Neapolitan Pizza and BYOB

 

A Mano, a pizzeria/restaurant in Ridgwood, New Jersey announced that they would be hosting a pizza making demonstration with two of Naples’ greatest pizzaioli, Antonio Starita of Starita a Materdei in Naples, and Roberto Caporuscio of Keste in NYC. Roberto is from the Naples area and trained with Antonio in Naples.  This was a demo I did not want to miss, so along with several friends, we reserved right away. On the day of the demo, over 150 people gathered at the restaurant.  We found our friends, took our seats, and had just enough time for a glass of wine before the demo began. Both Roberto and Antonio were assisted by Adolfo Marletta of La Spaghetta in Naples.

Roberto Caporuscio of Keste needing the dough

 Roberto began by explaining how he makes his dough.  He said that the flour he prefers is a high quality one manufactured by Caputo in Naples.  He uses only their “double zero” flour, which has less gluten in it so that it is easier to stretch.  He uses a special type of mixer that kneads the dough gently.  He demonstrated how to knead the dough by hand.  Then he shaped it into little balls weighing about nine ounces for each pizza. He did this by holding it with one hand and with the other shaping it the same way one would when making mozzarella. 

Antonio Strarita putting the finishing touches on the pizza

Antonio and Roberto mentioned that they had just returned from the Pizza Fair in Las Vegas. Someone in the audience asked who had won the pizza tossing event.  Both men looked puzzled.  Roberto said that they don’t toss the pizza in the air in Naples, while Antonio shook his head and with his hand made a slight back and forth movement saying very softly, mai (never).  They explained that rough handling ruins the dough. 

Margarita

 

Antonio then demonstrated how to shape the dough into a flat disk. He took a ball of dough and gently stretched it in four easy motions, rotating it and folding the edge toward the middle. Next he added pureed Italian canned tomatoes, mozzarella, and a touch of olive oil.  After it was placed on the peel, he stretched the disk out so that it almost doubled in size. He quickly slid the pizza into the wood burning oven and about a minute or so later it was done. The result was perfect Neapolitan style Margarita pizza. Margarita is the queen of pizza, there is no king.

The " Lemon Pizza"

 

I asked Antonio if he would make us his famous “lemon pizza”. This pizza is topped with smoked provola (smoked bufala mozzarella) and thin slices of lemon. I had tasted this pizza once before, when Antonio had been at Keste. It was so good that I had to have it again. He was only too happy to do it. It was as good as I remembered it and went very well with the wine we were drinking.

I then asked him to make another pizza of his choice. He made one of the best marinara pizzas that I have ever had. Roberto told us later that Antonio’s secret is to add a touch of pecorino cheese and a little oregano.

Calzone

 We also enjoyed the little fried calzone filled with ricotta.

 The wines

Most townships in NJ do not allow wine, beer or liquor to be sold in restaurants so we took advantage and brought the following wines.

 Barolo Riserva 1999 100% Nebbiolo Monchiero. This wine was ready to drink. I believe the 1999 was a vintage that can be drunk after 10 years. It had all the Nebbiolo characteristics and went very well with the food as did all the wine.

 Vino Spanna Cantina Castello di Montalbano 1964 Vallana. 1964 was a great vintage in Piemonte. On many of the older bottles of Vallana they have Castello this or that, but the Castellos never existed and with the DOC are no longer on the label. Spanna is the local name for Nebbiolo in this area of Novara in Piemonte. This wine is Nebbiolo with the possible addition of Aglianico! In Italy’s Noble Red Wines, Sheldon Wasserman states that  “Vallana is a master blender…Rumor has it that he used to blend Aglianico from Basilicata into his wines to give them the body and strength that they needed to age and develop.” Wasserman felt that when they stopped doing this, the wines were not as good. Today the wine must be at least 85% Spanna with the possible addition of Vespolina and Bonarda. I am happy to report that I have tasted more recent vintages of the Vallana wines and they have almost come all the way back even without the Aglianico. Tom Maresca gives a full report on the Vallana wines: Vallana: An Old Favorite Returns

 Barbaresco 1967 Produttori del Barbaresco 100% Nebbiolo. This is one of the oldest co-ops in Italy and possible the best. This is also the oldest bottle I have tasted which was not a single vineyard. The label was not the same as the one they use today. This was everything that an old Barbaresco should be and more.

 Barolo Riserva 1967 Borgogno.  This is a great wine. I have had many older bottles of Borgogno Barolo and they age very well. All those aromas that I love in old Barolo were there-faded roses, tar, tea, leather and mushroom.

  Burgundy 2001 Hospices de Nuits Laboure-Roi 100% Pinot Noir. This was the last wine and it did not disappoint as we sat sipping it and talking about the great pizza, great pizza makers (i pizzaioli) and Naples.

 It was a great evening at A Mano and I wanted to start making plans to go back to Naples and visit Starita a Materdei. In the meantime, since I live in NYC I will go to Keste when I want great pizza.

Join Roberto, Michele and me for a pizza tour of Italy www.loveofpizzatour.com

When in Naples- PIZZA

            When asked for directions to Da Michele, one of Naples’ most famous pizzerias, the hotel concierge told us, “I would not go there,” implying that it was not in a good neighborhood.  Of course, we went anyway.  True, the neighborhood was run down, but outside the restaurant there were late model Mercedes’ and BMW’s parked all over, and a line of well-to-do Italians in designer clothes stretched far out the door.  It was so busy that we couldn’t get in and decided to return the next day for an early lunch. 

