Roman Pizza (a la Tony)

Posted on July 30, 2014 by sfillipow

I convinced my neighbor to join me at Tony’s (again) to try his Roman (long thin) pizza. I wanted to compare it to the kilos of stuff we ate in Rome. First, the comparison bit was difficult. In Rome, this style pizza is sold by the kilo (or ette/100g), and has usually been out of the oven for a while. At Tony’s, it is not sold “by the ette”, and comes out of the oven to your table (or to the bar as the case may be). The verdict (below) was pleasing, although I’m not a fan of “sweet” pizza. I also liked the thin crust. In fact the bar keep said this was the thinnest pizza served (I thought the neopolitan was quite thin). In any event, it was thinner than the pizza we ate in Rome. In fact, one pizzeria in Monte Verde Vecchio won accolades for their crust, which had a higher ratio of levaning and rose for three days before it was baked.

Tony serves enough pizza for 2-4 people in one order of his Roman pizza. Here is what I got (all with mozarella). You eat them 1 to 3 > mild, spicy, sweet. They were all flavorful, but personally I preferred 1 and 2.

1) cherry tomatoes, black olives, basil and garlic

2) sopressata picante, arugula and parmigiano

3) sweet fig, prosciutto, gorgonzola and balsamic reduction

With the pizza, I drank an Italian red (of course) a Barolo from Le Marche (Maraia)

Pizza at home with the help of Trader Joe’s

My daughter and I made two quick pizzas on Saturday using Trader Joe’s whole wheat pizza dough. Since we were in a hurry, we used the small 16″ wide oven which heats up to 500 degrees faster than the larger oven. We made the squash blossom pizza first. First was a zig/zag of olivo oil, followed by Burrata, and then the squash blossom. The second pizza used home made tomato sauce. This time we just used TJ’s crushed tomatoes, thickening it be removing some of the liquid, then adding a bit of salt. On top of that was some sliced onion, heirloom tomatoes, artichoke heart and kale. I sprinkled parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper, and of course Anchovies.

So the taste. The oven temp is always a problem for the crust. It’s OK, but doesn’t cook fast enough to avoid the liquid make it a bit soggy. The burratta is good but almost two liquidy for the pizza – that said it is much tastier than the solid low moisture stuff that is now generally sold. The squash blossom is good but I don’t get what all of the fuss is about. My kids like it, so i won’t complain. The onion and kale cooked nicely in the 7 -8 min the pizza spent in the oven, and the heirlooms were very tasty

Exploring Pizza – Tony’s Pizza Napoletana

Posted on July 12, 2014 by sfillipow

Tony Gemignani seems to have the pizza buzz in San Francisco. Tony’s is a veritable pizza museum offering all different styles of pizza (but you are saved by the limited choices of each kind). The claim is the Pizza Margherita is world famous, so that is what I ate. He says in the menu they only serve 73/day…good idea I think. Pizza popped out of the oven pronto. The crust (San Felice flour, proofed in Neapolitan wooden boxes..whatever that means) was super thin and chewy, burnt just right around the edges. The sauce was Napoletana – seemed to be just tomatoes (San Marzano D.O.P.) and salt – didn’t taste any garlic, oregano or anything else. The Mozarella was Fior di Latte and not di Buffala (which I think Pizza Napoletana/Anthony Mangieri uses). Finally topped with fresh basil and bit of olive oil. Glass of Negoamaro (Cantele) from Puglia, a first. Since nearly all wine tastes good to me…it was!