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All About Pizza


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Hector,

thank you for the great report. I have lived quite a long time in Naples myself and travel back often, since my parents live there, so reading your post was like having a little tatse of home.

I completely second your opinion on pizza fritta which has nothing to do with that crimo to fine food that Scottish fried pizza is :shock::laugh: . Salsiccia e friarielli (sausage and Neapolitan rabe greens) is great and I deeply miss those flavors! Maybe next time you should try the even more traditional pizza fritta coi cicoli, fried pizza stuffed with ricotta, mozzarella, cicoli (practically the rleft over meat from lard making) and plenty of pepper.

I have my list of pizzeria favorites in Naples too and some of your names match. Da Michele is probably my favourite, and Port'Alba is fine though I prefer the nearby Lombardi. I don't really like Brandi though. I find the place pretentious, expensive for Neapolitan standards and the pizza is not that good. The dough is paarticularly disappointing. Two names that definitely are well worth trying are:

- Starita in Materdei (Via Materdei 28), somewhat off the beaten tourist track, but they make great pizze, both classic and fritte. If I'm not mistaken they're also one of the very few pizzerie that still use a sourdough starter for their dough.

- Trianon, either opposite from Da Michele (Via Pietro Colletta, 44/46) or Via del Parco Margherita 27 makes very good pizze too, though I've often had a very unfriendly reception there. Still my no.1 choice when the waiting times at Da Michele are simply too long.

Another pizzeria I've heard great things of, but never tried myself (hope to make up for that in September) is Pizzaiolo del Presidente, Bia dei Tribunali, so called because the pizzaiolo here served Clinten when he visited Napoli.

Il Forno: eating, drinking, baking... mostly side effect free. Italian food from an Italian kitchen.
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Several years ago, my brother dragged me from the train station, across the Piazza Garibaldi, through several trash-strewn alleys, to a small place selling pizzas out of a window for something like 3.000 lire. It was a simple margherita, folded and served on a paper towel. It was the best thing I had ever tasted, and I laughed as I ate, olive oil and tomato dripping down my arm.

That was my introduction to authentic pizza...and since we were leaving Italy the next day, it was my last pizza experience in Napoli. However, it has born in me a love for the real thing to the point where I feel a certain sense of blasphemy whenever I find myself choking down a dominoes or Pizza Hut pizza.

There are a few places here in America that do a reasonable facsmile, but I am excited for the day I can return and more fully explore the pizza of Nap.

A question: What is the preferred wine in Napoli to accompany a pizza or saltimbocha? Is it a table wine from Campania? Anything good no matter the origen?

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A question:  What is the preferred wine in Napoli to accompany a pizza or saltimbocha?  Is it a table wine from Campania?  Anything good no matter the origen?

Good question or rather nightmarish one! Let's be honest about this, usually Neapolitans drink beer, usually the ubiquitous Peroni or Nastro Azzurro, (or worse, cola) with pizza. This is so much the case that many pizzerie in Napoli hardly even sell wine. On the other hand this is somewhat changing in the last few years. Quality-Conscious pizzerie have been making an effort to offer wine and better beers with pizza.

Some pizzerie have turned to the budding Italian micro-breweries like Le Baladin and Menabrea (this is actually one of the oldest beer makers in Italy), and these definitely make a better match than the simple Peroni. Still, this is happening more in cities like Rome, Milan and Turin than it is in Naples.

In Naples and Campania there has been an effort to focus on possible wine-pizza matches. During the time I lived there I trained to become a sommelier and pizza-wine matching was always a hot topic and one prone to cause fight between the experts who taught us. Quite amusing actually. The real problem of pizza-wine matches are the difficulty to find a decent match to the tomato sauce/chopped topping most pizzas have and then the fact that different toppings call for completely different wines. This latter problem is hard to tackle for simple pizzerias that run business on small profits, since the cost of a good wine cellar are simply too high. For this reason you might find that only restaurants that serve pizza as part of their menu (like Ciro a Santa Brigida, and Salvatore alla Riviera) have a decent wine range that matches all the pizzas on offer. Other places will probably sell wine that is intended for margherita and marinara for all their pizzas.

The consensus for the ideal wine for pizza (among Italian sommeliers at least) is that it should be a light, fresh wine with a nice bouquet. Traditionally, before beer became popular, people would have had Lettere or Gragnano, two light sparkling reds from the northern border of the Sorrento peninsula, with their pizza. Recently people have turned to local whites like white Falerno del Massico, Falanghina, the lighter Greco di Tufo wines and the Whites from the Amalfi coast. Another match which has been tried out with some success recently is pizza with southern Italian rose wines such as Salento rosato or Cirò Rosato. All in all these matches work fine but are IMO far from perfect.