           The next day we left the hotel early so that we would be sure to get a table.  On the way we passed through an outdoor market and saw a crowd standing around two men. The men had a big pot of hot oil and were making fried pizza. We were only a few blocks from Da Michele, but we had to try one anyway. What if we could not get into Da Michele?   We ordered a fried pizza stuffed with tomato and mozzarella and watched as one of the men flattened a disk of dough, while the other topped it with the fillings.  He folded into a half moon, and dropped it into the boiling oil.  A minute later, it came out crisp, brown, and delicious.

Da Michele

The Pizza Oven at Da Michele

            When we reached Da Michele, we had no trouble getting in.  The walls are white, decorated with a few framed poems and quotations about pizza.  The tables were bare marble.  Simplicity is what makes it special.  Da Michele serves only two kinds of pizza:  marinara and margherita.  There is no other food.  Beer, coke, or mineral water are the only drinks.  When you are that focused you have to be good, and Da Michele’s pizzas are some of the best I have ever eaten.   Light and tender, they seem to melt in your mouth.  Each one costs only five euros. 

 

            Diagonally across the street from Da Michele is Pizzeria Trianon.   It has dining rooms on three or four stories, but only one has air conditioning.  There are many different pizzas to choose from, though my favorite here is the Margherita DOC.   This is a type of margherita made with halved, tiny, sweet Neapolitan tomatoes known as pendolini.   In each bite, you get the sweet, juicy flavor of the tomatoes combined with the tanginess of the mozzarella di bufu1a — a great combination.

           

             My wife, Michele, favors Da Ettore.  Here they make great pizza and fried zucchini flowers as well as a stuffed pizza called the pagnotiello.   It looks like a stuffed pita sandwich but it is made with pizza dough.  Her favorite is made with fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, and arugula.

            Ciro a Santa Brigida was the first place I ate pizza when I fell in love with Naples and its pizza in 1995. I was gripped by a pizza frenzy and ate pizza several times a day in restaurants and while walking in the streets.  This is a great place to eat pizza and to sample the classic cooking of Naples as well a fine restaurant with a good wine list.  They tend to seat all the non-Neapolitans downstairs, so ask to sit upstairs for a more interesting experience.

             Europa is another excellent place to go for both pizza and other food.  It is a bit more rustic than Ciro and we have always eaten well here.  In Spaccanapoli, the old quarter in the heart of Naples, is Lombardi a Santa Chiara.  Here we had a great margherita topped with prosciutto and rughetta, leaves of small wild arugula. 

        Antica Port’ Alba has a stand in front of the restaurant.  When the pizza was ready a bell would ring and people would come to buy their take-away pizza, which was folded into fourths, a portafoglio meaning like a wallet, and eaten as they walked. This pizza is a little smaller than the regular margarita. Legend has it that when the Spanish ruled Naples, Spanish soldiers ate their pizza this way so that they could hold on to their weapons with their free hand.

            Not far from Naples in the town of Vico Equense is Da Gigino Universita’ della Pizza, better known as Pizza a Metro.  Here they serve pizza by the meter and the waiters will help you to decide how many meters you need. 

The Queen of Pizza- The Margarita- There is NO King

             On our first visit we ordered a Margherita.  It tasted great, but I said to Michele “I tastes like prosciutto, but I don’t see any prosciutto on it.”  She agreed and on the way out we stopped to watch the pizzaiolo.  Michele noticed that just before sliding the pies into the oven, he drizzled a thick milky-looking liquid on them.  The pizzaiolo told her it was strutto, liquified lard, which Michele remembered her mother making once a week by rendering pork fat.  The pizza mystery was solved!  Strutto is, or was, the quintessential Neapolitan cooking fat, though sadly, most cooks today have switched to olive oil.  For a very large place that caters to enormous groups, the food at Pizza a Metro is very good.  Last time we were there you could order your pizza with or without lard.

Bufala Mozzarella and Tomatoes

            On Capri, Villa Verde, not only makes delicious pizza but also great antipasto.  One of the highlights was the fresh bufala mozzarella and red ripe tomatoes.

If you are in Salerno a great place for pizza is Antica Pizzeria Vicolo della Nieve.  They also serve a delicious seasonal antipasto assortment.    

              Neapolitans like to drink sparkling beverages with their pizza including beer, soda, aqua minerale gassata and sparkling wine such as the locally produced red Gragnano made from piedirosso and sciascinoso grapes. 

            Other wine choices I like include the white Falanghina (now very popular in Rome), Asprinio di’Aversa, and Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio Bianco made from the coda di volpe grape.  For red, Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio made with the piedirosso grape is my choice.  When I am in NY I Iike to drink Barolo, Barbaresco, Taurasi, Chianti, Barbera , etc. with my pizza margherita.   In fact since I believe that pizza margherita is the perfect food it will go with almost any wine that is not international in style- no barriques etc.

 The two places in NYC that I go for pizza are Keste and La Pizza Fresca. In my opinion Keste has the best Neapolitan style pizza in the city. La Pizza Fresca has good Pizza and other foods, plus a great wine list.