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Upper Crust

Sixteen pizza joints battle for supremacy

By Dave Faries
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
February 14th, 2007 issue

Jan Přerovský/The Prague Post
Flipping dough on the way to the final four at Capua.
Whenever people compare favorite sushi bars, burgers or pizza, some verbal sparring generally ensues, a kind of “this is better” and “no, they don’t do it right” one-upsmanship. Unfortunately, point-counterpoint jousting never really resolves the matter.
Just about every sports season culminates in a playoff of some sort, however. So why not apply the concept to restaurants? Borrowing from the single-elimination tournament model used in basketball’s March Madness, we decided to pit 16 of Prague’s better-known pizza joints against each other in an epic, dough-flinging smackdown.
Here’s how it worked:
The Tourney
In each round, the same pizza was ordered at every restaurant. Points were awarded (or taken away) for crust, toppings, flavor and service. The low-scorers were eliminated, and the high-scorers moved on.
Tourneys are, of course, inherently flawed. One cock-up can knock a good team — or, in this case, restaurant — out of competition. That’s particularly true in Prague, where consistency is a problem for many establishments. Staffing, purveyors … any number of factors can bring down a restaurant trying desperately to serve a good pizza.
Pizza margherita was the pie of choice in the first round, which tested restaurants’ skills with the basics. Margherita is a marriage of dough, sauce, cheese and herbs — the best slate for evaluating a pizzeria’s ability to turn out pies without embellishment.
In round two, the survivors confronted each other on a battlefield scarred with anchovies and capers, generally known in this country as Napoletana (or sometimes Siciliana). Balancing distinct, somewhat overpowering flavors is the key to a good pie. Finalists will put their most creative pizzas into the ring for the final round. Before that, round three features the Czech adaptation of pepperoni.
But enough pre-game spiel …    
Round One
Margherita pizzas should resemble the Italian flag, in that red (sauce), white (cheese) and green (basil) make up the color scheme. Except, that is, at di Carlo, where it came out in a shade resembling Texas clay. Ugly third-degree burns marred the crust and a lazy sprinkle of dried basil couldn’t save the rink of melted “cheese.” This was particularly disappointing, because di Carlo usually prepares a decent pizza.
Other first-round washouts included Kmotra’s characterless effort, a nice try by Coloseum to bake the world’s first completely flavorless pizza and a woeful effort from Gusto resembling runny mucous. On the bubble until the final outing were Marzano, Nuova and Rugantino. And, while the service at Corleone was surprisingly pleasant, the dough tasted like the Sands of Iwo Jima, literally — a foul, sulphuric trough. So Marzano advanced to the next round after a tiebreaker.
For all that, round one had its share of surprises. Dali omitted the green of fresh basil, but swirls of red and white carried nice, subtle flavors. (Traditionalists, by the way, demand that ingredients be pinwheeled from the center.) Baretta, the strange Native American-themed spot in Nusle, is sans Margherita. The closest alternative came with a thick crust (for Prague) and a dense, sweet-herbal-creamy topping. Capua chalked up the highest score for round one, thanks to a goodly amount of shredded basil, an assist from oregano to beat down the tart-sweet sauce and a mellow essence of charcoal that seeped into the crust.
Roca, Detaillo, Grosseto and Modrá Zahrada also advanced after solid performances.
 
Round two
In this and the final round, two points were added for consistency. If the kitchen remained within sight of its previous score, neither improving markedly nor falling by much, it was awarded the points. Roca, the popular Vinohrady trattoria, and Baretta stumbled in the second go-round — not badly, but enough for Grosseto to sneak by on consistency points.
Aside from Dali’s lagging effort, Detaillo’s brilliance and a sharp Napoletana substitute at Modrá Zahrada, the second round was dominated by a series of listless pizzas. There were problems everywhere: Marzano skimped on ingredients, laying on only three anchovies and one black olive per slice, a cosmetic approach allowing sugary sauce to dominate the pie. Baretta turned out an off-kilter substitute of anchovies, smoked fish and garlic, pungent enough to drive crusty old men with tumbleweeds growing from their nostrils scurrying away. Drab olives, miserly toppings and a yeasty crust knocked Roca out of competition. Grosseto advanced despite fish bristling with bones, like a brittle cheveux de frise. A misnomer — labeling tuna, mushrooms and pepperoni as “Napoletana”— cost Capua in the “service” category. Still, only a razor thin 2.5-point spread separated these five contestants.
No restaurant could match Detaillo, though. The Pálac Flora food court location piled on handfuls of anchovies, capers and black olives for an unforgettable pie: potent bursts of sour, salty and smoky ingredients exploding over a neutral-to-sweet combination of sauce and cheese.
Next week
We move on to the final four: Grosseto, Modrá Zahrada, Detaillo and Capua. If Vegas oddsmakers were to handicap the matchups, they would note that Grosseto has been consistent throughout. Still, it just managed a berth in the money rounds. Modrá Zahrada nudged quietly through the first-round field, then turned in a rather convincing performance. That makes the Národní třída favorite an unpredictable choice, capable of winning it all or choking in the clutch. Detaillo wavered initially
before clobbering the competition. Meanwhile, Capua has maintained a steady pace.
Which means it’s still anyone’s game.

Dave Faries can be reached at dfaries@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (14/02/2007):

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