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Slices of perfection

Sixteen pizza joints vie for this year's tournament title

By Dave Faries
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
February 20th, 2008 issue

VLADIMIR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST
Vinohrady's Red Flower made a promising run toward the finals.
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By nature, tournaments are brutal. Participants must either survive or get out of the way, pack up and head home — no in betweens, no passive draws, no “get ’em next time.” It’s all or nothing.
Such is the premise of our pizza playoffs, a battle for supremacy among 16 hand-picked restaurants. The format is simple: We visit unannounced and anonymously, eat a pizza, jot down a 1–5 score in five categories (crust, proportion of toppings, quality of toppings, sauce and seasoning, overall flavor) and tally up the total. At the end of each round, the best advance and the rest drop out, until only one pizza joint remains standing.
Of course, tournament play often results in upsets. Who could forget East Tennessee St. knocking off Arizona in the 1992 Big Dance, or team USA’s surprising win over Colombia — on an own goal — in the 1994 World Cup?
Last year, Grosseto pulled off a shocker. After barely squeaking through the first two rounds, it produced a couple of outstanding pies to claim overall victory. But that’s how it goes. The tournament measures only the results of one pizza on a given day. And even top restaurants suffer through an occasional off-day.
Here are the results of the opening rounds of this year’s competition.
Round one
The first round was dedicated to capricciosa, and Marzano swept the field. Its kitchen balanced a nice combination of ham, bell peppers, anchovies, eggs, capers and black olives, while others attempted less-ambitious portions. The sauce featured basil followed by a strong whiff of oregano, taming the sharp tang of pureed tomato.
Red Flower in Vinohrady and Old Town’s Pepe Nero came in closely behind Marzano. The former produced flakes of poignant, ruddy ham tinged in smoke, backed by Czech edam cheese on a yeasty but still-sweet crust — although the mushrooms proved less than impressive. Despite prosaic ham, Pepe Nero edged into third place on the strength of precise technique, good mozzarella and deft seasoning.
At the other end of the spectrum, Libertas and La Torretta posted woeful scores, with Libertas closing shop soon afterward. Imagine luncheon meat and canned mushrooms over gooey dough and you’ll understand.
The real battle took place in between these extremes. A mere 2.5 points separated the fourth spot (Pulcino) and contestants on the bubble. Detaillo and Baretta tied for the final transfer spot.
Detaillo’s version of capricciosa included Parma ham, artichokes and black olives, along with piles of weather-beaten mushrooms — losing points for these and a soggy crust, but still managing a score of 14. Meanwhile, Baretta’s “Crazy Dog” pizza overcame mediocre ingredients with smart seasoning and a decent crust to tally 14 as well.
Breaking the tie? Detaillo’s disinterested service.
Some established restaurants, such as Modrá Zahrada, Capua and Dali, fell short. Nuova, a popular entry from the Ambiente chain, once again failed to advance, thanks to an almost soupy pizza. On the other hand, the little Afghan place, Kabul Karolina, spun surprising cracker crust topped with rich, cured bacon, sweet basil and fruity tomatoes (called “carpaccio”) to move into the second round.
Round two
Once again, Marzano locked in the top performance with a solid whole-grain crust Venezenia. The effect was something more down to earth, baritone — the down notes sharpened by capers and sweet onions, while raisins soften the salty bursts of capers and olives. It’s a nicely constructed pie.
Pizzas for this round were selected based upon creativity, at least compared with menu standards. So the eponymous Pepe Nero pizza seemed a reasonable choice. Although the crust suffered toward the center, it’s neatly balanced, even robust: sauce riding a line between sweet and tangy, spicy sausage, the comforting depth of bacon, almost winelike tomato sparked by a strong dose of cracked pepper.
Pulcino’s “Bella Italia” grabbed the second position, however. The sheer, crackerlike crust held peppery rucola dusted with Parmesan. A puree of mushroom replaced the usual tomato sauce, but proved rather weak — nothing really spectacular, except for folds of pancetta. The complex cured bacon — densely flavored, intensely tart, sweet and meaty at the same time — carried Pulcino into the next round.
Grosseto, which slipped into round two by a meager half-point margin, failed to follow up — a champion no longer. Baretta stumbled badly, and Kabul Karolina’s flavorful “Opera” collapsed on undercooked dough.
Red Flower turned out a decent approximation of handmade American pepperoni from the days before Domino’s and Pizza Hut all but destroyed the concept. But it was Jerry’s, a strange little American diner knockoff hidden among the panaláky and communist-era shopping blocks of Řepy, that earned a spot in the final four, thanks to a nicely executed diavolo. Smoky cheese baked golden brown, tart sauce brought low by a dusting of herbs, the warm bite of pepperoni, mild pickled chilis, a brittle crust — worked well enough to pick up that crucial half-point.
The final four is a tossup between two slick powerhouses, Marzano and Pepe Nero, and two small hideaways. Jerry’s and Pulcino specialize in simple, thin-crust creations.
Find out how it all finally slices next week.

Dave Faries can be reached at dfaries@praguepost.com


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