It's been less than one week since the soft open of 7 pizzeria and enoteca, where you will find the closest thing to a perfectly made Neapolitan pizza short of the centuries' old originals in southern Italy. I'm blessed to work at this phenomenal place- aesthetically a mix between the cantina-trattorias found off the beaten track cobblestone roads in small Italian villages and modern-vintage lounge, and touches of japanese contemporary minimalism. The place is gorgeous. When I walk in I am pleasantly inspired by all the details, my fabulous colleagues, and of course, every single dish and pizza on the menu.... So, more about the pizza Napoletana.
I am always a bit skeptical when people introduce their Italian pizza as a high quality product. After my first love encounter with pizza al taglio (pizza cut and sold by measurement) from my childhood summers in Italy, and all the years of trying wood oven pizza in Central italy pre- and post- trying the napoletane originals, I've developed quite a critical palate for this rustically brilliant fare. I carried emblazoned in my memory over those years the subtle acidity and lovely, thick sweetness of san marzano tomato sauce, the light, supple melt of mozzarella, and an aromatic, crisp outer crust and firm interior. Pizzaiolo Matteo, a mad scientist working on perfecting his naturally leavened dough for more than a year prior to 7's soft opening, brought me to a place in my memory I didn't know could exist. One bit of his margherita pizza brought me back to a terrace outside of a Neapolitan pizzeria where I thought I had tried the best margherita pizza that can be found, more than 10 years ago. That famed pizza napoletana has now met its culinary doppelganger.
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| 7's famed Pizza Margherita... ready to have and hold. |
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| Producer of one of our cheeses made from fresh farm- sourced Ontario water buffalo milk, holding 7's fabulous margherita pizza. |
Some of Pizzaiolo Matt's genius is off the record, in his culinary experiments on the sidelines. After a long evening of service last week, he pulled what looked like a loaf of inflated Indian naan bread out of the wood oven. Thinking it was a calzone, I asked about it, and chef Matt did not have a name for this pauper's sandwich of sorts. He sliced the dough open and filled it with some bufala mozzarella and house-made walnut pesto concocted by Menuche, our brilliant sous chef. One bite is simply sensuous and explosive... crying to be added to 7's astounding menu. The only thing I would add to offset the creamy texture is some fresh arugula to each rustic bite.
7's wood burning pizza oven in the first of it's kind that was built on site in Canada. The owners flew in Stefano Ferrara, master pizzaiolo and artisan of the best wood burning ovens around the world, from Naples. Synchronistically, there's an extensive article and picture of Mr. Ferrara in the May/June 2011 issue of La Cucina Italiana. 7 could very well be La Cucina Italiana's open-to-the-public test kitchen (a high compliment to both one of my favorite culinary arts magazines and one of my favorite elevated rustic Italian restaurants in the Greater Toronto Area).
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| 7's Chef Renato, with a long culinary history including opening restaurants for Wolfgang Puck, and Sous Chef Minuche generating masterpieces in tight quarters. |
