Pizza Challenge Round 1: Zavino

We embark yet again, this time on a new quest.  To find the very best pizza that our fair city has to offer.  We're looking for that perfect pie.  A crust that's at once chewy and crunchy, with just the right amount of heat blisters, that can stand up to a few toppings and not sag in the middle like Kirstie Alley -  a blank canvas on which to paint a masterpiece. The sauce should be sweet but not sugary, with a nice tang to act as a backdrop for all the vivid toppings brushstrokes. The cheese should be mozzarella, hand pulled and never shredded - like a happy little cloud floating ethereally through a crimson sunset. Toppings should be bold and  confident, but never distracting from the overall piece. 

The ratings scale will be similar to the Burger Challenge with a ranking of 1 to 5 in each of five categories: Crust, Cheese, Sauce, Toppings and Overall.  We'll order a "plain" pizza from each location and also one (or more) with toppings. This second pie should be the house specialty - whatever is recommended as the best they have to offer.  And here we go...

Round 1 brings us to Zavino at 13th & Sansom in easily the busiest and most happening neighborhood in the city.  They don't take reservations, so you're going to have to wait if you come on a Friday night. If there is no room at the bar, they will however take your phone number and text you when your table is ready. And there is no shortage of places to wait it out on 13th street these days.

It's a tight space at this corner, with a bar & counter seating running the length where you can watch the art being made. You're going to get friendly with your neighbors and you're going to be dodging servers often. In the summer the outside tables are always full. It's all part of the allure though. There's a reason so many people want to eat here. Full restaurants are always a good sign.

The appetizers are one of the best parts of the menu with a great selection of salumi, cheeses, roasted veggies, and hand made pastas. You could get by just on the appetizer section and leave with a smile on your face. We are here for pizza though - the apps will have to wait. 

margherita

As the challenge rules clearly state, we needed to start with an obligatory margherita to establish a level playing field for all the contenders. The crust was great - just a perfect amount of chew, a few nice scorch marks and blisters and no middle sag to speak of. Cheese was good, but the sauce was too sweet.  Maybe a little extra sugar thrown in with those crushed tomatoes?  Shame, really. It totally distracted me from what should have been a great pizza.

the stache

My favorite was definitely The Stache.  Start off with a whole wheat crust, top with pistachio pesto, mozzarella, parmesan, and baby arugula dressed with lemon vinaigrette. Wow. I've had pistachio on pizza before but not in pesto form. There is a lovely lusciousness in the rich yet crunchy sauce, and it picks up a great char from the 850° oven. The peppery arugula and tartness of the vinaigrette cuts right through the pesto. Even the whole wheat crust was good - which is a rare thing I think. It always sounds like a good idea, but ends up tasting something closer to cardboard.  We asked the server what our specialty pie should be and she automatically said Stache. It's their best pie.  

truffle

The Truffle - with baby spinach, truffle oil, and a barely cooked egg with all that yokey goodness strewn across the pizza. They let you break the yoke and spread it around, so it's even more fun. The subtle hints of truffle are enough to let you know it's there but not overpowering. So many times you get a pizza that just tastes like one big truffle (#first world problems). This is an amazing pie. The perfect combination of super savory ingredients. It is decadence on dough.

Zavino is also getting in on the Italian beer train and offering a few large format bottles that are really interesting and worth a try. Give the Collesi Ambrata a go - it's an amber ale that is just slightly hoppy with some notes of dried apricots and dates.  It also helped that one of the challenge team members happens to work at Moore Brothers in Delaware. Any mention of this to a manager and we usually get some sort of hookup. This time it yielded a bottle of Italian stout that was like a smokier version of Murphy's Irish. I didn't even know stout was brewed anywhere close to the Mediterrenean.  Lucky for us it's one of a few new bottles that the restaurant is trying out for the spring/summer season.  I don't recall the name, but you can ask at the bar. 

Overall this was a hell of a start to the Pizza Challenge. Zavino's oven is humming as it churns out near perfect pies at a dizzying clip.  The artists in the kitchen are churning out pieces worthy of Raphael (not the Ninja Turtle). And they are keeping it interesting with new specialty pies every week or so. Everything is really high quality and the service is tight. There's a reason this place is always busy.

Food Baby Rating:  Triplets!

