It was a LONG drive home!
Only been open about 2 months, Capella Pizzeria is making waves in Birmingham. The word is spreading and Capella does not disappoint. Located off a busy section of 280 in The Fresh Market shopping center, Capella does it's best to keep it simple and straight forward. There's no drive-thru, but ample parking. I also cringed when I heard it was off 280, but navigating in and out of that shopping center was easy peasy thanks to the traffic light.
Capella leaves nothing to the imagination. The entire front of the pizzeria including the double doors are framed in glass. As you approach you can already see the entire restaurant from the outside. As you open the doors you're greeted by italian music, high ceilings with a brightly lit open dining room, and italian football/soccer team jerseys hanging from the ceiling. Of course there's got to be something Ferrari on the wall. The open dining area consists of about 15 large picnic tables with accompanying dual bench seats. On every table are a small stack of disposable plates and a roll of paper towels. Adjacent to dining area is what could only representative of a "kitchen". You may stand and inspect the chefs as they roll out the dough, place your ingredients and then slide it into the wood fired oven. Towards the front is a small register where you place your order and to tempt your palate, their gelato display is directly next to the register. There's no soda dispenser as most of the non alcoholic beverages are bottled and in a refrigerated case. Along the front wall is a quaint little "condiment" station where large jars of Salt, Pepper, Red Pepper, Basil and Oregano await. Wait, there's more! You will also find a small "kettle" of Spicy Oil and Olive Oil. Finally there is a large container of their homemade marinara sauce... Yom Yom Yom Yom!
Obviously taking pride in being as authentic as possible, Capella boasts all fresh ingredients such as San Marzano tomatoes, Caputo Italian flour, extra virgin olive oil and buffalo mozzarella that arrives weekly from Italy. As if that's not authentic enough for you, all the pizzas are cooked in wood fired ovens made in Naples. That's in Italy by the way. To get that last kick in the butt, they will purposely "slightly" char the well-done edges of your pizza crust for that homemade experience.
This was our first time and we decided to order to go. We tried the Meat Busters and the Diavola. The pizzas had a couple minutes which gave me time to enjoy the italian music and ambience. When my name was called, I was handed two very warm and delicious smelling pizza boxes. Thus the very LONG drive home! It took everything I had not to pop open a box and steal some toppings!
The Diavola was topped with a healthy amount of spicy italian salami, speckled with spicy Calabrian peppers with San Marzano tomato sauce and fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese. The Meat Buster was topped with italian sausage, pepperoni, ham, San Marzano tomato sauce, fresh basil and buffalo mozzarella cheese. The crust was so thin, toppings were falling off the slices as I struggled to keep the pizza intact! The ingredients hit your taste buds like a ton of bricks as there's hardly any crust. The salami is overpowering and rightly so as that's what a good italian salami is supposed to do. I found myself taking small bites of the large crust edge to satisfy my palate. The freshness of the ingredients are unmistakable right down to the basil, tomato sauce and mozarella cheese. The 4 containers of marinara sauce from the condiment station were used as dipping sauces for the crust edges. Yom Yom Yom Yom!
The young man whom I interacted with was personable and very friendly offering me a small box to put my 4 containers of marinara. Doing it with non-judgmental eyes is exactly the kind of professionalism that will bring me back to this eatery! Plus they have a few other pizzas on the menu and oh, did I mention the gelato?!? Come try Capella. You might end up in as happy a mood as my wife after she raved about how it was the best pizza she's ever had in her fif... I mean 21 years of her life! read more