Pizza, Pizza

Continuing on the Italian theme I will be focusing on pizza, or the plural pizze as you will sometimes see in Italy. To be honest we had quite a bit of pizza while in Italy. In fact we had pizza of some form at five different restaurants. There were basically two types of pizza we had, Neapolitan and Roman. Neapolitan pizza comes from Naples and is a thinner crust pizza that much of our pizza in the US is based on. A New York thin crust is essentially an American version of a Neapolitan. Roman pizza has a little bit of a thicker crust to it, similar to a personal pan pizza, only better and without the pan. Most all of the pizzas seemed to be made to order, were handmade, and baked in a wood burning pizza oven. So on to our journey of pizzerias.

Cafe Leonardo
May 22 2012

Cafe Leonardo was located around the Piazza de Spagna, also known as the Spanish Plaza and home to the Spanish steps. We ate lunch there while some rain moved through the area. After looking through the menu we ordered a pizza diavola. This was the first time we ordered one, but would not be the last. It is a simple pizza composed of a tomato sauce, mozzarella, and spicy salami. It was more toward the Roman style than Neapolitan. The salami had some nice heat to it and had a nice "cured" taste that good salumi (Italian cured meats) has. It was from a large roll of salami thinly sliced. In my opinion it was the best part of the pizza. The mozzarella was nice if not spectacular. I would call it very average compared to other pizzas we had. It didn't have quite the same creaminess and flavor other mozzarella had. The tomato sauce was again good but not spectacular. It had good tomato flavor but was neither sweet, fresh, or zesty. Just middle of the road like the cheese. The crust was nicely baked and had a nice flavor pizza gets when it has been in a wood oven. It was again pretty average compared to the other pizzas we had in Rome though. The service was good and waiter friendly. Overall I give it a 2.5 out of 5. The salami was very tasty but the rest of the pizza was average, tho I have to admit that it would be one of the better pizzas in Grand Rapids.

Pizza Forum
May 23 2012

Pizza Forum is located behind the Colosseum. As the name implies this is a pizzeria and it does pizza like no one else. We ate lunch there before going on a tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Capitoline Hill. We ordered another pizza diavola. The spicy salami was awesome. It was diced up instead of sliced like at Cafe Leonardo, and had a nice spice to it. It also had a smokey quality to it. The mozzarella was creamy, flavorful and very fresh. The tomato sauce had a fresh, sweet, and herbal flavor to it. In my opinion it was the best sauce we had. The crust was outstanding. It was definitely hand made, thin, perfectly baked and very flavorful. The pizza is baked in a wood oven and as you can see from the picture, had that wonderful blistering that occurs in a hot wood oven. Simply put, this was the best pizza I have ever eaten (although Melanie thinks another place is better). This isn't hyperbole, this is the honest truth. The service was fairly good and value outstanding. I loved this pizza, so I give it a 4 out of 5.

Pizza Ciro
May 23 2012

Pizza Capricciosa

Pizzette fritte

Pizza Bufalina DOC

Tiramisu

We ate at Pizza Ciro Wednesday night after the tour. It also was the same day we ate at Pizza Forum. Pizza twice in a day! It too was very good. We actually started by ordering the pizzette fritte, or fried pizza dough. Similar to pizza puffs at some area restaurants. Except it was better. It was sprinkled with salty parmesan, pizza sauce, and field greens. All the flavors worked well and the greens added a nice freshness to a heavy tasting, albeit delicious, appetizer. We then ordered our pizzas. Melanie got the Bufalina DOC and I got the Capricciosa. The Bufalina DOC consisted of little cherry tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, parmesan, and olive oil. The buffalo mozzarella comes from domestic water buffalo and was outstanding. It was creamy and fresh tasting. It had a slightly different taste then regular fresh mozzarella, and was creamier. The cherry tomatoes were good and added a nice, fresh acidity to the pizza. The parmesan added a nice little salty note. There was no sauce on this pizza. But it didn't really need it. The crust was a Roman style, thicker than the other pizzas we had, and wood fired. It was very good. Melanie loved it and said it was the best pizza she had in Rome. My pizza capricciosa consisted of tomato sauce, prosciutto, mozzarella, artichokes, mushrooms, and olive oil. It was good. The artichokes and mushrooms were not fresh, but were canned/jarred. They were good, but I would have preferred fresh. The prosciutto was ok, it wasn't as good as other prosciutto I had on the trip. The tomato sauce was very good, only Pizza Forum's sauce was better in my opinion. It was fresh with slightly more cooked taste than Forum's with a nice herbal note of basil. The crust was the same as what Melanie had. To finish we had tiramisu. It was very good. The lady fingers held their shape nicely and the cream had a nice coffee flavor. The chocolate added a nice compliment to the coffee flavor. The service was very good. Overall I give Pizza Ciro a 4 out of 5. It was very good, but I felt that Pizza Forum's pizza was a little better. It was a close call though. But the service and the other food we had bumped up the score.
 
Borgo Nuovo
May 24 2012

Borgo Nuovo was located near the Vatican. Melanie had the pizza diavola. In my opinion this was the worst pizza we had in Rome. It was a Roman style pizza with typical diavola toppings. The salami was good, but nowhere near as good as the other two diavola salamis. The mozzarella was ok, nothing great. Definately not as fresh as Ciro or Forum. The sauce tasted like a very good canned sauce. The crust was done in a regular pizza oven as opposed to a wood burning one and was very one note. I think it falls somewhere between a very good take out pizza and an average restaurant pizza. Service was good. 2 out of 5

Tiepolo Lounge
May 21 2012

The Tiepolo Lounge is located in the main lobby at the Rome Cavelieri Hotel. We were hungry one night so went down for a bite and a drink. We ordered a focaccia (flatbread cousin of pizza) with arugula, speck, and spreadable cheese. It was very good. Speck is a smoked prosciutto from the north of Italy. It was very good, combining the taste of a very good prosciutto with a smokiness that was very nice. It complimented the peppery flavor of the arugula very nicely. The cheese served as a nice base and platform. It was smooth and creamy and had a very mild goat-cheese like flavor to it. There was also a little olive oil drizzled over top that added a fruity note to it. The flat bread was very good with a lot of herbs mixed into the dough. Overall it was very good, but pricy at over 20 euro for it. I give it a 3.5 out of 5.