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| - Recently opened in the downtown busy area around Market Square, it is quite an addition to the city restaurant scene. It is a you-queue-and-order-and-take-a-seat place, where the pizzas are cooked in 3 minutes in the wood-fired ovens (two of them !!) and carried to you by waitresses that find your table number sign. The walls are covered with large modern art paintings, the tables and fixtures are modern but warm, and the food quality is excellent. What is surprising is that the prices are not high, but geared for the lunch crowd. And that is why the place was full of young office workers.
We ordered a trio of pizzas:
- Pizza Pizzuvio
- Pizza Margherita D.O.C.
- Pizza Marinara
The Pizzuvio ($10) is half calzone and half Margherita, merged together in a seamless union (neat idea !!). The interior of the calzone is mostly ricotta milk cheese, with some salami and ham, and a few sliced cherry tomatoes. The dish that was served to us seemed a bit smaller than others that I saw in other tables (see the photo and you can see the white brim of the dishware on the perimeter), but I guess I was the unlucky one to get the smaller of 'em all.
The Margherita D.O.C. ($12) is a version of the regular Margherita ($8) but with premium bufala mozzarella. Baked to perfection, the dough was clearly prepared the day before and fermented and raised to acquire the best flavor. Thank you for bringing back the true pizza Napoletana to Pittsburgh (the first honors goes to the veteran of 'em all, Roberto Caporuscio, who started in Pittsburgh his culinary adventures over a decade ago).
The Marinara ($7) is a very thin crust tomato sauce and garlic oven-baked circular flat bread, with flavoring of oregano. Delicious and tasty. I would have added a free option of just a few bits and pieces of anchovies ("acciughe") but I understand that for American tastes, that would have been very difficult to accept.
Overall, quite an establishment. I just love 'em crowds at lunch, boisterous, eating, chatting. And rushing back to the office. It's a movement. It's an ocean current. Its fast but good. Sure, it would be nice to have a few Fiaschetta di Vino, but, alas, here in America, that is not allowed.
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