Nomad (The Original)

We've been curious about Nomad in Philadelphia and just haven't gotten there yet. Recently some friends asked us to meet them in New Jersey and we decided to try the original Nomad in Hopewell.

It's a tiny spot, dominated by the kitchen and beautiful tiled wood-burning oven. It's BYO and first come, first served (if your party is all present) for the tables.

Of course, Gary got his usual baseline Margherita. The lovely surroundings, great reputation, and spectacular oven raised our expectations. Unfortunately, the Margherita was disappointing. The crust was underdone making it a floppy pizza, messy with sauce and dripping cheese.

A disappointing Margherita.

Because the pizzas are small, we tried several others. The homemade meatball pizza was tasty, but overloaded and messy. Again, a crust that was underdone. The Filetti was interesting and had great flavor from the prosciutto. The winner was a special mushroom pizza topped withe an egg. Right before serving, the egg yolk is broken and creates a creamy and delicious topping.

And not to be missed, is the Nutella dessert pizza. The crust was perfectly done and the amount of Nutella, just right. 

Do not miss out on the Nutella pizza.

So, a mixed review. The setting is lovely, especially in warmer months. And bring cash or check because they don't take cards.

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.