Napoli Pizza

If there is one dish Italy is known for, its pizza and if there is one city that is known for pizza, its Naples. The mecca of all pizza, it is the origin of the first margherita pizza named after Queen Margherita in 1889. It is where that lady from Eat, Pray, Love journeyed to all the way from Rome to sample the best pizza in the world and it is where Julia Roberts then diligently traveled to recreate the scenes from the white tiled walls of  the famous Da Michele. Go to any pizzeria you set your eyes on in Naples regardless of where it is or what it looks like and you will not be disappointed. Of course, with our time limited in Naples, I wasn't going to settle for just any typical pizzeria. We sampled two amazing yet surprisingly different places, both of which are considered some of the finest pizzerias that Naples has to offer.

Night #1: Dinner at Sorbillo

top left: mushroom, prosciutto and ricotta cheese
top right: olives, red peppers and sun dried tomatoes
bottom left: red pepper flakes, sausage and onions
bottom right: margherita

We arrived in Naples around 10:00pm and immediately set out to find a pizzeria that was still open. Lucky for us, we managed to catch Sorbillo right before they closed. The interior is modest and reminds you of any old corner shop in the suburbs of Brooklyn. Wine was served to us in plastic cups and came from a mini fridge at the front of the restaurant. Despite my initial reservations which would normally have me bolting in the opposite direction, we stayed because it came as a recommendation from a local Neapolitan.  The pizza came from a wood burning oven and the dough was handmade to chewy perfection. The menu featured pizzas ranging from 6-9 euros (that's all it costs for some of the best pizza in the world?) and offered a wide variety of toppings, some with tomato sauce and others without. Sure the pictures don't look all that impressive (we were quite hungry) but it was hands down, the best pizza I had ever eaten in my life. The goodness came from the simplicity of the creation. Surprisingly, the focal point of the dish was the dough as all of the toppings were sprinkled on quite modestly. When was the last time I had a pizza where I could still see huge spreads of tomato sauce? How about never? Is that how a proper pizza is supposed to be? Unlike the canned tomato concoctions I was used to, the tomato sauce was fresh, semi-sweet and refreshing. The toppings rounded the dish out nicely rather than overpowering the other ingredients. Can you tell that I'm a little obsessed? Alright so that was the first night.

Night #2: Dinner at Da Michele

+ Pizza Marinara
+ Italian beer
+ The Creed of Da Michele
Not shown: Pizza Margherita

There are two things you can order at Da Michele, pizza margherita or pizza marinara. I never knew there was a difference between the two. For beverages, they offered water and beer. Talk about simplicity. The restaurant has a bunch of closely packed flimsy wooden tables and chairs and as soon as you enter, you see the huge oven in the back where the magical creations come from. According to the restaurant owners, if you start adding toppings to the pizzas, the pizza loses its authentic taste. Thus the only ingredients used are pizza dough, tomato sauce, a splash of oil and mozzarella cheese. From what I could discern, the margherita pizza featured more cheese while the marinara pizza was dominated by tomato sauce and oregano. So simple yet so absurdly fantastic. So maybe topping-less pizzas aren't for everyone. I myself would never pick a margherita pizza over one covered in a medley of mushrooms and sausages, but if it were this particular margherita pizza, that would be a much closer call. So two pizzerias both claiming the title of the best pizza I have ever had: one with toppings and one without :)

Venezia, Roma & Firenzie

Venice Adventures

Best grocery store pizza ever with roasted peppers, mushrooms and sausages
Octopus Salad with lemon dressing
Not shown: squid ink risotto

Venice was just as I had imagined: canals, waterways and narrow, windy streets. The city's reputation is for its seafood although according to our hostel, most of the restaurants have all become tourist traps. We did have dinner at a quaint looking Italian restaurant and I was quite pleased with our selection: octopus salad and squid ink risotto. The octopus was tender and the dressing was fantastic. The risotto (this might have been the first time I've ever ordered risotto!) was creamy and indeed pitch black. We also had a mini picnic along the canals of pizza and biscoti. The pizza picked up from a grocery store/deli had a great topping combination although I might have just been very hungry.

