Porta

We wouldn't typically think of the Jersey shore for anything but your most basic boardwalk pizza, but during a recent conference, we visited Porta in Asbury Park. The ambiance is hip and funky, with long biergarten style tables and steampunk industrial interior. The ovens are wood-burning and beautiful so we were cautiously optimistic that they might be able to serve up a good tasting pizza. It also doesn't hurt that the building is an old garage with large doors opening to outside seating one block away from the ocean.

Our server assured us she could eat an entire Margherita herself, so we took the plunge and ordered two pizzas. While we waited, a beautiful dough emerged from the oven and we observed as it was carefully divided, top from the bottom, and thoroughly spread with Nutella before the top was replaced. So, yeah — looks promising.

Larger than expected, our pizzas arrived — one plain, one meatball. The crust is the star with the fresh mozzarella a close second. The dough was more chewy than crispy, but did not sink under the spare toppings. It has an extremely pleasant texture and was a joy to eat. The fresh cheese was mild and had just the right elasticity. The San Marzano tomato sauce was almost a non-factor, serving simply as a palette for other flavors. This is a pizza that demands some spice.

The meatball version was dreamy — light and fluffy meatballs provided all the flavor needed for the simplicity of the pizza. There were other fascinating options on the menu (with several vegan, vegetarian, and meat selections) so a return trip is definitely in order! But neither of us was able to devour and entire pizza, so make sure you plan accordingly.

Paris is not for Pizza Lovers

While we freely admit that pizza is not the cuisine you typically think of when visiting Paris, we harbored a hope that a culture that can work marvels with dough in many forms, might just surprise us withe some fabulous pizza. While our search was not exhaustive, we tried three well-known and highly-rated pizza locations, only to be sorely disappointed. Our final stop was Pink Flamingo which was amusing if not the greatest pizza.

Kitschy decor and thumping reggae music greeted us and we were optimistic. Yet again, we ended up with a pizza which resembled our others -- it seems that the Parisian approach is "more is more" with too much sauce and cheese, rendering the crust a soggy mess.

Granted, Pink Flamingo provided the best flavor of all our attempts, but just didn't quite get the pizza to where it should be. So in the end, we believe pizza is for croissants, crepes, fougasse, brioche ... etc. etc. Some bread baker might want to consider bringing their expertise to the pizza arena -- they'd have an open field.

Da Vito & Amici Miei

While enjoying a long weekend in Paris, we decided that we should probably weigh in on a few of the highly rated pizza spots in the City of Light. Our first stop in the Bastille area was DaVito. A tiny spot serving only pizza (for the most part) is known for housing a speakeasy behind an ordinary storeroom door. We strolled up at noon (because the sign said midi) only to be told pizzas wouldn't be ready for 30 minutes. We dutifully grabbed a coffee up the street and returned at 12:30 to find the staff frantically finishing up desserts and not ready to make pizza.  

We finally ordered our Margherita pizza ... Electric oven at 700 degrees, so it didn't take long. We were optimistic when it arrived, although Stef was initially dismayed by the amount of cheese. We both held up a first slice. Despite the super thin crust, it was sturdy and smelled promising. But in the end, there wasn't much to say about the pizza except that it was rather bland. All the elements were in place, but it was fairly ordinary. Perhaps DaVito is known more for its speakeasy and the pizza is just a front. Undaunted, we decided to stop at AmiciMiei in the Marais. A lovely and lively Italian restaurant, we were encouraged by the beautiful pasta dishes and spirited conversation emanating from the kitchen. We ordered our Margherita and it arrived in minutes, smelling far more interesting than our last pizza.

But we were disappointed. The pizza was overloaded with cheese and had a strong dried herb flavor that overpowered any other taste. After the first slice, the cheese became gluey and slid off the crust, leaving a mess behind. We left the rest, sadly uneaten. We won't give up! We believe there is good pizza in Paris and it's up to us to find it.