Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Robert St. John: Pizza Ground Zero

BARBERINO-TAVARNELLE, TUSCANY— Naples is the birthplace of pizza. It’s an ancient and historic seaside city that can be a little scary at times these days, but it is Ground Zero for the savory pie the world has come to love. The Neapolitan version has been around Southwestern Italy for more than 500 years. Pizza eventually travelled across the Atlantic and through Ellis Island in the late 1800s. The first restaurant to sell pizza in America was Lombardi’s in New York.

It took another 75 years for pizza to reach my hometown of Hattiesburg MS. There was a drought of good pizza places in the 1960s and early 1970s. Pasquale's, a small chain, and Pizza Hut, a large chain, were it. But at 12-years-old I was happy with those choices and ate pizza, often.

Nothing has changed.

In the mid 1970s a pizza joint called Mr. Ed's opened. The pizza there was excellent. It’s still some of my favorite pizza I've ever eaten— America or Italy. The crust was thin, the tomato sauce had a nice depth to then flavor profile with just a touch of sweetness, and the mozzarella was different than any other mozzarella I had eaten up until that time. Ed cut it into small squares and I ate there once a week in my teens and early twenties.

To my recollection Ed was from somewhere in the Midwest and had been a college student at University of Southern Mississippi. He opened Mr. Ed’s in a small building on Hardy Street that used to house a Dairy Queen, then found a financial backer and opened in a building they built from the ground up. I heard they opened restaurants in a Mississippi Coast city and a suburb of Jackson and the business didn't have the infrastructure to support such rapid growth. All three closed. That robbed us of what I still remember as some of my favorite pizza, ever.


I love pizza. I've always been a firm believer that even bad pizza it's pretty good. In Italy I've eaten pizza from the southernmost tip of Sicily to the Dolomites. Like most of the food in Italy pizza differs slightly from region to region.

My favorite pizzeria in Rome is Piccolo Buco. I've been eating there since 2011 when it was just a basic trattoria that served typical Italian fare and a few pizzas. Several years back Luca Issa, Piccolo Buco’s owner, ditched all the Italian classics on the menu and did a deep dive into pizza culture. He basically has a PhD in pizza. Over the years, I've probably sent several hundred people to eat there. None of them have ever been disappointed. There's a fairly long line there these days and it's one of the few places that I would wait in line for 30 minutes.

Issa’s commitment to fresh ingredients and quality is unmatched. Piccolo Buco receives shipments of fresh Buffalo mozzarella from a small farm outside of Rome every day. The crust at Piccolo Buco is a combination of the very flat, very thin style of Tuscan pizza with a substantial outer crust. It’s the best in Rome.

I'm a restaurateur by trade but three to four months out of the year I host tours in Europe, mostly Italy. When I'm hosting a tour in Tuscany, we stay just outside of the small hamlet of Barberino-Tavarnelle. For almost a thousand years they were two separate townships. But a few years ago, they combined their two city governments and became one entity. The combining of those two cities— that I have spent probably spent two years of my life in over the past decade— created a Ground Zero for pizza in Italy. At least as far as I’m concerned.

There are four distinct pizzerias in Barberino-Tavarnelle and I eat at all of them, often. The beauty of this Tuscan town, that is smaller than McComb, MS, is that there are virtually no tourists. I almost consider myself a part time resident at this point, and when I host groups here, they are typically the only tourists for miles. We get to submerge ourselves in true Tuscan culture. This is not Epcot Italy. We do what the Tuscans do, go where the Tuscans go, and eat where the Tuscans eat. When it comes to pizza, they've got it nailed.

My first exposure to pizza in this area was in 2011 in a pizzeria called Archibugio in the small medieval town that, at the time, was known as Barberino. The pizzeria was tiny and located in a building that had been built over 700 years earlier. I love thin pizza, and this was the thinnest pizza— by a long shot— I had ever eaten. It had minimal ingredients and was, to my taste, pizza perfection.

When leading the first group I ever hosted over here in 2016 we dined in the original Archibugio. A few years ago, the business moved just down the Via Roma into a larger building with substantial outdoor dining space. Luckily the pizza didn't change at all. It's still in my rotation when I am boots-on-the-ground over here.

The pizzeria I dine in most often is Vecchio Piazza. That's not a misspelling of pizza. Translated it means the “old square.” As one would imagine, it's located directly across from what used to be the old town square of Tavarnelle. I have hosted well over 800 Americans at Vecchio Piazza over the years. To my knowledge, no one has ever left disappointed. The Vecchio Piazza pizza, like Archibugio, has a razor-thin crust, and the tomato sauce is very minimal, as are the ingredients.

