The variation on the theme are endless. Flour and clouds; semolina, loaves mother and father yeasts, and long or strange rising; risen of unrisen doughs; wood fired, gas, electric ovens; and then, lightness, humidity and elasticity; rain, salt and sun… And, again, low and high; condiments and toppings, stuffing, crusts, canotti pizza, fried food, mozzarella and …rip-offs.
Pizza is synonymous with globalisation, naturally, like heating, homologation, high finance and the hundred so rich “scroungers” guiding he Earth hoping that it won’t crash.
The royal pizza- the queen- is a food of which you can’t do without: it is omnipresent, it is a material and immaterial good, it is a fine business, a mental landing, a nucleus of biased or peaceful discussion; a stomach filler and a stomachache and a a collective enjoyment, public or private (when there is the take away or the delivery)
At the end of a long itinerary among the “places” where pizza is prepared, in Ischia, I thought that I could draw up a small service guide, but the intention has melted: by itself - into thin air. Everything, or almost, wrong and to do again, citing Ginettaccio Bartali and not Paolo Conte…
I go in order, let’s talk about the “places” to go. The trend is consolidated: restaurant- grill- pizzeria. Antipasti and big antipasti, usual dishes, choice of meats and then galore “margherita”. The tryptich is served for the most of the suggestions, a remedy of every premise and gustatory promise. An alternative? Restaurant (with a slightly innovative menu) and pizzeria. Finally, the classic Neapolitan style: pizzeria and deli, maybe with a rotisserie. Anyway, let’s mix all these solutions and ask ourselves, in the end: “Was the pizza good?”
I have already anticipated the result: in this period, it is not worth it, I suspend the judgement. I have always overpaid (the bill) for pseudo-pizzas that don’t deserve to be remembered, especially in an approximative or even awful hospitality context.
“Black cross”, as Rosanna says… who is an expert on this.
Except in a couple of cases, forgetting those (the majority) where I will not return with a light heart.
The first, in chronologic order, is the Restaurant “Al Vecchio Capannaccio»” (on the Borbonica road, Via Baiola, in Forio - tel: 081.987571), which for a year has completed an interesting restyling, with an inviting tavern (‘A Cantina, but it is necessary to adjust the aphaeresis put inside-out) which welcomes whoever wants a guaranteed privacy: I like it. Here, after mixed successes, I found a “Pizza Vesuvio”, really nice and convincing, with only one partial imperfection at the disc base, a small scent of oil and charcoal, triggered by the dragging on the refractory. For the rest, I enjoyed it, observing with satisfaction the organisation in the service. The “Fried Calzone” is to be re-judged, potentially: no at the top, but not that bad either, so, forgiven.
The second fixed point is “La Rosa dei Venti”, a restaurant on the hills of Via Testa in Barano (tel. 081.902297) with a not average landscape of the Gulf. Here the undisputed master of pizza is Mario Buono, who has studied a lot, worked hard, and has kept his humble smile that is a sign of professionalism, although - by now - he knows a lot, directing himself on a top road: he has chosen the glamour and gourmet side. It is not easy to make fireworks, if you are not harsh with the selection of products, in terms of obsessive attention.
I have carelessly excluded a pizza that is the equivalent of a meal and leaves you that pinch of hunger, despite the kilometric composition: it is the “Nerano” (picture above), with zucchini cream, pumpkin flower, zucchini chips, tomato ketchup, provola cheese poured over, wafer of Grana Padano and Provolone del Monaco flakes. And then? Even a double cooking, fried and then baked again in the oven, and served on the cutting board. Let’s say that I took on the challenge, and Mario answered me as an expert author, although with some temptation in the froufrou ornament. The price? 14 euros. Quite right.
A curious final consideration. From Vesuvio to Nerano, in the pizza names, I find a multitude of toponyms of… foreign indications. I want to provoke. And what if we made Pizza Schiappone, Pizza Borbonica and Calzone Spalatriello? The “Ischia” pizza already exists, somewhere… Ah, Ah, what a provincial I am. What do you think?
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