Local Flavours: Pizzeria Libretto

Italy is never far from my heart - or my stomach.  I had an amazing Italian mamma with a sleight of hand and no recipe in sight.  Gnocchi, lasagna, cabbage rolls (a nod to her Istrian ancestry), muzzeto, polenta - she made it all effortlessly and we ate it thoughtlessly, thinking that everyone ate the same way.  A favourite was her weekend pizza, the dough slightly thick and chewy, homemade tomato sauce adding a delicious sweetness. 

It wasn't until years later, on my first trip to Italy, that I discovered another kind of pizza - the thin crackly crusted variety a la Napoli.  It wasn't long before wood burning pizza seemed to make an appearance everywhere that a wood-burning oven could be squeezed into a restaurant corner, most famously at Spago in Beverly Hills. 

Like any transplanted dish, the further the distance, the greater the risk of loss of authenticity.  That's why I love Pizzeria Libretto.  Chef Rocco Agostino and proprietor Max Rimaldi are committed to creating a truly genuine pizza of Neapolitan proportions.  That commitment meant an investment in a 5000lb. oven shipped from Italy, and made by a third generation oven maker from Naples.  It's a thing of beauty: the opening quite small to preserve heat, continually fed by wood to maintain the 900 degree heat required to make a beautiful pizza in 90 seconds.  

The real deal

The wood not only feeds the oven; it adds a warm and rustic touch to the restaurant

 
While the menu is primarily focused on pizza, there is a carefully edited selection of antipasti, including amazing warm olives, and a salumi menu offering fare from local chefs. 
 

Pizza is the star of the show at Libretto

 
I can remember the first time I had pizza with fresh greens on top.  It was at a roadside osteria in Italy, where my cousins and our family had stopped after a day in the mountains.  I remember thinking how absolutely fantastic that the mix of fresh and baked was, and Pizzeria Libretto's version does Italy proud.
 

Whipping up one of dozens of pizzas that will consumed by hungry and happy patrons

 The Ontario Prosciutto & Arugula: tomato, garlic, oregano, basil, and shaved Parmigiano Reggiano

Buon Appetito!

Pizzeria Libretto

221 Ossington Avenue

Toronto, Ontario

(416) 532-800

Open daily from 12 noon to 11 pm

No reservations

mailto:info@pizzerialibretto.com

The Witching Hour

It's Halloween, and once again I handed out treats to the kiddies on my own. Rain threatened all day, but miraculously held off, resulting in a blustery, windy kind of evening for trick or treating.  Sixteen kids this year; never many in our neighbourhood.  A perfectly respectable pumpkin carved by moi, complete with batty grin.

Rich, back in HK until late November, is enjoying his sole day off of the week by sitting by the pool.  It's 28C in Hong Kong but the fashionistas have already started wearing their fleece-lined, fur-collared ski vests with chic jeans and boots. 

Funny to speak to someone twice a day, exactly 12 hours apart and million miles away.  Seems it's often around food: me, drinking my morning coffee; he, eating sushi for dinner, but both of us present in that shared moment.

Tonight I was inspired by trailrunner on Gardenweb to try making ciabatta style pizza, and was just tackling the very wet dough when Rich called.  As he drank his morning Starbucks, I struggled to stretch sticky dough onto parchment paper, slide the gooey circle onto a baking stone and cut up toppings.  The dough wasn't wet enough - instead of stretching to nearly the edges of the stone, it shrunk in on itself, protectively yielding a scant 9" circle.

  
The pizza is baked twice - once to set the crust, and then again with the toppings.  All in all a 20 minute process, just about as long as we chat on these twice daily check-ins.  The pizza was ready after we had hung up the phone, so of course I had to call back and report on the results.


Eye appeal: A

Lightly crusted dough, perfectly melted cheese and just right charred toppings - yum!

Crust: B

Rustic "holey" ciabatta-like appearance, but just too darn thick.  Like a calzone disguised as a pizza.  Gotta get the dough to spread more!

Taste: well, I'm biased :-)

I mean, who would say no to a homemade pizza dinner that looked like that? And it was pretty damn good for a first time out.

Still and all, a great meal alone is ... a lonely thing.  As I eat my solitary meal, I'd trade that perfectly browned crust and my glass of Chianti for any old morsel with Rich.  Sigh.