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Talking Sweet About Nothing

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Joe Squared Pizza - Baltimore

I've eaten at Joe Squared many times before tonight. Its proximity to the Ottobar, CCAS, and Metro Gallery has made it a frequent post-load-in dinner spot for Avec. I was especially excited to try Joe Squared tonight, however, as I haven't been back since they installed a coal-fired oven (Maryland's only one, apparently).

Unfortunately for Joe, I have a new pizza barometer. Isabella's has become my new yardstick by which all other Baltimore pizzas are measured, and that's a tough challenge for anyone. But maybe that's unfair. Joe Squared is a very unique pizza and should be judged on its own. I'll try my best to be objective.

**Side note: I have to give Joe Squared credit for their inventive combinations on their signature pizzas. And the fact that most of their meat is local and organic, their produce comes from local growers, and all of their herbs are grown on the roof. The commitment to quality and freshness is obvious.**

I ordered two 10" pizzas; a Margherita and The Flag, a pizza "split in thirds with a variety of sauces: Red sauce with mozzarella, provolone, romano, parmigiano and asiago; Garlic sauce with mozzarella, cheddar and ricotta; Pesto sauce with fresh mozzarella."

The bottoms showed a nice, spotty charring all around and everything looked great from the top view. But as soon as I pulled off a piece of the Marg, I could tell I was in for a soggy mess. Most mozzarella cheese comes packaged in water. Unfortunately, that means it soaks up a lot of water that is then released when the pizza is baked. Fresh mozz needs to be drained before it is cooked in order to avoid the soaking mix of toppings. To be fair, I ate the hell out of it, but the watered-down crust was bland, and it was difficult to discern the taste of the toppings. The crust on The Flag seemed to hold up much better. Although with this pizza, the amount of cheese overshadowed the special sauces on each third. The pesto sauce was the only one that shone through. That third only had mozz (unleaky, thank you) so the basil/garlic flavor really came out. I was disappointed that I couldn't really taste the garlic sauce underneath the mozz, cheddar, and ricotta. Same with the tomato. The cheese blends had a great flavor combo, but there was just too much of it.

A final note about the coal fired oven. I've only eaten a coal fired pizza once before, so I am no expert. The idea behind the concept (same as a wood oven) is that you can get the temps so extremely hot that your pizza can cook in three to four minutes (900 degrees on the floor of the oven). The crust can get nicely charred and crisp on the outside, yet stay puffy on the inside, all before your toppings have a chance to get burned. (With the lower heat of a gas oven, you have to cook the crust longer to get it crisp and often, by the time you do get the crispness you want, the toppings are ruined). My previous coal-fired pizza experience was pretty great. The crust was amazing. The coal flavor was very subtle, almost more of an aroma. The coal flavor at Joe Squared was almost overpowering, unfortunately. When I have eaten Joe's pizzas pre-coal oven, the crusts were much crispier, and actually had a sourdough flavor. That flavor is now lost with the intensity of the coal taking over, and the crispiness was gone due to soggy cheese. I'm hoping this is still just a matter of them working out the kinks of a new oven (although it has been several months now). I really liked the pizzas in the past and I'm hoping things get better.



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