were even better. I sat facing the oven. It is an American made oven, but every bit as good as any hand built brick jobbie - and maybe actually better. It burns wood, but has a unique gas underfiring burner to actually make more efficient use of the wood and to get the temps up over 750F.

A few hundred pies came out while we were there. Nine of them came to our table. Yeah. Nine. For six of us. The pies are one size only - about 10 inches.

The crust is puffy and charred at the edges and thin and crisp in the middle, but not dried, so the middle crust has actual chew to it, not just crackery crunch. An absolutely amazing balancing act. Yes, these are remarkable.

The toppings were appropriately spare. There were three D.O.C. pizzas and a bunch of typical shishi pizzas. Not to disparage the other offerings, but for me the D.O.C. pizzas are where it is all at. The three are:

Marinara, which is the most spare, having only a thin coating of a raw San Marzano tomato sauce, some sea salt, and fresh chopped oregano. This was honestly the best tasting of the three.

Next is the traditional Margherita. The same spare tomato topping, nice pieces of mozzarella bufala, sea salt (just a hint) and whole basil leaves.

Last was the Margherita Extra, which is the same, but with halved cherry tomatoes added.

While the taste of the Marinara was the best, the best overall experience was the Margherita.

We also had a panoply of little bites. Each was wonderful, except the anchovies, which I found very disappointing. We had:

Bruschetta (Very nice, but average)

Bufala in olive oil (Unscrewedaroundwith and perfect. A grind of pepper and a slice of bread, and this would be a perfect light meal all on its own.)

Sicilian anchovies (Which I assumed would be like the anchovies in Europe - which are closer to fresh and tend toward the natural white color of the fish and are mild. These were just bigger, less ragged looking canned anchovies - skip 'em.)

Rabbit stuffed with rabe and cheese (Nirvana .... the rabbit skin was wonderfully, marvelously, deliciously, perfectly golden and crisp. Peking Duck, eat your heart out.)

Oven Roasted Olives (Salty and briny and herby and olive oily with a hint of garlic, there were four or five different olive varieties from green to purple. Get this then wait. They are deadly hot when they first hit the table. Let them cool a respectful amount of time before spooning one into your drooling maw.)

For dessert, there were cannoli (disappointing, to be honest), marsala custard (also disappointing), and a cookie plate (making for the disappointment hat trick).

The espresso was the opposite. As good as the Lavazza we regularly brew at Casa di Stinky.

The wine we had is one I have not had in many, many years - Lacryma Christi. This is a very proper wine for these pizzas., Not at all dry, but not sweet, either. Very fruity. A thick mouth with a big chew to it. Really a great wine - and fairly cheap to boot. The grapes are from vinyards planted on the lower slopes of Vesuvius, so the wine's terroir is a perfect match for the San Marzano tomatoes and the bufala.

I was near tears driving home. I had a tenth pie in a box on the passenger side seat. It was for Sparkly.