We drove south from Rome to Caizzo on a Thursday. It's a small hillside town. We arrived about 20…read moreminutes before opening (7 pm). The doors opened unexpectedly and Franco Pepe poked out his head and shouted out "Buenaserra!". Before they started calling out the reservations, a large wedding party was ushered in for a reception! It was an unexpected surprise that only added to the joy of eating at this establishment for the first time.
Fried appetizers are common at Naples' pizzerias. They were uniformly good everywhere but these were the best we had on the trip
ROCCO: Cone with 12-month Grana Padano DOP fondue, pecorino cheese,Piennolo del Vesuvio DOP tomatoes, dried Casertano pork sausage, chili pepper, pecorino chips, basil.
CIRO: Cone with 12-monthGrana Padano DOP fondue, rocket pesto, dehydrated Caiazzo black olives.
As a side note, most pizzerias did not have any salads or vegetable sides.
Now for the pizzas.
PORKASERTA: San Marzano tomatoes, fiordilatte cheese, smoked scamorza cheese, dried Casertano pork sausage, oregano and EVOO. This is the pizza that will haunt my dreams. The aroma of the pizza was indescribably porky, and the flavor was the most porky thing I've ever eaten. The "dried sausage" had wonderfully soft fat, and the slices were a little less than a ¼" thick.
MARGHERITA SBAGLIATA: Campana DOP Buffalo mozzarella cheese, purée of "riccio" tomatoes, basil reduction, EVOO. This is the pizza that Franco Pepe is known for. It was good and I'm glad we tried it, but I did not find it to be a major improvement over a normal Margherita.
LA PICCANTE: Fiordilatte cheese, San Marzano tomato, spicy salami, oregano and EVOO. This was my second favorite pizza that we tried here.
RICOTTA E PISTACCHIO: Cheesecake al pistacchio della pasticceria Pepe. It was the perfect way to end the meal.
The waiters at most of the pizzerias we visited were extremely knowledgeable about the technical aspects of pizza. I found out that they use a custom flour, the dough ball weight is 281 grams and the bake time is about 2 minutes (which I verified by watching their kitchen cam TV on the dining room wall). The pizzas all had more cheese than I was expecting. The crust was extremely light and it was not salty like Da Michele. I'd estimate it to be under 3%. They do use a bit of old dough as part of their fermentation process. Getting to meet Franco Pepe was the cherry on top. He's not a schmoozer, but he did briefly visit all the dining areas.
This was our overall favorite pizzeria we visited and it's very possibly the best Neapolitan pizza in the world.
