Brick-Oven Pizza
P
izzas cooked in an authentic brick oven – fueled by
wood or coal – are typically smaller than regular
pizzas, and are often not perfect circles. These pizzas cook much more quickly than gas-fueled ovens
and emerge with a blistered crust and a “droopy” center,
best eaten with a knife and fork. They taste best when eaten
immediately, right out of the oven.
Coal burns hotter than wood – close to 1,000 degrees
Fahrenheit at the center of the coal pile – but both methods
produce similar pizzas. Since coal produces more smoke when
it burns, a coal-fired pizza will have a slightly smokier taste
than a wood-fired pizza. Meat toppings pair well with the
extra smokiness on a coal-fired pizza.
WOOD-FIRED
A MANO
24 FRANKLIN AVE., RIDGEWOOD, (201) 493-2000
The dough is handmade using all-natural Caputo flour
imported from Naples, with no additives or preservatives.
The sauce is made from San Marzano tomatoes, and the
mozzarella is either homemade or imported buffalo. The
restaurant offers Montanara – a Naples-born fried pizza that
has caught on in America only in the last few years. The
pizza dough is flash-fried, topped with a wood-oven-roasted
tomato ragu, imported smoked buffalo mozzarella and fresh
basil, then baked in the wood-fired oven.
BACARI GRILL
800 RIDGEWOOD ROAD, WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, (201) 358-6330
An upscale restaurant and popular gathering place, Bacari
serves a small selection of pizzas cooked in its wood-burning
oven. Try the Bacari pizza with caramelized onions, crumbled
spicy sausage, tomato sauce and mozzarella, or the Arugula
pizza topped with mozzarella, asiago and Parmesan cheeses,
arugula, tomato and red onion salad.
GRISSINI
484 SYLVAN AVE., ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, (201) 568-3535
With its $130 cocktail and expensive truffle pastas, Grissini
may seem like an odd place to get a pizza. Guests will often
share one as an appetizer, or kids share one as they dine with
thei