| rev:text
| - I finally made my long overdue first visit to Piccolo Forno last night. The place was surprisingly busy for a Tuesday, which boded well for the quality of the food but poorly for the prospect of ever dining there on a Friday or Saturday. Fortunately there were a couple of tables available and my companion and I were seated right away.
We started our meal with the speck and mascarpone pizza, which came highly recommended by our charming and attentive waitress. The pizza was by far the best I've had in Pittsburgh, which may seem like damning with faint praise given the lamentable quality of the pizza in this town, but this pie was truly excellent. The crust, a common failure point for most local pizzerias, was perfect: fresh and airy with just the right amount of char on the bottom. The sauce was flavorful and properly balanced with the creamy mascarpone and savory speck.
After we devoured the pizza we decided to try some pasta, opting for paccheri with tomato and ground boar ragu. The pasta was fresh and well made, but I found the ragu fairly pedestrian. Not a bad dish, but far from the standout that was the pizza.
For dessert we shared the tiramisu, which I'd read on Yelp was delicious and generously portioned. While I certainly cannot argue with the latter, I must disagree with the former. What little coffee and chocolate flavor the tiramisu had was overwhelmed by an excess of orange zest or perhaps liqueur.
All told, I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner at Piccolo Forno and look forward to trying more of their fantastic pizzas (though it will be hard to resist ordering the speck and mascarpone again). I'll also be sure to bring a bottle of wine to take advantage of their BYOB policy, another point in PF's favor.
|