Earlier this year, I heard a program on the radio that mentioned Pizzeria Bruno Napoletano. I learned that the owner is certified by Verace Pizza Napoletana (VPN), Napoli style pizza is different than New York and Chicago style, and I should go there right away. Thank you, KPBS! I ate here last week and I had the pleasure of meeting owner/chef Peter Lutz and his wood fired, brick oven, Bruno.
Bruno is a handsome, hand-made oven built for Pizzeria Bruno by craftsman in Naples. He was shipped (in one piece!), by container, to its University Heights home last year by way of the Panama Canal. Bruno was so heavy he broke the sidewalk in front of the restaurant and it had to be repaired and I am still trying to figure out how they fit it in the door.
Napoli pizza is a 200 year old style (some say the first style) of pizza characterized by the domed wood fire oven it is baked in at very high temperatures. It has a thin crust (especially in the center of the pizza) and few toppings. Peter says toppings can cover up the real taste of a pizza and he showed me he has only 10 things that go on his pizzas.
We ordered a cheese plate which is huge and the mozzarella salad made with house-made mozzarella. After one bite we looked at each other with the same expression: Why is this the first time I am eating cheese like this? It is soft and creamy and pulled apart with your fork and paired with tomato, it is the best mozzarella salad I have ever had.
We couldn’t decide on one pizza so we tried the Buffalina and the Diavolo. The Diavolo is a pepperoni pie which had a great spice and the Buffalina was all mozzarella, made with cream from Italy (the very same cheese I fell in love with one course earlier). This is not the kind of pizza that you can buy by-the-slice all over the city; this is something different. The crust is thicker and crisper on the outside with black flecks from the hard wood oven. The center is very thin and almost creamy; I admit I used a knife and fork with the first slice. I also learned that pizza and wine may be better than pizza and beer.
After dinner, Peter let me get behind the counter to get a good look at the oven before we left. I instantly started sweating when I got close to it. He showed me that the temperatures inside the oven can get as high as 1300 degrees (this is why it only takes 90 seconds to cook a pizza) but the area around it doesn’t get hotter than 100 degrees.
When you go to Pizzeria Bruno, make sure you say hi to Peter. He will be the tall man cooking pizzas. He is passionate about everything that goes into his pizzas from the ingredients (all fresh, they don’t have a freezer) to the yeast (they have been feeding theirs for years and I got to sniff it: smelled like sourdough!), and the community he is building (some nights there are people from all over Italy eating here and they’re all just yelling and fighting in Italian. Peter says it’s great). If you're lucky, maybe he'll let you say hello to Bruno.