Dante Ristorante Pizzeria

Okay, so it seems the only thing I can blog about when I actually am able to blog is pizza … but I suppose that’s nothing all that new, now, is it??

Amidst all the craziness of everything going on in life right now, we decided to drive up to Omaha for a day just for fun.

But mostly to eat Neapolitan pizza.



It’s been nearly a year now since we took our road trip up the west coast, thus a year since a “Great Neapolitan Pizza Quest” post has been seen. Check the above link in case you’re new here or have forgotten about our delicious Neapolitan pizza adventures!

Since then, we’ve been wanting to try Dante’s in Omaha, one of the very few authentic Neapolitan pizzerias in the Midwest (also VPN certified).

 

True to form, the margherita pizza is always a must …yum! And of course we can’t go to a Neapolitan pizzeria without sitting as close to the oven as possible and timing how long it was in the oven.  These pizzas came out in approximately 100 seconds.

(See my Pinterest album for comparison pics!)



We also tried Dante’s Bianco pizza which included: “papa’s sausage, olive, chili, garlic, basil & mozzarella”. 

It was very good as well, but I ended up wishing we would have just gotten two margherita pizzas because we love them that much that nothing else compares!



The Quick Stats (Erik’s notes)

Oven: Mugnaini

Cook Time: Approximately 100 seconds.

Dough: The dough is made in a spiral mixer, put into a cooler for 24 hours, balled into 9 ounce dough balls and put back in for 48 hours.  To my surprise, the pizzaioli stated that they were using a 00 ConAgra flour blend.  I must say whatever flour they’re using, the crust was top notch in flavor and consistency.

Taste: Immediately, the flavors brought us back to that unforgettable Neapolitan pizza taste that once one has, one never forgets. Sauce was spot on, the crust was spot on and the fior di latte (made using local, hormone and antibiotic free milk) complemented the pizza very well.  My only complaint would be a slight lack of sauce and the fact that our pizzas sat on the counter finished -- about three feet away from us -- for at least 5 minutes and were getting cold when we received them.

 

We will definitely return to Dante’s next time we’re in the Omaha area!

 

Pizzeria Locale

And finally, the last installment of  The Great Neapolitan Pizza Quest (at least for now)! This last stop wasn’t originally planned but on our trek back to KC, we happened to be in Boulder and we couldn’t pass up one more pizza stop. So without further ado …



Pizzeria Locale

Pizzeria Locale is located downtown Boulder at 1730 Pearl Street. The first thing we immediately loved when walking into Pizzeria Locale was their décor.  (Due to my lack of energy and motivation from so much time on the road, unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures besides oven and pizza).  But some things we really liked were the subway tiling behind the oven, the large area of bar seating in view of the pizza making, the simple clean color scheme, and the great attention to detail.

They were really busy upon arriving and thankfully, we got the last two seats right in front of the oven – our favorite place to be!

 

As if you haven’t guessed it by now … we got a marinara and margherita pizza. Cook time at Pizzeria Locale was approximately 87 seconds.



The Quick Stats (Erik’s notes)

Oven: Stefano Ferrera

Cook Time: Approximately 87 seconds.

Dough: This dough had a high hydration accompanied by a cold rise method; looked cold and a bit stiff to the touch.

Taste: We found that the crust at Pizzeria Locale was just slightly underdone compared to the other Neapolitan pizzerias we visited on our trip, and would have preferred a bit more char. (I must add, though, we’re likely the only ones who have ever asked for more char, ha). The ingredients were still all delicious!



We’re happy we were able to make Pizzeria Locale our last stop on The Great Neapolitan Pizza Quest!

Thanks for following along, and hopefully you will be seeing more Neapolitan pizza very soon one way or another
 

Via Tribunali Portland

Only two stops left on The Great Neapolitan Pizza Quest!  Visit our intro to Neapolitan Pizza and check out the other pizzerias we’ve visited to get caught up!



Via Tribunali Portland

Our second to last stop was to Via Tribunali in Portland.  The first Via Tribunali opened in 2004 in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, and since turned into six different locations across the country.



Per each stop, we ordered a marinara and margherita DOC pizza:

Marinara: pomodoro, oregano, garlic, olive oil
Margherita DOC: pomodoro, mozzarella di bufala, grana padano, olive oil, basil

The cook time during our visit at Via Tribunali was about a minute and fifty seconds.



We’ll just go ahead and keep this simple … these pies were our absolute favorites of the journey! (See below notes for more details).
 
 

The Quick Stats (Erik’s notes)

Cook Time: Approximately 1 minute, 50 seconds

Dough:  Was using Caputo Blue at the time of our visit. The dough was warm risen between four and twelve hours and though I don’t believe one was used, the taste had a sense of a poolish to it. Moderate hydration and rose well.

Taste: The taste was utter perfection. Every ingredient seemed to burst with flavor. On a day towards the end of our pizza journey where the last thing we felt like eating was more Neapolitan pizza, we quickly changed our minds and found all the flavors that we had grown to love on our trip all in these two amazing pies. Truly this was a place that got every aspect completely right!

