Italian Eats: the dive

I’m collecting menus from various places in hopes of deciphering them for you. This first one is from a local cafe. It’s cheap, crowded, and non-pretentious. If you know the place well, you will learn that on certain days of the week the wife of one of the owners makes great vegetable dishes — if she feels like it. Other days it’s what you see on this menu. There are three whiteboards on the walls with specials, which do change although not that much. They offer what they are calling a crisis menu which is exactly the same reasonable price it was before the financial crisis.

This place serves pizza at lunch as well as supper, something not so often found. One of the two partners is the pizzaiolo, or pizza maker and he does a really good job. So let’s look at his menu first.

Menu from Pizzeria Roma, da Fez e Mauro

What you read is what you get. Got an upset tummy? The Fornarina is ideal for you, with just rosemary and oil. If it doesn’t mention an item, it doesn’t have that item.

The Margherita is the great Italian classic and the pizza most ordered in Italy. It’s like a giant open-faced grilled cheese sandwich with tomato — note that is NOT tomato sauce, but tomato which is the norm in Italy.

The Napolitana is one step more complicated because it has fish and a herb, oregano added to the Margherita. I like it.

Pizza Marinara is great for lactose intolerant types with just tomato, garlic and oregano.

Pizza Capricciosa used to be “chef’s choice” for which the maker would put on at his design whatever he felt like and was in the kitchen. Nowadays it is defined and has tomato, mozzarella, mushrooms, artichokes and boiled ham on it. I like this, too, but it does seem heavy once you are used to Italian pizzas.

Pizza Quattro Stagioni supposedly represents the seasons of the year. It has tomato, mozzarella, mushrooms, artichokes, boiled ham and garlic.

Pizza funghi e Prosciutto has tomato, mozzarella, mushrooms and boiled ham.

Pizza al Prosciutto has tomato, mozzarella and boiled ham. It reminds me of a grilled cheese sandwich with ham.

Pizza Calzone is the folded over type and is filled with tomato, mozzarella, mushrooms, artichokes and boiled ham, all cut fine and generously provided. You need to be pretty hungry to finish it.

Pizza Salsiccia e Cipolla has tomato, mozzarella, sausage and onion. It’s very tasty and seems a bit wintry to my tongue.

Pizza Salsiccia is only tomato, mozzarella and sausage.

Pizza Prosciutto Crudo has tomato, mozzarella and the traditional raw ham of Italy. I actually think it tastes better without the tomatoes.

Pizza Salame Piccante is the closest thing you can get to an American peperoni pizza, because peperoni only means bell pepper in Italy. This pizza carries tomato, mozzarella and hot salame-type cured sausage.

Pizza ai 4 Formaggi is a pizza that takes it’s charms from a traditional Italian pasta sauce made with 4 cheeses. It holds mozzarella and some of the 4 cheese sauce. Rich indeed.

Pizza Scamorza e prosciutto crudo is another rich pizza for a big appetite. It has scamorza, which is a tangy Italian fresh cheese which is usually grilled or melted and mozarella as well as traditional Italian raw ham.

Pizza Stracchino e Rucola is my favorite pizza. The pizza is cooked with just mozarella on it, then when it comes from the oven, the tangy and spreadable stracchino is added and while it starts melting fresh rucola is scattered over the top. I sometimes use chili oil as well. I love this pizza and find it a surprizing taste every time. My kid likes it too, but asks for some basil pesto as garnish.

Piadina Rucola e Crudo is a big Italian flatbread, thin as a flour tortilla, which is heated in the pizza oven with its condiments, then folded over and served. This one has raw ham and rucola in it and it is tasty There’s less bread to it, though, so it is for the smaller appetite.

Pizza Tonno e Cipolla is the only one here I have never tried. It just doesn’t fit in my head and although I like most everything else they do, I haven’t been able to invest myself in this one. It has tomato, mozzarella, tuna and onions. Hmmm.

Pizza ai Wurstel is weird to an American tongue. It has tomato, mozzarella and hot dogs. It’s not quite Italian, certainly not German but also not really American in flavor.

As you can see, the prices are very fair and the cover charge is only €1. A pizza meal of a pizza, a 500 ml bottle of water and a 250 ml carafe of wine will cost you in the neighborhood of €10.

The big thing is Mauro the pizzaiolo is a master of the crust. Tomorrow’s crusts are made today, separated into the properly weighed balls and kept in proving drawers under the counters. As the orders come in, he shapes and tosses the base, adds the toppings and cooks them for about 90 seconds. The huge brick oven is half filled with blazing wood. He starts those fires every morning at 4 AM then goes home to sleep again until time to get to work for the lunch crush. The 24 hour rising makes for a really yeasty and satisfying bread which you’d not want to drown with toppings. And so although a few of these pizzas have quite a lot of stuff on them, none of them resemble in any way the thick and piled up “everything” pizza you may know from elsewhere. There are about 12″ or 30 cm in diameter and one person eats one pizza or as much of it as he wants.

The do carryout in winter and if they are not jammed they might also in summer, but Saturday night in high season you can forget about that. Just wait for a table and sit yourself down. It’s worth it.

By the way, the drinks portion didn’t scan. Here it is typed in:

Coke or beer on tap 200 ml €2.50
same 400 ml €4.00
Wine, red or white 1/4 L €2.00
same 1/2 L €4.00
same 1 Liter €7.00
Mineral water, 1/2 L €1.00
still or fizzy

Next we’ll go through the other side of this placemat menu where Fez, the meat cooking partner, shows his work.