Talking Sweet About Nothing

"Echo Base,this is Rogue 2. I've found them... repeat, I've found them."

Rouge 2 calling into base after picking up two delicious pizzas at Isabella's Hoth location.

That's right, friends. I'm trying very hard to not get too far ahead of myself, or get too excited, but I think I may have found the pizza I've been looking for. I'll revist (soon, I hope) just to check for consistency. And I'll admit, it may all be a product of me being completely starving at the time, but this pizza was exactly right.

I met Jim and Paul Miller at Isabella's for an impromptu Pizza Club meeting. The place is extremely small, probably as big as my living room (no exaggeration)...a third of which is behind the deli counter w/ fresh meats, cheeses, and the brick oven (natch...I really love typing "natch"). We shared two pizzas, a margherita (the baseline) and a pizza bianca. Let's go to the clip...





Just judging by these pictures you can tell this is, by far, as close as we've gotten to an authentic Neapolitan pizza here in Baltimore. Check out those crusts. Believe me, they tasted even better...just the right amount of char, sturdy enough to support the toppings, thin enough to not outshine the flavor of the toppings. Tasting the crust by itself was awesome. No sugar (a pet peeve), and if there was salt in it or not (I couldn't tell) it definitely wasn't overpowering (another pet peeve). On to the toppings, let's start w/ the Margherita. Fresh house-made mozarella, layered with tomatoes and delicious basil. Now usually I really can't get behind fresh tomatoes on a pizza, and if you want to get nit-picky, it's not truly authentic. In this case, and on some past pizza outings, when the fresh tomatoes are in place of (as opposed to in addition to) tomato sauce, it can be quite nice. Next the Bianca. Fresh mozz, feta, and ricotta, with a dash of Italian spices. Before my pizza quest began, I don't remember ever having ricotta on a pizza, but I really love it. I like how Fortunato's spreads it out with larger "globs" better, but in the case of Isabella's Bianca, the small crumbles are still nice. On both pizzas the balance of toppings was even and the crust was sturdy enough to support them.

As far as Baltimore pizza goes, this place is fantastic. Definitely a new fave. I can't wait to go back.


p.s. The new U2 album comes out on Tuesday. You'll be hearing from me.

p.p.s. I want to talk about an Italian deli downtown called Trinacria. You'll be hearing from me about that, too.