The method by which the locals eat pizza in Tuscany is to order an entire pizza for each guest. Most menus are loaded down with dozens of options. But the pizzas are so thin, and the ingredients are so minimal, that even a small person can handle an entire pizza.

My go-to is typically a Buffalo Margarita. I have them add extra basil. Occasionally I order what they sometimes refer to as a spicy salami. It looks a little like our pepperoni, but it’s much spicier. They make a mean white pizza with truffles and an excellent dessert pizza using Nutella, thinly sliced strawberries, and bananas. I love that one so much I've replicated it at our restaurant in Enzo.

La Fornace is another pizzeria in Tavarnelle that ends up in our rotation. I’ve been eating there for 13 years. The pizza there is a little closer to the Piccolo Buco variety in Rome where the edges of the crust are more substantial and bread like.

A new entry to the pizza game in this part of the world is Pico. Chef Giovanni is a world-class pizza chef. He's from Naples and stays true to that city's roots when it comes to pizza, although he's taken it up a level. The crust— almost exactly like Piccolo Buco in Rome— is very thin in the center and substantial around the edges. He incorporates a lot of exotic ingredients in the 10-12 pizzas he offers. Instead of offering beer he offers an extensive cocktail list. Like many Italians, Giovanni believes that beer and pizza are yeast on yeast.

I have loved this area for years. The people, the architecture, the landscape, and the ancient history, are all a part of what makes this are special. The fact that they have so many outstanding pizzerias seals the deal.

Onward.

Prosciutto Pizza

Always purchase the best prosciutto you can find. It makes a huge difference, especially since there are only five ingredients.

1 each Portion of pizza dough

2 TB Marinara

2 slices Fresh buffalo mozzarella, sliced ¼ inch thick

¼ lb. Prosciutto ham, sliced thin and torn by hand into 2 inch pieces

4-5 leaves Fresh basil, chiffonade

Flour as needed

Cornmeal as needed

Preheat a pizza stone at 450 in the oven.Or use a wood-fired pizza oven burning 600+ degrees F.

On a floured surface, roll out pizza dough very thin and stretch into a rectangle about 6 inches by 8 inches. Transfer to a pizza peel.

Spread the marinara across the dough. Tear the slices of mozzarella into roughly 1 inch sized pieces and sprinkle across the dough along with the torn prosciutto ham. Sprinkle the preheated pizza stone with cornmeal, slide the pizza off of the peel and bake for 8-10 minutes until the edges of the dough begin to brown and the cheese begins to bubble.

Stack the basil leaves on top of each other, roll them up and slice to make the basil chiffonade. Sprinkle over finished pizza.

Pizza Dough

1 (1/4 oz.) Package yeast

1 tsp Honey

1 cup Warm water, 105-115 degrees

3 cups All-purpose flour

2 tsp Kosher salt

1 TB Extra virgin olive oil

Dissolve the honey and yeast in ¼ cup of the water in a small bowl.

Combine flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook on low speed. Add the oil, yeast mixture and remaining ¾ cup water and continue mixing until mixture comes cleanly away from the side of the bowl.

Turn the dough onto a clean surface and knead by hand for 2-3 minutes until smooth and firm. Cover with a damp towel and let rise in a cool spot for 2 hours.

Divide the dough into 4 balls, about 6 ounces each. Work each ball by pulling down the sides and tucking under the bottom of the ball. Repeat this 4 or 5 times with each ball. Roll each ball on a clean surface under the palm of your hand until the top of the dough is smooth and firm, about 1 minute.

Cover the dough with a damp towel and let rest 1 hour. The dough can be wrapped and refrigerated for 2 days or frozen at this point.

Yield: 4 7-8 inch pizza crusts


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Trollfest '09

Trollfest '07 was such a success that Jackson Jambalaya will once again host Trollfest '09. Catch this great event which will leave NE Jackson & Fondren in flames. Othor Cain and his band, The Black Power Structure headline the night while Sonjay Poontang returns for an encore performance. Former Frank Melton bodyguard Marcus Wright makes his premier appearance at Trollfest singing "I'm a Sweet Transvestite" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Kamikaze will sing his new hit, “How I sold out to da Man.” Robbie Bell again performs: “Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be Bells” and “Any friend of Ed Peters is a friend of mine”. After the show, Ms. Bell will autograph copies of her mug shot photos. In a salute to “Dancing with the Stars”, Ms. Bell and Hinds County District Attorney Robert Smith will dance the Wango Tango.

