My Love Affair with Pizza
The very first time I ate a homemade pizza was in my parents’ kitchen. I was ten years old and the Italian movie star Rosanno Brazzi and his wife were visiting us. Lydia Brazzi made the dough and the tomato sauce. The “pizza pie” was cooked in my mother’s old white enamel oven, where the top temperature was about four-hundred-fifty degrees…not hot enough to get the chewy crisp crust I love today. Lydia was so excited to be preparing her “specialty” for us. It wasn’t until after she and Rosanno had left that I told my mother I liked the version at our local pizzeria better.
The best pizza in the world is found in Italy. It doesn’t matter what city or town you are in, the pizza will be perfect…not just because the ingredients are fresh, the ovens are hot, and the waiters are sexy. It’s because while you are savoring each bite you’ll be looking at the Grand Canal, the Ponte Vecchio, the Pantheon, or some other architectural wonder.
The best pizza I have had here in California is at…I almost hate to give you the name of the place because the wait is already so long there…but here goes. Il Dolce, a modern pizzeria-restaurant located at the corner of Harbor Blvd and 19th Street in Costa Mesa, has the best pizza I have had this side of Italy. The owner, a highly trained pizza chef certified by the Verace Pizza Napolitana Association, prepares the pizza then bakes it in a wood-burning oven. Everything about the pizza is perfection…the tomato sauce, the homemade mozzarella, and the chewy crisp crust.
Buon Appetito! Il Dolce, 1902 Harbor Blvd, Costa Mesa, 949.200.9107
