Pizza Margherita

Food, Glorious Food

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PIZZA MARGHERITA

Neighborhood Pisseria: Naples, Italy

$ Value: 5,00-10,00 euro for one-person size (approx $5.38-$10.75)

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We've just visited the island of Capri. Coming south from Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast, we've boarded a train to Naples. Pompeii, now in ruins after the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, is visible nearby. 

But we're not doing antiquities, as of yet. At the top of the day's agenda is food: Neapolitan cooking, specifically. After all, it has received the Michelin Guide's highest number of stars from among all the Italian cities' cuisine. In particular, we're shooting for pizza which the people of Naples claim was born here. 

According to an often-recounted story, in 1889 Raffaele Esposito was asked to bake three different kinds of pizza for the royal visit of King Umberto I and Queen Margherita of Savoy. The Queen’s favorite was a pizza that had the colors of the Italian flag: basil leaves for green, mozzarella for white, and tomatoes for red. Named Pizza Margherita in her honor, this is how this pizza is still universally known.

Surely, we're not going to pass up the opportunity to have a taste. 

Our neighborhood pisseria of choice is almost spartan, with no frills. Inside, the conversation is already buzzing with polite greetings of Buongiorno in the early afternoon. Someone is ordering two beers, Due birre, per favore.

On the menu are only two kinds of pizza - margherita and marinara.

Cooked traditionally in a wood-burning oven, the ingredients of Neapolitan pizza have been strictly regulated by law and must include fresh dough made from wheat flour type '00' with the addition of flour type '0' yeast, natural mineral water, peeled fresh cherry tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, homemade roasted garlic, sea salt, and extra-virgin olive oil.

We opt for the margherita.

I'm practically drooling with anticipation as the gooey, creamy smell of cheese fills the air. A few minutes later and with the summons of a hearty, Buon appetito! we're inhaling the fragrance of just-off-the-oven pizza set before us.

I use my knife to slice into the yeasted flatbread and stab a mouthful with a fork. I groan with pleasure as I devour my first bite. I chew slowly, savoring each morsel before swallowing. My mouth is too slick for words.

Our margherita looks plain, but its crust is soft and light. The filling on top is a simple, thin layer of sweet San Marzano tomatoes. Perhaps, this is how pizza in its original form is supposed to be. Amazingly, it melts in the mouth, goes straight through the throat and into the stomach.

When the meal is over, I sit back and view my stomach with a pretense of dismay. In truth, it is a kind of no-guilt pizza and therefore, for me, puede pasar. I give it a 'passing' grade.

My Review:  * - Just good