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Cocina Savant
http://cocinasavant.blogspot.com/
Weekly pictures, recipes, and thoughts from a husband and wife who love books and cooking for each other.

Kenji, as an admirer of your work here and at GoodEater, I'd be pleased to break cornicione with you. I've been to Gran Gusto once before and left on the fence, so I'm down for a second round. I found your email address over at GoodEater, I'll hit you up shortly.

I live a stone's throw from Gran Gusto and have dined there on a number of occasions. Initially, I loved their pizza. As I sampled more NYC Neapolitan-style pies (UPN, Motorino, Co.) however, I discovered that it was simply mediocre. Like others have commented, I too believe the mozzarella could be more melted, the sauce could be drizzled with more olive oil and, most importantly, the cornicione could have a lot more puff and char to it. Good pizza for the Boston area? Yes. Good compared to anything in the tri-state region? Probably not.

P.S.: If you do dine at Gran Gusto, be sure to order the grilled baby octopus and calamari appetizer. It's to die for.

Thanks for the review, I've been meaning to try that place out for a while. Sounds great.

@Kenji: Were Gran Gusto's pies as good as the best from Motorino or Co. or Keste? Nope. But were they on the same playing field? Definitely. The best of the pizzas we had here definitely beat Keste's on an off day. And though I'll concede that the top photo is pretty monochromatic, if you look at the edge of the broccoli rabe pizza (which, granted, wasn't their best) you can see some decent variation and char. The first pizza (again, the rabe) also emerged within five or six minutes of ordering, from order to table, which means that that oven was pretty damned hot, if not the hottest out there.

I recently moved out of the Cambridge/Boston area, after having spent 10 years looking for a decent pizza. I never found one. If the photos above tell me anything though, it's that this place still won't break the no-win for Cambridge record.

The pale blond bottom with a lack of spotting and the uniformly browned cornicione, as Pizzablogger points out, leads me to believe that the oven is not hot enough, and they simply left the pie inside longer to compensate for it.

Tell me truly: was this pie anything compared to a decent Neapolitan pie in NY from say, Motorino or Company? Or is it just good by the dismally low Boston pizza standards?

the margherita looks alot like luzzo's
btw on a side note.... ( was just thinking about something else)
i cannot believe how many times the word neapolitan pops up!
when my father came to this country, people who used olive oil were regarded as scum and greasy, NOW the children of those who insulted us are doing everything they can to fit as much >>>> in their mouth as possible. it's amazing the turnaround.
and those people also included some northern italians who would throw the word neapolitan or "terrone" around as an insult.
as for the neapolitan thing, i hope everyone has good intentions
and won't turn this into an MTV show or something
gianluca
pizzaandcoffee.com

I love this and want one for my house; my husband is a pizza freak! I also love Central Market.

Nice article.

Hi Dan...well can you believe I also WAS a lawyer and now I build pizza ovens for a living. Prior to being a lawyer I was in construction with 10 years as a mason. Its a beautiful oven, congratulations. Its one of the prettiest ones I have seen. I'm glad you built it and not bought a precast one. They are much prettier and as you know, quite fun to build. You also very right. There is no need to over engineer a pizza oven/ wood fire oven. They were made for thousands of years out of brick. Using refractory cement or brick is unnecessary and in fact, not as good as normal bricks as refractory material are not designed to "soak" heat. This in turn does not allow them to radiate heat efficiently.
Good job!
cheers
John
PS You can see what I'm doing at www.pizzaovens-australia.com

We also built a backyard pizza oven ourselves. It took us about five months to complete, and cost a bit more than Andy (we built it as part of an outdoor "kitchen"), but we LOVE it!!! We not only do LOTS of pizzas, but also great cowboy steaks, focaccia breads, and pots of beans or soups. It's a great place to experiment with fun cooking options!

I had eaten at the Grimaldi's in Henderson, NV this past December. It was above average. But after reading the menu that listed all of the Grimaldi's locations in the US, it made me realize Grimaldi's is more of a chain or franchise restaurant.

I have never been to Pizzeria Bianco, in fact despite living in Phoenix for FIVE years I have never heard of it! Am I nuts? apparently- people visiting me later this month begged me to take them there. Is it worth the immensly long wait- and WHAT makes it so great?! Any insights?

Btw: Has anyone eaten at Slices in Tempe. It is far from gourmet but it is certianly the best drunk food pizza I have ever had next to Casa di Amici's in Morgantown, WV! (GO MOUNTAINEERS!)

Oops. Forgot to add my second new blog, Larousse Bites - Personal Notes on the Larousse Gastronomique 1961 Edition.

Today's post is "It's Christmas so it must be Cockscombs".