http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x64770Oh my.
The sparkling husband primitive, who's under doctor's orders to lose some lardage.
Stinky The Clown (1000+ posts) Wed May-13-09 09:05 PM
Original message
I may be close to stopping cooking forever (a Pizza story)
A friend of mine (local rep for a brand of big, honkin' commercial hearth ovens capable of burning solid fuel, like wood or coal) calls me last Saturday. "Hey Stinky, we're goin' to try a new coal fired pizza place."
"A what?"
"Yup"
"Damn! We just finished eating - frozen pizza!"
He texts me later. "Drool. You're a dead man"
So today, Sparkly and I head over there for lunch. The place has been open for three weeks. Actually, that's not even true. They had their soft opening three weeks ago. When we get there, i introduce myself to one of the two owners. I tell him waht I do so we're instant colleagues.
They really didn't want any publicity when they opened. Just managing a solid fuel oven takes time and has a fairly steep learning curve. Alas, the Baltimore Sun showed up their first Saturday night and gave them rave reviews. They've been slammed ever since.
And for good reason.
This pizza is otherworldly good. Orgasmic.
after which a photograph of a pizza
I've waxed poetic about 2Amy's Italian certified DOC pizzas. And they remain as great, as incredible, as ever.
But they're really a different product. This stuff is the kind of pizza that was, in actuality, invented here in America around the turn of the last century. Joe Pepe started his place where it still stands today, on Wooster Street, in New Haven, CT. Today it is still family run, by Joe's great grandson, Joe Biemonte. The original oven is still fired by Pennsylvania anthracite (hard) coal. You'll get into fist fights claiming who was first on the scene. On Wooster Street, it was Pepe's, then Sallie's. Nobody argues that. But the New York people, being more blustery, also lay claim, but the problem is, none of the ovens have been coal fired *and* baking pizza as long as Pepes. There is one older oven than Pepe's, but it is an acknowledged fact it was baking bread only for a few years after old Joe opened.
after which a photograph of what appears to be a piece of anthracite coal
Anyway, coal fired pizza (and wood fired, to be honest) are different from DOC pizza. More char. More chew to the crust, even in a thin crust pizza. In common with DOC pies is the seeming paucity of toppings. You eat coal fired pies for the char. Everything else is garnish.
Back to today ...... they've now been opened about three weeks and they're starting to get the hang of things. The oven was well stoked and you could see the hot gases burning across the top, the stoked coal embers hot as a blacksmith's forge fire at the right side of the oven, the hearth clean. Good oven management.
after which a photograph of the interior of a fast-food joint
I'd say they were spot on with their estimate of the need for a 4 week soft opening. Things today were looking and tasting good. real good.
Look at the underside of this pie .... that char is from a clean hearth, meaning its honestly developed and just incredible.
after which a photograph of the bottom of a slice of pizza
I could eat at this place every day and never cook again.
Its a 10 minute drive. I can almost smell it.
We had the Margherita and the CoalFire Signature. Sparkly can usually mange to just barely get through three slices of pizza when she's **really** hungry. She outdid herself today. Me ... I ain't sayin' what I ate ...... but it was a lot. There's still lots to try on the menu. The wings are supposed to be unlike anyone else's and I don't doubt that. These ovens add a flavor dimension to food that can't be achieved in any other cooking appliance.
This is their menu. I'm betting, ina year, most of page 2 is gone and replaced with oven fare. But not now. Until they get the hang of that oven, pizza's all they need to be trying.
after which a photograph of a menu
A little flyer
after which a photograph of a little advertising flyer
The store ... in a mostly empty, newly build neighborhood strip mall.
after which a photograph of one of those run-of-the-mill strip-mall places
AwakeAtLast (1000+ posts) Wed May-13-09 09:59 PM
Response to Original message
1. Wow! That is some amazing looking pizza!
Shrimp Fra Diavolo - MMMmmmmmmm!!!
The Coal Fired roasted vegetables sound scrumptious, too!
I'm with you, I would be there as often as possible. And my thighs would let me know it!
I am fortunate, there is a decent pizza place where I live in the Midwest (owner is Italian and makes them East Coast style), but damn I wish I could afford a trip to MD. <sigh>
If the primitive lives in the "Midwest," surely the primitive is aware of Valentino's, the best pizza in the whole world, and far better than any eastern product.