For my taste the best matches are those with medium bodied Falanghinas, Costa d'Amalfi whites, especially those that have a nice amount of the local Coda di Volpe grape in their assemblage, and, best of all, Salento rosati. The best would be to try them out and see what works best for you. That way you have a perfect excuse to indulge in pizza AND wine till you find the perfect match :wink: .

Edited by albiston (log)
Il Forno: eating, drinking, baking... mostly side effect free. Italian food from an Italian kitchen.
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my top pizzerie list has to be:

1-Da Michele

2 Pizzaiolo del presidente

3 Salvo (Portici)

4 Gorizia

5 Sorbillo Gino

5 Antica Costa (also Pizza fritta)

6 De figliole (pizza fritta only).

Please see my homemade pizza at the following link:

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,1668.0.html

Also note the fluffy section: This is how a neapolitan dough should look like. Nothing to do with bread like crumb....

Ciao

PS I do love still Asprino with my pizza

Edited by Pizza Napoletana (log)
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my top pizzerie list has to be:

....

Copied and saved Marco, I deeply trust the expert's opinion :smile: . I never heard the last two in your list, do you happen to know their address by any chance?

PS I do love still Asprino with my pizza

Gosh! How could I forget Asprino d'Aversa! Absolutely worth a try with pizza. I find some producers make a wine that is much too nervous to go well with pizza, but those wines that are more rounded make for a nice pairing.

Il Forno: eating, drinking, baking... mostly side effect free. Italian food from an Italian kitchen.
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[ The best would be to try them out and see what works best for you. That way you have a perfect excuse to indulge in pizza AND wine till you find the perfect match :wink: .

I will set about my homework with gusto. Thank you for the input Albiston!

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I never heard the last two in your list, do you happen to know their address by any chance?

Ciao Alberto,

De figliole is located at Via Giudeca vecchia (If I am not confusing the streets name..). Coming from the square where the Trianon theatre is situated, going towards Castel Capuano, the street should be the first or the second on the left hand side as soon as the slope begin...

Antica Pizzeria Costa is near Porta Capuana.

Ciao

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I've just returned back to London from a visit to the 10th Pizzafest in Naples.

I have to say that I need to change my previous ranking, thanks to the most amazing pizza ever eaten (apart from mine):

Salvo (Portici-San Giorgio) is now my number one, putting Da Michele at second place.

my top pizzerie list has to be:

1-Da Michele

2 Pizzaiolo del presidente

3 Salvo (Portici)

4 Gorizia

5 Sorbillo Gino

5 Antica Costa (also Pizza fritta)

6 De figliole (pizza fritta only).

Please see my homemade pizza at the following link:

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,1668.0.html

Also note the fluffy section: This is how a neapolitan dough should look like. Nothing to do with bread like crumb....

Ciao

PS I do love still Asprino with my pizza

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  • 6 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Good news for anyone interested. After a long time of closure due to re-location and refurbishment, the best pizzeria in Naples (and province) is due to re-open after Easter.

SALVO PIZZAIOLI DA 3 GENERAZIONI

Largo Arso 10/16 San Giorgio a Cremano (NA).

I'll post the opening date as soon as I get it.

Ciao

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  • 3 weeks later...
Good news for anyone interested. After a long time of closure due to re-location and refurbishment, the best pizzeria in Naples (and province) is due to re-open after Easter.

SALVO PIZZAIOLI DA 3 GENERAZIONI

Largo Arso 10/16 San Giorgio a Cremano (NA).

I'll post the opening date as soon as I get it.

Ciao

They are finally open and have also a website

Pizzeria Salvo

Edited by Pizza Napoletana (log)
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  • 1 year later...
my top pizzerie list has to be:

1-Da Michele

2 Pizzaiolo del presidente

3 Salvo (Portici)

Thanks so much for your advice, I had found your message above while researching fine pizzeria for my first trip to Napoli and visited #2 on your list - Pizzaiolo del Presidente. Great pizza indeed! Here was my margherita with an egg:

gallery_54221_4685_9005.jpg

More pictures of Il Pizzaiolo del Presidente ...

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I was in Naples this past week end....

You must visit Pizzeria Salvo and Da Michele to see realy the best...

www.pizzeriasalvo.it

www.damichele.net

Ciao and let me know.

Thank you - I certainly will check those two places seeing how well I fared based on your last tip. Thanks again!