Roman Pizza

Zucchini & Ham
Eggplant, Tomato & Ricotta
Margherita
Mushroom
Tomato & Pesto Bruschetta 

Apparently there is a little pizza rivalry between Rome and Naples. Having tried pizzas from both cities, I'm inclined to say that Naples inches ahead. However, the pizza we did have in Rome was quite delicious. Our location of choice was Dar Poeta located in the Trastevere district of Rome. The crust is thicker than what we had in naples and the cheese was more plentiful but the topping combinations were all quite interesting. My selection of roasted eggplant, salty ricotta cheese and cherry tomatoes tasted amazing after walking around for an entire day.

Nutella & ricotta cheese calzones 

One offering that Dar Poeta is very well-known for are its dessert calzones: stuffed to the brim with nutella, sweet ricotta cheese and covered coco powder and powdered sugar. I could probably have eaten an entire one all by myself. Its a good thing we divided it up. 

Florentine Eats

Paninis, coffee & ice cream 

Two food groups dominated by time in Florence: carbs and carbs. And by carbs I mean bread and bread. Everywhere we went, it was paninis and paninis and prosciutto. Apparently ham is called prosciutto in Italy although its not really ham and not really the salty prosciutto we get in the states. Its more like slices of tender, salty pork with a bit of fat on the edges. Either way, its delicious and every corner meat deli sells it. The other item that is absolutely amazing are the sun-dried tomatoes. I've never had sun-dried tomatoes that were so tasty in my entire life. We rounded that off with what else but more gelato and a few shots of espresso. 

Italia Pastries

10 days of traveling = 3 meals (or more like 3.5 or 4..) a day = a lot of eating = a lot of desserts.

gelato. pizza. wine. repeat. (insert some pasta at the end).

So yea, its true. Italy has the most consistently best gelato. I had it every day, sometimes twice a day. I had it by the leaning tower of Pisa, in the train station of Florence, by the Rialto bridge in Venice, in Trastevere in Rome and whenever else I saw it. 

Hazelnut & coffee in Rome; stracciatella and pistachio in Pisa; strawberry in Venice; cookies and vanilla in Pisa.
We made a promise to try a different flavor every time we had gelato but after about the 6th time, it was pretty obvious which flavors we had a preference more. My favorites: tiramisu, stracciatella, pistachio (only if its dark green!), coffee and caramel.  

There were also a lot of pastries. One which I had never encountered before is the sfogliatella, most well-known in Naples but also found in nearby cities such as Florence. There are two kinds, frolle (smooth) and ricce (curly). The curly one is infinitely better as it resembles a very crunchy multi-layered croissant filled with cream. The smooth one is more like pound cake and has a ricotta-like filling, but there was something slightly unappealing about the texture and there was also weird fruit pieces on the inside. Without the filling though, it was quite tasty.

Scaturchio - the nost famous pastry shop in Naples selling both versions of  sfogliatella. The curly one is on the top right and the smooth one is on the bottom left. The pastries on the bottom right were spongy and soaked in liquor. We were not a fan lol. But the eclairs here were very tasty. 

More sfogliatella, donuts filled with chocolate, nutella and vanilla, and a pastry filled with cream and covered in hazelnuts. 

+ Roasted chestnuts by the Medici Palace in Rome!! Ate these after about 10 hours of walking, tasted SOOO good
+ Chocolate liquor shots in edible chocolate shot glasses from Caffe Vicolo Del Cinque in Rome! A super cute book store that also sells 10 different versions of chocolate shots.
+ And one of the few times that we actually drank beer. 

To be continued....Venice, Rome, wine tour of the tuscany country side and the pizza of Naples!

La Degustation Boheme Bourgeouise

One of the most interesting culinary experiences thus far has been at La Degustation; a noveou Bohemian restaurant located in the Jewish quarter. Although the food is based on traditional Bohemian and Czech recipes, the restaurant and its dishes are anything but. Everything from the sleek open-faced kitchen to the gastronomical tasting menu screams modern and invention. It was also dubbed the best restaurant of the Czech Republic in 2009 and one of two restaurants in Prague to hold a Michelin star. We stopped by for lunch to try out the "Degustation de Jour" which allowed us to select however many of the 7 dishes of the day. It was I must say a hit and miss type of meal. Who knows, maybe the food was a little "too innovative" for our taste buds but the quality of the food and its preparation were some of the best I have ever seen. 