Wrestling returns, except this time it will be a Battle Royal with Othor Cain, Ben Allen, Kim Wade, Haley Fisackerly, Alan Lange, and “Big Cat” Donna Ladd all in the ring at the same time. The Battle Royal will be in a steel cage, no time limit, no referee, and the losers must leave town. Marshand Crisler will be the honorary referee (as it gives him a title without actually having to do anything).


Meet KIM Waaaaaade at the Entergy Tent. For five pesos, Kim will sell you a chance to win a deed to a crack house on Ridgeway Street stuffed in the Howard Industries pinata. Don't worry if the pinata is beaten to shreds, as Mr. Wade has Jose, Emmanuel, and Carlos, all illegal immigrants, available as replacements for the it. Upon leaving the Entergy tent, fig leaves will be available in case Entergy literally takes everything you have as part of its Trollfest ticket price adjustment charge.

Donna Ladd of The Jackson Free Press will give several classes on learning how to write. Smearing, writing without factchecking, and reporting only one side of a story will be covered. A donation to pay their taxes will be accepted and she will be signing copies of their former federal tax liens. Ms. Ladd will give a dramatic reading of her two award-winning essays (They received The Jackson Free Press "Best Of" awards.) "Why everything is always about me" and "Why I cover murders better than anyone else in Jackson".

In the spirit of helping those who are less fortunate, Trollfest '09 adopts a cause for which a portion of the proceeds and donations will be donated: Keeping Frank Melton in his home. The “Keep Frank Melton From Being Homeless” booth will sell chances for five dollars to pin the tail on the jackass. John Reeves has graciously volunteered to be the jackass for this honorable excursion into saving Frank's ass. What's an ass between two friends after all? If Mr. Reeves is unable to um, perform, Speaker Billy McCoy has also volunteered as when the word “jackass” was mentioned he immediately ran as fast as he could to sign up.


In order to help clean up the legal profession, Adam Kilgore of the Mississippi Bar will be giving away free, round-trip plane tickets to the North Pole where they keep their bar complaint forms (which are NOT available online). If you don't want to go to the North Pole, you can enjoy Brant Brantley's (of the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance) free guided tours of the quicksand field over by High Street where all complaints against judges disappear. If for some reason you are unable to control yourself, never fear; Judge Houston Patton will operate his jail where no lawyers are needed or allowed as you just sit there for minutes... hours.... months...years until he decides he is tired of you sitting in his jail. Do not think Judge Patton is a bad judge however as he plans to serve free Mad Dog 20/20 to all inmates.

Trollfest '09 is a pet-friendly event as well. Feel free to bring your dog with you and do not worry if your pet gets hungry, as employees of the Jackson Zoo will be on hand to provide some of their animals as food when it gets to be feeding time for your little loved one.

Relax at the Fox News Tent. Since there are only three blonde reporters in Jackson (being blonde is a requirement for working at Fox News), Megan and Kathryn from WAPT and Wendy from WLBT will be on loan to Fox. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both and a torn-up Obama yard sign will entitle you to free drinks served by Megan, Wendy, and Kathryn. Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required. Just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '09 is for EVERYONE!!!

This is definitely a Beaver production.


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Trollfest '07

Jackson Jambalaya is the home of Trollfest '07. Catch this great event which promises to leave NE Jackson & Fondren in flames. Sonjay Poontang and his band headline the night with a special steel cage, no time limit "loser must leave town" bout between Alan Lange and "Big Cat"Donna Ladd following afterwards. Kamikaze will perform his new song F*** Bush, he's still a _____. Did I mention there was no referee? Dr. Heddy Matthias and Lori Gregory will face off in the undercard dueling with dangling participles and other um, devices. Robbie Bell will perform Her two latest songs: My Best Friends are in the Media and Mama's, Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to be George Bell. Sid Salter of The Clarion-Ledger will host "Pin the Tail on the Trial Lawyer", sponsored by State Farm.

There will be a hugging booth where in exchange for your young son, Frank Melton will give you a loooong hug. Trollfest will have a dunking booth where Muhammed the terrorist will curse you to Allah as you try to hit a target that will drop him into a vat of pig grease. However, in the true spirit of Separate But Equal, Don Imus and someone from NE Jackson will also sit in the dunking booth for an equal amount of time. Tom Head will give a reading for two hours on why he can't figure out who the hell he is. Cliff Cargill will give lessons with his .80 caliber desert eagle, using Frank Melton photos as targets. Tackleberry will be on hand for an autograph session. KIM Waaaaaade will be passing out free titles and deeds to crackhouses formerly owned by The Wood Street Players.

If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!

This is definitely a Beaver production.

Note: Security provided by INS
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