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Great report. My wife and I are off to Naples in October. Did any of you stay at or know of the Una Hotel? It's a small boutique hotel that we are planning to stay at.

Thanks,

Stephen Bonner

Vancouver

"who needs a wine list when you can get pissed on dessert" Gordon Ramsey Kitchen Nightmares 2005

MY BLOG

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I've just returned on a trip from Campania and Lazio.. Must say that I must admire the city of Napoli very much, it has not much of the tourist friendly wealth and such, but it's instead very much an extraordinary busy and hot place which I like.

In my dining experince around Napoli I've had some real authentic pizza. I think we shouldn't talk down on good pizza just because it being the most ubiqitious dish in the universe; it's sometimes a deliacy in it's own right, just cooked properly. Real pizza, made without flaws, is a hunt for perfection. There should be no soggy crust, no burned crust, no burned bail, no bitter tomato-sauce should ever be found on a real pizza, which should be steamy and tastefull.  Really great and authentic pizza is found in Napoli. The real thing Margherita fresh tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, real crusty dough, fresh tomatoes mozzarella de buffallà..and Marinara with fresh tomatoes and garlick, is wonderfull. But I also enjoy the hardcore pizza fritta filled with salicchia and friarelli. true delicacies.

The best pizza restaurants of the time in Naples so far has been:

Da Michele

very authentic, really great..

Pizzeria Port Alba

Little bit more expensive, oldest pizzeria in the world.

Brandi

Birthplace of the margherita..

Any more great pizza experiences?

Alan Richman does Naples

I don't know if this has been linked or mentioned in this thread or others but here's a little gasoline for the fire! :wink:

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  • 4 weeks later...
5 Antica Costa (also Pizza fritta)

I can't seem to find the exact location, or even a phone number for this place. I know near Porta Capuana, but anyone have any idea where it is? I'd like to check it out in the next several days.

It is in a particularly dangerous area right now...

I am not sure if it will work, try this link

Costa

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5 Antica Costa (also Pizza fritta)

I can't seem to find the exact location, or even a phone number for this place. I know near Porta Capuana, but anyone have any idea where it is? I'd like to check it out in the next several days.

It is in a particularly dangerous area right now...

I am not sure if it will work, try this link

Costa

Grazie.

So far I've checked out Sorbillo (the smaller, four-table one...what is the difference between the two?), Da Michele, Di Matteo, Il Pizzaiolo del Presidente (di Cacialli?), and Salvo in Portici. Where else I'll go remains to be determined.

Regardless of what Alan Richman has to say on the subject, there is no shortage of quality among the pizzerie and friggitorie of Napoli as far as I'm concerned.

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Grazie.

So far I've checked out Sorbillo (the smaller, four-table one...what is the difference between the two?), Da Michele, Di Matteo, Il Pizzaiolo del Presidente (di Cacialli?), and Salvo in Portici.  Where else I'll go remains to be determined.

Regardless of what Alan Richman has to say on the subject, there is no shortage of quality among the pizzerie and friggitorie of Napoli as far as I'm concerned.

Gino Sorbillo (the new 2 floors one) is on a different level of quality and choice of ingredients.

I hope you have also noticed how the dough of Salvo or Da Michele differentiate from the others...

You may want to check out Gorizia as you will aslo have the opportunity to check out the Vomero area.

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Gino Sorbillo (the new 2 floors one) is on a different level of quality and choice of ingredients.

Doh! I was afraid of that. I might be able to go to the newer one in the next few days.

I hope you have also noticed how the dough of Salvo or Da Michele differentiate from the others...

I can't claim any sort of pizza expertise to pick up the nuances in how the dough is produced. The crust at both Salvo and Da Michele were really wonderful though. Irregular in shape, thickness, consistency. Thicker spots and thinner spots,

huge air bubbles and denser, chewier sections, great char at both places. Very good stuff.

You may want to check out Gorizia as you will aslo have the opportunity to check out the Vomero area.

I was actually in the Vomero area for a bit this afternoon, but I ended up coming back down the funicolare and going to Brandi (a wet mess of a pizza) and later heading to Trianon da Ciro (which I quite liked) across from Da Michele. Trianon is apparently a chain? I saw another one near the funicolare station today and the box said something about salerno if I recall correctly.

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...  Trianon is apparently a chain?  I saw another one near the funicolare station today and the box said something about salerno if I recall correctly.

Not a chain... they are a large Family and have opened 2 more branches, on in Salerno and one near Piazza Vanvitelli (vomero).

Ciao

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