Chefs hard at work
Amuse bouche of beef tar tar
Bread

Spring root with truffle
Duck liver with pistachio, raisin, white chocolate and gelatin

Case in point were the appetizers we decided upon. The truffle/vegetable dish was light and a perfect start tot the meal but even I couldn't get past the duck liver paste. It was served on a bed of gelatin and topped with an odd combination of white chocolate, raisins and nuts. All of which I would love as additions to a dessert but not with duck liver.

Handmade pasta with beef tongue
Fried fish over raspberry puree 

The pasta dish was served with a light soy sauce/vinegar mixture, something I had never seen before. It kept the pasta very light and reminded me more of a salad dish as opposed to a pasta dish. Not surprisingly, this was V's favorite dish as he likes anything resembling noodles. The fish, perhaps a cod?, was fried perfectly. The vegetables it was served with were pretty much raw and had a sharp bite to them which cut down on the greasiness of the fish (not that it was greasy to begin with). Once again, a very interesting and somewhat disconcerting combination of textures and flavors.

Pork bellly and polenta with berry reduction and cornflakes 

For our final dish, we both opted for the pork belly. This was my favorite although I couldn't understand why there were mini cornflakes on my plate. The polenta was absurdly creamy and resembled more of dense mousse than something made from corn. Everything balanced each other quite well.

Marzipan pastry

As a parting gift, we received these Neapolitan-like pastries which had something resembling marzipan in between the layers. It was a rather dense dessert but not overtly sweet and made for a lovely afternoon snack.

All in all, I can see why there so much hurray around La Degustation. Its one of the most unique culinary experiences I have ever encountered and is a refreshing change after plates on plates of heavy goulash with gravy. Even in NYC standards, I think the food is progressive and I appreciate the restaurant's constant attempts at innovation. Of course, I'm not saying I would always want to have a meal like this but I'm glad I did :)

The Cafes of Prague

After my plethora of Viennese cafe posts (which you can find here and here and here), you would have thought I was done with talking about cafes. On the contrary, I became a little obsessed after my visit to Vienna so I decided to scoop out the best ones in Prague. The best in my opinion, is Cafe Savoy. We came here twice for breakfast and once for an afternoon coffee and pastry. Almost everything was good minus a few slight misses. Cafe Savoy, now owned by the successful Ambiente Restaurant Group, is a Prague institution. It was considered a nouveau and decadent establishment in its day with its neo-renaissance ceiling (you can view some pics here). Now, its a somewhat tourist trap but still serves the best breakfast in the city.

+ the famous Cafe Savoy vanilla milk shake (very liquidy and different from your typical diner milkshake, good but probably wouldn't order it again)
+ the French breakfast which included french toast with maple syrup, sausages, french fries, a boiled egg, blue cheese (which I did not touch) and orange juice

I was very excited to see the french toast offering on the menu but alas it was not the usual Taphouse/Sabrina's type of french toast made with challah bread and covered in sugary/buttery goodness. However, it satisfied by severe brunch craving. The french fries were more like string fries and seasoned really well, and they even came with ketchup! (not something that happens too often in Europe). Not sure why this was dubbed a French breakfast as the only thing that was kind of French was the croissant but we were happy with the big selection of food :)

+Caffe au lait
+ Croissant (a part of the French breakfast)
+ Cheese omelet
+ Housemade bread with butter
+ A very exciting selection of mustards which came with the Prague sausages (not shown).

We also ordered the frankfurter Savoy, one of the cafe's specialties, but they really just reminded us of cafeteria hot dogs. They were also boiled like cafeteria hot dogs. What did make them different was the very interesting selection of mustards and fresh horseradish that came with the dish.  V was really not a fan although I thought they were fine. Put them on a hot dog roll with a bit of the grainy mustard and it would have been a rather classy hot dog.