Tony’s a haven for pizza geeks
By: Patricia Unterman
Special to The Examiner
August 14, 2009
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| Classic sauce: Among the many offerings at Tony’s is a margherita pizza, which has a rustic medium crust and mozzarella, basil and tomatoes. (Bret Putnam/Special to The Examiner) |
SAN FRANCISCO — Tony Gemignani, a Castro Valley native who was the first and only American to win the 2007 World Pizza Cup in Naples, Italy, built no less than four different pizza ovens in his new pizza parlor in North Beach. These ovens produce four distinctly different pizza crusts, and pizza geeks can compare and contrast by ordering them with an almost identical margherita topping.
The 900-degree, wood-fired oven, covered in colorful mosaic tile, is the star of a small open kitchen at the back of a dining room traditionally furnished with marble tables, dark wood floors and Italian ceramics.
The authentic pizza margherita ($18) that comes out of this oven, made with hand-mixed dough proofed in Neapolitan wood boxes, topped with San Marzano tomatoes, sea salt, fior di latte mozzarella, basil and extra virgin from Campania, reproduces the pie that won the historic championship.
You can taste the fire in this lightest yet chewiest of crusts and the simple topping shows it off best.
Americans get bored quickly, unlike Neapolitans who have lined up in front of Pizzeria da Michele, which has made only two types of pizza — one with cheese, one without — for 150 years. Gemignani, an American, gives us mind-boggling variety.
He calls pizza baked in his domed brick gas oven Classic Italian. I’m partial to his Prosciutto e Pomodorini ($16) smeared with fresh tomato sauce, cherry tomatoes, prosciutto and arugula. The Classic Italian crust has plenty of character but not the lightness of the wood fire dough so it supports more elaborate toppings.
Though the menu says that Sicilian-style pizza serves two, it takes four eaters to polish off this thick crusted rectangular pie baked in cast iron cookie sheets in an Italian brick electric oven. The super hot floor of the oven makes the bottom of the olive oil-soaked Sicilian crust thrillingly crunchy.
Burratina di Margherita ($28), slathered with buttery burrata, a kind of mozzarella with a center of pure, thick cream, and heirloom tomatoes tossed with basil, Puglian extra virgin and balsamic won the Gold Cup at the 2008 International Pizza Championships in Lecce, Italy.
Finally, Gemignani makes Classic American pizza, cooked in a New York flat top, brick gas oven. The Bronx ($15) has a thin, rimless crust that is very crisp, full of flavor and quite lovely, like all the other crusts here. Big rounds of Toscano salami pave the top, along with tomato sauce, mozzarella, oregano and maybe a touch too assertive garlic.
Before pie, share a bowl of deep fried string beans ($7), fried naked and tossed with a restrained hand in garlic and olive oil.
Calamari fritti ($11), traditional style, have a super crunchy, ethereally light, golden coating with sweet, tender squid nestled inside. No place does it better.
An all-Italian wine list is stacked with regional bottles, but nicely made cocktails hit the spot as an aperitivo. If you happen to notice a watermelon sitting on the bar, ask the bartender to make a daiquiri ($10) out of it. The bar performs with the rigor of the kitchen.
The truly obsessed can enroll in Tony Gemignani’s certified International School of Pizza, and open their own pizza parlor.
Until that happens, Tony’s Pizza Napoletana earns my top prize for variety, authenticity and quality.
Patricia Unterman is author of the just released 2nd Edition of the San Francisco Food Lovers’ Pocket Guide. Contact her at patio@concentric.net.
IF YOU GO
Tony’s Pizza Napoletana
Location: 1570 Stockton St. (at Union Street), S.F.
Contact: (415) 835-9888
Hours: Wednesday through Sunday from noon to at least 10 p.m.; closed Monday and Tuesday
Price range: Antipasti and salads $7-$12, pizza $10 to $38 (with shaved Italian truffles)
Recommended dishes: Deep fried string beans; calamari fritti; gorgonzola and pear salad; wood fired pizza margherita; domed brick oven proscuitto e pomodorini pizza; Sicilian pizza
Credit cards: All major
Reservations: Not accepted
