Pizzeria Vetri
1939 Callowhill Street
Philadelphia, PA 19130
I
was extremely excited to hear that Marc Vetri was opening a pizzeria. I had
been to Osteria and tasted the pies they have coming out of the oven there and
I was thoroughly impressed, so I had high hopes for a place dedicated solely to
cranking out pies. We went twice, once as soon as it opened, and another time
after visiting the nearby Barnes museum. The first time we went, we ordered the
tonnato and the salsiccia pizzas.
Both
pizzas were pretty tasty. My fiancé preferred the tonnato, while I preferred
the salsiccia. My only complaint was that the salsiccia could have had more
sausage on it. For a pizza that costs 16 dollars, you would expect more than 6
pieces of sausage on it. The tonnato was covered in tuna, which I very much
appreciated. I definitely didn’t get as much of the peperoncino it was said
to have it, but the flavor was delicious nonetheless. We wound up ordering the
cookie jar for dessert and an espresso for me. The cookie jar came with
pignoli, almond cookie, chocolate biscotti and pistachio gnocchi. All of them
were delicious little Italian cookies, and the came served in a white paper bag
rolled up. It was really a cool way to have cookies. And what is there to say
about true Italian espresso. Every Vetri restaurant I have been to has the best
espresso, and Pizzeria Vetri is no different.
The
revisit kicked it up another notch. After the first visit I was pretty happy,
but I was hoping for a bit more this time around. Granted it had been early on in
the life of the restaurant, so when we visited the second time, I was hoping it had kicked into full gear. We took my fiance's mother there one evening,
and we were seated right away which was pretty lucky. We decided to order two
pizzas, the crudo and the renato, as well as a rotolo to split. The crudo pizza
was topped with prosciutto crudo, buffalo mozzarella and parmigiano and the renato,
the pizza named after the awesome over cranking out the pizzas, was topped simply
with mozzarella, rosemary, olive oil and sea salt.
The crust was just as good
as it had been the first time we visited, but these pies were definitely on
another level. They were much more expertly prepared, and felt like they had
been pumping out of that oven for years. High quality ingredients and simple
preparation make for some really killer pizzas. I could not believe how simple
the renato pizza was, but how crazy flavorful it was at the same time. The
rosemary really made it something special and the slight crunch of the sea salt once in a while
was really amazing.
I
am sure a lot of you may be wondering exactly what a rotolo is. I was too, but
when it came out and I looked at it, I no longer really cared, I just knew I
had to eat it. The rotolo is a rolled up pinwheel of pizza dough, mortadella,
and ricotta topped with pistachio pesto. Wow is all I have to say after eating
it. I never would have thought that something so simply prepared could be so
fantastically satisfying. The pizza dough was perfect, as it is with the
pizzas, but the mortadella and ricotta combine in a magical way inside that
pizza dough. And the pesto just seriously took me into a blissful state. It put
me in my happy place.
Not
to be outdone, I noticed something new on the dessert menu and I figured I
would give it a try. It was something I had never heard of before, but it
sounded delicious. An affogato is an Italian dessert where a shot of espresso
is served over top of ice cream or gelato. In this particular case, it was
served over their housemade vanilla soft serve. Again I was floored at the
simplicity of the dish, and the flavor that it showed. It was absolutely
scrumptious. The creaminess of the ice cream was perfect, and the cooling
temperature of the ice cream brought the espresso temp down as well. The ice
cream began to melt and mixed together with the coffee almost turning it into a
thick iced coffee. I wish I could have one each and every day for the rest of
my life.
Three
and half pints for Pizzeria Vetri. Another gem in the Vetri empire for sure. If
they can continue to make pizzas, rotolos and affogatos like they are right
now, they are going to have a long and prosperous future. Tell your friends, pizzas
are great, but the rotolos and affogatos are worth coming back for constantly.
Cheers!
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