I'd been looking forward to reading Jamie Long's review of Luigi's Coal Oven Pizza this week, since, like many of you, I'm passionate about my pizza. Growing up in Jersey and doing time in New York, it's hard not to geek out on pizza in the country's pizza epicenter.
Coal oven pizzerias are common up there, but virtually nonexistent in DC, my home until a month ago. When I had learned there are so many coal-fired pizza joints here, I was elated. Florida, as you may be aware, tops New York City in coal fired pizza ovens, reported Serious Eats pizza expert Adam Kuban in 2009. Most of this growth, he wrote, can be attributed to the Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza chain.
As a South Florida newbie, I was intrigued to discover
that South Florida's coal oven pizzas are nothing like those in New York. Except at Luigi's.
Despite that he's 100% Italian and has not lived in New York, Luigi DiMeo makes pies that are similar to those churning out of coal fired ovens in Little Italy and Brooklyn. As
closely as he says he's adhering to the Naples VPN, he's making what's
essentially a New York-Neapolitan pie.
A quick primer from Mr. Kuban. On Slice, he delineates two types of Neapolitan pies. One, the Neapolitan standard,
is baked in a wood-burning oven. This pie is ten inches across and
features a puffy cornicione (crust), San Marzano tomatoes, and fresh
ingredients, used sparingly.
The second is a New York-Neapolitan,
a variation on the pie adopted for hotter, coal-fired ovens. Baking
these take two to five minutes, depending on which pizzaiolo you're
talking to. The defining characteristic of New York-Neapolitan is a
larger, thinner, crispier pie. Lombardi's in New York, one of the
country's oldest pizza joints, helped define this style.
What's off-putting to Neapolitan neophytes is the soupy, wet center,
which means you may have to resort to a knife and fork, says Kuban in
his Neapolitan for Dummies post from last week. The crust is decidedly floppier.
The reason for soup- and here's where the major difference lies between
South Florida pies and New York-Neapolitans- is that the latter is made
with a super fine "00" flour. Soup is the result when a pie doesn't bake in a 700-plus degree oven for long enough.
Anthony's pies are more similar to a Northern Italian style pie.
Made with all-purpose flour, Anthony's dough makes for a thicker,
chewier crust: better for a pizzaiolo with a heavy hand when it comes to
toppings. D'Angelo's pies are closer to Anthony's than Luigi's, since
they use an AP/00 blend.
"You can't make pizza with 100% "00" flour," said a cook at D'Angelo
when I called yesterday. "You can't because of the glutens."
A little research says otherwise. Luigi DiMeo claims he uses 100% Caputo "00" flour,
as do a half dozen pizzaiolos I have interviewed for various stories on
Neapolitan pies made in DC and New York. Different flours result in
drastic variations of thickness and texture when it comes to pizza
crust.
Which brings me back to the Luigi's versus Anthony's discussion (or D'Angelo for that matter). Through
this lens, it's tough to say what pizza is the best in town, since it's
such a personal choice. They're totally different.
As with many forms of comfort food, we
gravitate toward food that brings back fond memories of people we love
and a town we've left behind.
Such is the case with pizza. If you're from South Florida, perhaps a
thicker-crust pie with a generous spread of toppings is your thing. If
you're from the Rust Belt, it might be a slice of Sicilian. Me? I'll
polish off this margherita pie from Luigi's at my desk. I'm missing
home.
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