So basically, we love you, Via Tribunali!

Tony's Pizza Napoletana

Time to get the rest of The Great Neapolitan Pizza Quest online! I’ve been trying to get back into a nice routine of working as we got home from our road trip and life gotten a little bit busy. It’s quite evident that my posts have suffered!!

So without further ado, I bring to you the next stop on The Great Neapolitan Pizza Quest.

 
Tony's Pizza Napoletana
 
Our next stop in San Francisco brought us to Tony’s Pizza Napoletana. Erik has been a faithful follower of owner Tony Gemignani online, so it was certainly one of the stops we were looking forward to the most!



Tony has been in the pizza industry since 1991 winning numerous awards:

• Best Pizza Margherita at the World Pizza Cup in Naples, Italy (First American and non Neapolitan to win this award)

• Best Pizza Romana at the World Championship of Pizza Makers in 2011

• 9 Time World Pizza Champion

• 8 Time World Champion Pizza Acrobat 1995,1996,1997,2000,2001,2005,2006,2007

• 1 Time World Champion Pizza Maker 2007

• President of the World Pizza Champions Inc.

• 2 Time Food Network Gold medalist

• 2 Time Guinness Book World Record Holder

What is a pizza acrobat, you ask?? Check out this video of Tony on The Rachel Ray show for a preview. It’s pretty awesome!

Tony’s pizzeria is a full service restaurant and is unique in that it offers several styles of pizzas other than Neapolitan including Classic American, Italian, Sicilian, Pizza Romana, Gluten Free and New York, Detroit and St. Louis Style with seven different pizza ovens. They import authentic Neapolitan and Italian products each week and support several locally grown organic farmers and artisan cheese makers.



And his pizza definitely lived up to its hype. We were certainly not one bit disappointed!  Per usual, we ordered the Margherita and Marinara pizzas.

Marinara: dough made with caputo flour, san marzano tomatoes D.O.P., sea salt, oregano, garlic
Marherita: world pizza cup winner naples, italy -- dough mixed by hand using san felice flour then proofed in napoletana wood boxes, san marzano tomatoes D.O.P., sea salt, mozzarella fior di latte

 
Our pizzas cooked in approximately 80 seconds and were quickly devoured in what seemed like just about the same amount of time, ha!   

 
We got a chance to talk with Tony after our meal and just as on all his online videos, he’s always so eager to help others learn more about and cultivate their own pizza skills!

If you’re in the San Francisco area, you MUST stop at Tony’s Pizza! His wide variety menu of awesome pizza will certainly cater to making any taste bud happy!

 

Una Pizza Napoletana

Once again, time for some more pizza! If you’re just tuning in, feel free to visit this page to see what The Great Neapolitan Pizza Quest is all about!



I think one of the main highlights for Erik was the anticipation of going to Una Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco because of the following it has. It’s somewhat of an enigma, and yet it seems like wherever we go and mention Neapolitan pizza, people ask, did you go to Una Pizza Napoletana?

The owner, Anthony Mangieri, originally from New Jersey, opened Una sometime ago in Manhattan, developed a large following there, and then moved his business to the bay area, where he currently resides. If you’ve ever read or seen anything about Anthony, you’ll know right away this guy is serious about pizza. It seems like many people either love him or hate him, but as Erik says, he’s just a typical New Yorker who’s passionate about what he does.



Una is famous for their limited, high priced menu based around tradition that typically baulks at any changes or substitutions. At Una Pizza Neapolitana, you will find zero salads, zero appetizers, and zero desserts. Also, if you go during the week, you will find zero pizzas with meat; something not many places can get away with, yet Anthony seems to have found his niche.

As you can see below, the menu simply has six pizzas, all $20 or higher, and drinks. That’s it.

 

The décor is ultra minimalistic, simple, and revolves completely around the pizza oven and pizza itself. Besides a couple servers, Anthony is a one man show, making all the pizzas himself each day.

We actually quite like the simplicity of style and the menu. It's very to the point, and completely focused on the art of Anthony's pizza making.

 

Per usual, we got the Marinara and Margherita pizzas and they were cooked in about 77 seconds.


 

The Quick Stats (erik’s notes)

Oven: Stefano Ferrara

Cook Time:   About 77 seconds

Dough: Una’s dough had a very big rise, crazy amounts of crust. Was denser than a cake yeast based pizza. It appears that he definitely uses a poolish.

Taste: Here’s the truth. It’s one of those things when you follow somebody for so long, you read and listen to so much about them, you form such a high expectation. To say we were let down was far from the truth, but it did not live up to what we expected, and perhaps nothing could have. The bufala was very tough, the sauce was dense in some places and very sparse in others, and it’s the first time I’ve had to salt a pizza. But how could we complain about the Godfather of Neapolitan pizza in America? Really, he has earned the right to do whatever he wants (and at $20 a pie, the right to charge whatever he wants). That being said, we couldn’t complain about our pizzas. He’s in there every day by himself doing what he loves, and doing very well at that. If we lived nearby, we would still eat there, I’m positive on a very regular basis. It was just really not what we expected, and in a league completely of its own.