I love the simplicity of a good slice of NYC pizza, but I am open to exploring other pizzas too, so yesterday a group of us went to Tony's Napoletana Pizza in North Beach. It is right next door to Tony's Coal Fired Slice House.
In 2007 Tony won the award for Best Pizza Margherita at the World Pizza Cup in Naples, Italy. Tony was the first American and non- Neapolitan to win this award. This award winning pizza is available on his menu, but he only makes 73 a day. We were fortunate to have one of the last ones available.
The menu describes the pizza as having a rustic, medium crust. Tony makes it the same way he did in Naples, using the same ingredients and cooking it in the same oven. He starts with dough mixed by hand using San Felice flour. The dough is proofed in Neapolitan wood boxes. The dough is the shaped into a pizza round and covered with San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella fior di latte, fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil. The pizza is baked in a 900 degree wood fired oven and served on a pedestal.
I loved this pizza. The tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, oil and crust all came together in perfect harmony. In each bite the flavors were enhanced by the presence of the sea salt. It deserves every accolade it receives.
We arrived at the restaurant at 5:00 PM and surprisingly there was no line. There was also nobody at the podium waiting to greet people. I stood for a full five minutes, waiting, wondering if I came in the wrong door. Servers went by, bustling with trays and pizza boxes and no one said anything. Finally the host appeared, he had been at the bar talking with someone. I gave the benefit of the doubt and assumed it was customer related. Besides, now he had to deal with the 15 people in line behind me. I gave my name and guest count and within 10 minutes we were seated.
The service was quick and friendly. Since we were new to this side of the restaurant our server went through the pizza options on the menu, including her recommendations. We placed our pizza orders and waited.
While we waited we were served a basket of fresh baked Foccia with three dipping oils; extra virgin olive oil, olive oil and garlic and olive oil and red pepper. We also shared a Cesar salad. The romaine was crisp and fresh, the Parmesan had a nice bite and the dressing was rich and creamy. One salad was enough to share between five of us.
Within minutes our pizza arrived. I already talked about the Pizza Margherita but we also ordered the New Yorker; mozzarella, hand crushed tomato sauce, pepperoni, sliced Italian fennel sausage, ricotta, chopped garlic and oregano cooked in the wood burning oven.
And the Americano, cooked in a gas brick oven, this pizza featured mozzarella, pepperoni, Molinari salami, mushrooms, red onions, bell peppers, black olives, Italian sausage and cherry tomatoes. It was a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach.
Tony's Napoletana has a reputation for the best pizza in the city and it is well deserved. Everything was delicious, the service excellent and atmosphere friendly and inviting. We will be going back.
After dinner we slipped next door to the Slice House and had some authentic Gino's Italian Ice, imported all the way from NYC; Lemon, Chocolate and Cherry. Cool and refreshing palette cleanser.
Mr. Joe Kitchen rating 5 Aprons
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