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11:52 AM Fri, Oct 26, 2007 | Permalink |
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They use a coal-fired oven to achieve great pies like the one at left. The crust is cracker-thin but still has its yeasty-dough-crust thing going on, nicely scorched on the bottom and sides. This is my favorite combination: just a brush of tomato sauce, some blobs of fresh mozzarella, then after it's fired, some velvet-textured prosciutto, fresh arugula and a grating of Parmesan. The beauty, though, is its understatement: If a little (of the toppings) is good, then a little is good. Period. In Dallas, the closest I've gotten to this is at Arcodoro & Pomodoro. With all the buzz about pizza lately, got anything to add? |
Part of the New York experience is pizza and, continuing Bill Addison's thread on great NY pizza houses, I had the chance to eat at  | |
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Comments
Posted by Campania Pizza @ 3:47 PM Fri, Oct 26, 2007
Olivella's makes a nice pie with prosciutto and arugula...they have a great oven that cooks with only wood - no gas!
Of course Campania has a nice arugula and prosciutto pie too - the primavera. Make sure to ask the guys to make it "crispy"...we tend to undercook when busy (oven gets opened and closed too much)!
Pure wood-burning oven is the only way to go. At the right temp you can knock pizzas out in 90 seconds. Coal ovens take longer so the dough gets a little tougher...same with gas ovens. We have a wood burning oven in our backyard and it is awesome. A great wood oven site is www.fornobravo.com ... they ship to Dallas!
Posted by Margie @ 11:45 AM Mon, Oct 29, 2007
I was just going to mention Campania, where I spent this Sunday afternoon eating a bit of the Primavera. Of course, I love the Sorrento, too, and had to have a piece of that one. Potatoes on a pizza is a positively great idea. I saw it a lot when we were traveling in Rome recently.
Posted by Mario Gladstein @ 2:09 PM Mon, Oct 29, 2007
I dont think the folks in this town (both the pizza-eaters and the pizza-makers) have the guts to really step out and make the real deal. I have been to all the places in this town and nothing, nothing, touches New York.
Dallas? They don't have the slightest clue in this town about Pizza. Gimme a break.
Posted by Campania Pizza @ 9:39 PM Mon, Oct 29, 2007
With all due respect...the "real deal" is Italian, not New York :)(even though the post was about NY Pizza...)
Right now, I would say Olivella's makes the most authentic Italian in town - wood burning oven (no gas!!), san marzano tomatoes, type 00 flour, fresh mozzarella. The important thing to recognize is that Dallas has a lot of great choices for artisan/craft pizzerias. A lot of restaurants put pizza as an afterthought and it is nice to have so many that put it center stage (Campania, Coal Vines, Fireside, soon Patsy's, etc.). I eat at all of them!
If you ever make it to the West Coast - check out A16 (www.a16sf.com) in San Francisco and Antica Pizzeria (www.anticapizzeria.net) in Marina Del Rey. Very nice pies.
Posted by Mario Gladstein | @ 7:35 AM Tue, Oct 30, 2007
Of course, I think most sentient beings will agree that the real deal is in Italy. So for purposes of this discussion, it is agreed that pizza-mecca is in Campania(Italy).
Regarding Olivella's, while I admire their efforts, one comment on their product, and something to say about mozzarella and arugula.
1) I don’t recall ever having a sweet tomato sauce on a pizza. Now perhaps that is the function of the way they prepare it, but it strikes me as inappropriate. Savory is the reason I eat pizza, not sweet.
Fresh mozzarella is only as good as the ingredients that go into the making of it. If one buys previously gathered curds, that is a short cut and it affects the quality of the final product.
When one offers mozzarella di bufala it must be from Italy.
Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP is protected law (http://www.mozzarelladop.it/) and like Champagne, Chianti and Sophia Loren, can only come from where it was born. In this case, like Sophia Loren, the region of Campania, where the great pizzaioli also are based.
Arugula should never be julienned before scattering on the finished pizza. I know that makes it difficult for the prep cook who wants to get everything ready before hand. One of the pleasures of arugula is in it’s texture, and whole leaves is the proper way to offer it.
Posted by Campania Pizza @ 8:59 AM Tue, Oct 30, 2007
OK - so I am a huge pizza nerd...but if you are interested in the topic, there is a great book by Peter Reinhart called "American Pie". Half of the book is his search for the best pizza in America, the other half is recipes for the home cook. It's tough to bake a perfect pizza at home because of limited oven temps, but the dough recipes are easy and good.
Kim adds: This goes to the core of why restaurant pizza is such a big deal. You can't just blow it off and cook your own at home - unless of course you have your own outdoor brick oven, like Francesco Farris of Pomodoro & Arcodoro, or a professional-style range that handles higher oven temps.