Zavino

112 South 13th Street

Philadelphia, PA 19107

215-732-2400

http://www.zavino.com

Barbuzzo

Just getting a reservation at Barbuzzo can be a chore. Tables are booked up weeks in advance. Once you're in, you have to then deftly navigate thru the narrow room - a series of four-tops on one side, the open kitchen on the other - to get to your designated table. Your efforts will be rewarded though. And even if you forgot to make the reservation a month ago, you can always try snagging a couple seats at the bar like we did late on a Tuesday night. You get access to the whole menu, plus your bartender is always at your beckon call! 

There is good reason landing a table at Barbuzzo is harder than getting into Dorsia. Marcie Turner is doing things with Italian food that will make your mouth water and your stomach rumble. This is not the refined pastas and fine dining of Vetri. Nor is it the veal parm and chicken saltambucca of hole in the wall South Philly joints. This is something else entirely. Forward looking dishes that are exciting and unique, yet at the same time comforting and accessible. Grilled shrimp, smoked in-house, alongside a crispy mushroom polenta. Fava bean arancini. Roasted corn agnolotti. The Fico pizza with fresh figs, gorgonzola dolce, walnuts, prosciutto, arugula and pomegranate molasses. This is so much more than spaghetti & meatballs. 

sheeps milk ricotta

You'll likely not find a better appetizer for $10 anywhere in the city. Quickly grilled slices of crusty bread.  A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. A delectably rich and salty scoop of fresh sheep's milk ricotta, kissed with vin cotta vinegar. You spread the cheese over the bread, watching it seep into every nook and cranny. At first bite, you are transported to a Tuscan village overlooking a deep valley, lush with olive trees. It slowly dawns on you that you are sitting on a bar stool on 13th Street. You then plot ways to fend off any would be takers on your ricotta like Katniss defending the Cornucopia. It's totally worth fighting the Careers for.

bruschetta

A 'simple' bruschetta of grilled foccaccia, melted mozzarella and an heirloom tomato salad with basil and balsamic vineger. Simple is a misnomer. So many brilliant flavors mixing into a harmonious Italian opera of taste. 

stuffed meatballs

Meatballs have been a trend for a while now in this city (see: Marabella Meatball Co on 12th & Walnut - dedicated solely to the subject). And any good red sauce joint south of Bainbridge should have a reputable ball. Barbuzzo has taken the humble little meat orb to a different place; stuffing them with caciocavallo (an Italian cheese similar to mozzarella) that oozes out when you cut into them. The meat is a grind of beef shortrib and pork, blended with oregano & some spicy chilies, then topped with an other-worldly red sauce and some shredded pecorino. Quite simply the best meatballs I've ever had. There is nothing elegant about these. It's is all about substance, passion for authenticity and devotion to the craft. These things have more heart than Rudy Ruettiger. 

grilled sardines

I've become a sucker for sardines. The mere mention of them makes my mouth begin to water and my wife's eyes start to roll. Smokey. Salty. Tasting of the sea. The quintessential dish of any coastal Mediterranean village worth it's gills. If you can get over the whole 'scales & tail' thing, you discover an intensely flavorful little fish. Served over a mix of immense fava beans, shreds of crispy bacon and drizzled with olive oil, the strong flavors play off each other and elevate each other. Each bite is more interesting that the last. 

salted caramel budino 

The best dessert in the city. Seriously. A layer of chocolate cookie crumbles on the bottom, reminiscent of Oreo's. A hearty layer of budino (basically Italian pudding). Vanilla bean caramel. Sea salt sprinkled ever so lovingly. Some whipped cream. A dusting of dark chocolate powder. It's everything a dessert should be. Sweet. Salty. Intense. Airy. Satisfying on so many levels. If you get nothing else, come here just for this. 

The constant crowds are a sign of the success here. Yes, it's annoying that you have to wait weeks for a table if you'd like to eat after 4pm. But the food here is incredible. Drinks are strong. Service is swift. Show up after 10:30 on a school night and check the late night menu. Beers for $3, sangria for $4 and a changing lineup of $10 plates. All these people can't be wrong. In fact, they are very, very right.

Food Baby Rating: Triplets! 

Barbuzzo

110 South 13th Street

Philadelphia, PA

(215) 546-9300

http://barbuzzo.com/barbuzzo/#