Inchworm (1000+ posts) Wed May-13-09 10:20 PM
Response to Original message
2. Wonderful story, but...
DOC threw me off so I had to just guess the rest
Done on Command?
Stinky The Clown (1000+ posts) Wed May-13-09 11:11 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. Nonono ....... sorry ....... DOC is an Italian authenticity credential
D.O.C. stands for 'Denominazione di Origine Controllata'. Normally seen on authentic bottles of Italian wine.
There are only two pizzas you need to make to certify:
Marinara: tomatos, oil, oregano , garlic
Margherita: tomatos, oil, mozazarela, basil
But trick is that it have to be done right. It does not have to be in Italy, USA is fine, but you have to produce a "real pizza" to be D.O.C. Oven have to be wood burring and dough have to be made from right flour. (Italian 00 flour)
VPN (Vera Pizza Napoletana or True Naples Pizza) is the actual pizza governing body that make end judge based on the basic VPN Guidelines. They really are pretty simple.
1. A Wood-Burning Oven: Pizza Napoletana must be cooked in a wood-fired dome oven operating at roughly 800ºF.
2. Proper Ingredients: Tipo 00 flour, San Marzano tomatoes, all natural Fior di Latte or Bufala mozzarella, fresh basil, salt and yeast -- only fresh, all-natural, non-processed ingredients.
3. Proper Technique: Your pizza dough must be kneaded either by hand, or with a low speed mixer. No mechanical dough shaping is allowed, such as a dough press or rolling pin, and proper pizza preparation. Pizza baking time should not exceed 90 seconds.
The coal fired ("New York" style or New Haven "Apizza" (ah BEETZ) ) is not made with Italian flour and is made with tomatoes chosen by the pizza maker. Some use San Marzanos, many (most) use California tomatoes.
elleng (1000+ posts) Thu May-14-09 12:02 AM
Response to Original message
4. So please let us know when they're REALLY ready, and when the lunch crowd won't be TOO big. I could make it to Ellicott City any day.
Thanks!
DROOL!
Stinky The Clown (1000+ posts) Thu May-14-09 12:25 AM
Response to Reply #4
6. The lunch crowds don't come near the dinner crowds
We got there about 1.00 and the place was maybe half full.
Contrast that with Friday and Saturday nights when he has had to stop doing carry-out so as to keep up with the house crowd and the wait was over an hour.
japple (1000+ posts) Thu May-14-09 07:30 AM
Response to Original message
8. I'd give my hat and front seat in hell for an order of those chicken wings and a side of onion rings. Too bad I live so far away......
Stinky The Clown (1000+ posts) Thu May-14-09 11:05 AM
Response to Reply #8
9. Those wings will be on my order on my next visit.
REACTIVATED IN CT (1000+ posts) Thu May-14-09 01:44 PM
Response to Original message
10. I used to live across the street from Joe Bimonte's place in Hamden, CT 25-30 years ago. I think he was Frank Pepe's son in law. He made some of the best abeetz. He used to sell them frozen, too - 5 or 6 12 inchers to a bag. Don't ask why we bought it frozen when he was right across the street ?!?!?
I dunno.
franksolich used to live right across the street from Tony Alesio's place in Lincoln; the original location of Valentino's pizza.
The primitives have no idea, no idea at all, what a good pizza is.
Stinky The Clown (1000+ posts) Thu May-14-09 04:44 PM
Response to Reply #10
11. My Mom and Dad lived right near there, too.
At the corner of Shepard and Sherman.
My favorite from Biemonte's was the white clam with spinach.
Yes, the old man was the son-in law. His son is the one who now runs Pepe's. (I **think** I have the family tree right!)
And my OP is wrong ...... The original Pepe was Frank .... not Joe. Joe is the kid.
I dunno.
I'm not a fan of fine dining, but it strikes me that people who make pizza on the east coast don't know excresence about how to make a good pizza.
I mean, they even use dead fish and mushrooms and olives and peppers in pizza, which is akin to topping ice cream with motor oil and formaldehyde.
Bah.
Some people just have no taste, no taste at all.
