Did someone say cheese?
When we think of a pizza (admit it) we think of a cardboard box and a slice approaching your mouth, after that tasty thread -ay- of mozzarella that you will not drop on the table. you will eat it When you think of a pizzeria (you may not know this) you are actually thinking of Joe's Pizza, "the Greenvich Village Institution" considered the best pizzeria in New York since Pino "Joe" Pozzuoli raised the blind in 1975 after crossing the puddle to the Don Vito Corleone, from Naples. Joe's Pizza is the quintessential pizzeria - the same one where Peter Parker works in Spiderman II: red awning, cardboard boxes, delivery men, baseball caps, ball knocking boss (Joe) and portions as greasy as they are wonderful.
But The Times They Are a-Changin (thanks, Bob) and is that the new thing is called gourmet pizza . Let's put ourselves in a situation: just a decade ago there was no such horrible thing called "gastrotrends" that tracks what is In & Out in this eating and drinking; but after a couple of years of dictatorship of the hamburger as absolute queen of the "casual but gourmet" it seems the pizza arrives to wet his ear . Goodness. Because the gourmet hamburger thing has been insufferable, as Luis Tusell affirms in El Comidista of my admired Mikel López Iturriaga, "Whoever wants to innovate in 2014 should look for another fetish product, because signature hamburgers and premium gin and tonics are already amortized" .
Spiderman and Joe's Pizza
The origin of the gastrotrend (sorry) must be sought -of course- in London bars in Soho as Polpo, although he was born in Covent Garden; casual locals and (slightly) rogues along the lines of Spuntino, Yauatcha or Ducksoup. The other major culprit is Pizza Pilgrims -also in Soho, the two kids from Calabria who are turning the London food scene upside down with their three-wheeled Piaggio van (usually parked in Berwick Street Market) and a local on Dean St. The keys of both places (along with Del Popolo, the food truck that we already talked about in The time has come to make) beyond the picturesque staging, is the gastronomic proposal: recovering pizza as an honest dish, treating it with the respect it deserves and, why not, imagine new elaborations from quality ingredients.
Del Popolo Pizza for the people!
I speak with **César Martin, from Lakasa ** (without a doubt, his three pizzas - mushrooms, yvonne and maple - are among the most sought after in Madrid) What is the reason for the trend? "It's a cheap and incredibly versatile product, if the restaurateurs work hard, pizza has a huge journey" , and it is that the "well-made" pizza deserves its fair praise. Our contribution? Neither in the cooking nor in the dough. The latter is made in an artisan way with ingredients purchased from an Italian supplier and the cooking is carried out in the appropriate classic stone at a temperature of about 300º C. Our originality lies in the base and in the filling", he says.
For Paco Perez (5 Michelin Stars between his restaurant Miramar, Enoteca and 5 in Berlin) it doesn't make sense to talk about a new trend... "It has never ceased to be!", he says. I speak with him after trying it with Javi Antoja and Guillermina Bravo ( of Apicius) the fantastic torti-pizza of L´Eggs in Passeig de Gracia . He insists: “I agree there are more places that are committed to quality and long fermentation doughs and fantastic mozzarellas, but low quality abounds. As usual".
A pizza from Lakasa restaurant
Back in Valencia, I chat with Germán Carrizo, recent winner of 1 Michelin Star at El Poblet de Quique Dacosta. One of the most successful dishes on the Vuelve Carolina menu is the CocaPizza of boletus with parmesan, pine nuts and arugula (tribute to Fabián Martín) "olive cakes in Valencia are very typical and it was a way of fusing a technique like coca, with the ingredients of a pizza". Trend? “I don't think so, since we are ending winter and with it people are beginning to be more on a diet and want less dough and more healthy vegetables. It could be in another place but not here in Spain”.
maybe the fear of the scale is responsible for the fact that many of the pizzas that these places present are actually cocas, with a lighter base, crunchier and -of course- less fat . However, for Carlo Blitz, owner of Trattoria da Carlo (he only makes pizzas on Monday nights), it is an outrage to Raffaele Expósito, creator of the margarita pizza, any preparation that does not respect the Holy Trinity: Basil, mozzarella and tomato.
On the other side of WhatsApp, Paco Morales -a good friend again in the Madrid ointment thanks to his fantastic work at Altrapo: "Pizza has kamikazes and detractors... Where will things go? Fine doughs with few ingredients but impeccable I imagine one with homemade tomato, mozzarella and finished at the last moment with slices of Iberian bacon and fresh basil. Yes, simplicity.
Where can we find real quality pizzas?
In Fabián Martin (Barcelona) winner of the award to the best pizza in the world , Kilometers of pizza on Avenida de Brasil (Madrid) or the wonderful Il Piccolo by Francesco Iannelli in Pontevedra.
A pizza from Kilometers of pizza
Trend or not? Pizza is (probably followed by paella) the most versioned dish , frozen, humiliated and caricatured of the planet. But also, of course, one of the ones we enjoy most unprejudicedly, without nonsense, without "authors" and **without ridiculous deconstructions (pizza foam)** guilty of inflating the price of the lid in fashionable gastrobars.
We do not vote for senseless experiments, but yes for a simple and quality pizza . If so, welcome be the trend!
All I care about is pizza