Pizza in America

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New York Times reporter Brett Anderson, after eating dozens of pizzas in 18 states, claims that America has become the capital of great pizza. It’s true, like craft-brewed beer a few decades ago, pizza has undergone a transformation.

He writes that we have come to expect: “Mozzarella that melts into pools. Crust that invites comparisons to fresh bakery bread. These are qualities found in the Neapolitan-style pies served at the wood-fire-oven pizzerias that are now fixtures of urban America.”

Sausage & mushroom pizza from m’tucci’s twenty-five

“In recent years, they’ve become fixtures outside cities, too, drawing diners to the types of small communities — from southern Illinois and coastal New England to rural Wisconsin and Oregon — whose restaurant cultures are often dominated by national chains. All those fussed-over pies, with their blistered crusts, basil sprigs and hot honey drizzles, taught Americans they could ask more from a dish routinely eaten from a cardboard box — and consumed by about one in eight people on any given day, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture research.”

Regardless of the increase of artisan pizzas in the U.S. pizza is synonymous with Italian cuisine. However, it was the arrival of tomatoes from the New World that gave Italy the most popular topping for the flat breads that had been prepared in Naples. Historians believe the first pizza was created in 1734 at a small corner shop near the port, where the food was popular with sailors going to sea. The first pizza was the marinara (Italian for sailor) and was topped with crushed tomatoes, olive oil, oregano and garlic. Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba is considered to be the first pizzeria and is still operating at the original port location.

In Naples, pizza was considered food for the poor and was not embraced by royalty until 1889, when Raffaele Esposito from Pizzeria Brandi served Queen Margherita and King Umberto I his famous creation; tomato and mozzarella pizza topped with fresh basil. Bearing the colors of the newly-created Italian flag (red, white and green), the dish became a hit and is still one of the most commonly ordered pizzas in Italy.

While the types, shapes and ingredients of pizzas around the world vary wildly (squid in Japan, green beans in Brazil), the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana is the Naples-based, international governing body that sets forth the rules for Pizza Napoletana. They stipulate the ingredients and the size, and that it must be cooked in a wood-fired oven at temperatures between 806-896 degrees F and be finished in 90 seconds or less. There are even guidelines for the thickness of the center and the edges of the crust.

However precise, these rules result in the nearly perfect food with all of the taste groups covered. You have salt from the dough, sweetness from tomatoes, sour from the mozzarella di bufala and some bitterness from the lightly charred crust (the char should look spotty).

Eleven years ago, when M’tucci’s Italian opened, M’tucci’s Italian Market soon followed with Chefs Shawn Cronin and Cory Gray in charge of breads, pizzas, making mozzarella and curing meat. They had worked together at Farina Pizzeria and had a few ideas about creating the best pizza. According to them, the most important ingredient isn’t what’s on top - it’s the crust. It’s the most difficult ingredient to get right, and it’s the most critical to the flavor, the mouth feel and the integrity of the pizza.

Also, they wanted to create food that was more natural, that was easier to digest, and that would have a distinctive flavor. So, they tossed out the dry yeast and created their own starter for leavening. They also lowered the temperature and extended the time for proofing the period that the dough rises). That sourdough starter, special flour, water and salt is what makes M’tucci’s pizzas unlike any other pizza in the area.

While pizza is normally a simple food, making one is full of potential pitfalls: the dough can be too wet, or it can have too much flour, or it can be kneaded too much. It takes experience and technique to create a sublime pizza. All of our pizza chefs (pizzaiolo) agree on the most challenging part of making a pizza - the stretching of the dough. Some use a technique to stretch flat on the pizza peel and a few like to give it a light toss in the air (frowned upon by AVPN) to achieve an even stretch.

From the $6 pizzettas on the Bar Menu at M’tucci’s Italian (shown above) to the Spicy Calabrese pizza at M’tucci’s Bar Roma, all are made with the best ingredients we can find and a crust that will make you think of Italy.

All M’tucci’s Restaurants are closed on July 4th. Have a safe holiday!

Weekend Specials

M’tucci’s Italian

Beef/Goat Cheese/Pecorino Ravioli - Beef Tips, Oyster Mushrooms, Caramelized Onioins, Taleggio Beef Brodo Creamy Sauce, Pecorino, Parsley $27

24 oz. T-Bone - Salt Water Potatoes, Grilled Asparagus, Grilled Lemon, Balsamic Reduction $42

Pan-Seared Halibut Cheeks - Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Sautéed Arugula, Grilled Artichokes, Lemon Caper Butter Sauce $35

Orange Duck Confit (Leg & Thigh) - Parsnip Puree, Vegetable Medley of Cauliflower/Roasted Corn/Jalapeño, Orange Glaze, Micro Greens $25

Weekend Cocktail

Monkey Business - Howler Banana Whiskey, Kahlua, Banana Cinnamon Agua Fresca


M’tucci’s Moderno

6 oz. Black Angus Filet - Crispy Salt Water Potatoes, Sautéed Broccolini, Italian Salsa Verde $33

Pan-Seared Mahi Mahi - Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Sautéed Broccolini, Roasted Artichokes, Lemon Caper Butter Sauce, Prosciutto Powder $29

Shrimp Pasta - Pink Shrimp, Mushrooms, Garlic, Spinach, Lemon Butter Sauce $23

Weekend Cocktail

Strawberry Rhubarb Gin Sour - Ford’s Gin, Acuafaba, Fresh Lemon Juice, Simple Syrup, Muddled Strawberry, Rhubarb Bitters

M’tucci’s Twenty-Five

Veal Parmesan - Breaded Veal, Burrata, Marinara, Spaghettini with Olive Oil, Basil, Roasted Cherry Tomatoes & Fresh Mozzarella $23

Pan-Seared Bluenose Bass - Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Braised Greens, Artichoke Hearts, Lemon Caper Butter Sauce $35

6 oz. Filet - Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Charred Broccolini, Creamy Horseradish Remoulade $36

Weekend Cocktail

Hot Girl Summer - Barrel Aged Novo Fogo Cachaça, Triple Sec, Jalapeño Simple Syrup

M’tucci’s Bar Roma

Pumpkin & Ricotta Ravioli - Butternut Squash Cream Sauce, Ginger, White Wine, Fresh Sage, Shaved Parmesan &Local Micro Greens $25

Pan-Seared Mahi Mahi - Garlic Whipped Mashed Potatoes, Braised Arugula with Garlic, Seared Stem-on Artichokes, Lemon Caper Butter Sauce $29

Weekend Cocktail

Not Your Trinnydaddy - Top Hat Infusion, Orgeat, Fresh Lemon Juice, Egg White

Live Music for June

M’tucci’s Bar Roma - 6:30pm Wednesday & Noon Sunday    

6/30 RJ Perez 

M’tucci’s Moderno - 6:30 Thursday & 7:30 Friday      

6/28 RJ Perez 

M’tucci’s Twenty-Five - 6:30 Thursday & 7:30 Friday     

6/28 Myles Chavez 

Thanks for reading. See you next Friday. Ciao!