As a culinarian, I am always in search of the best food. Wether it be raw product to make an amazing dish, a memorable dining experience that costs upwards of $100 (a rarity for me), or the best of a certain dish.
In my quest for the best I have tried some amazing food in cities around the world. Cheeseburger in New York, Gelato in Sicily, chili cheese fries in DC, and now pizza in Naples.
On the way to Rome, we (the three of us going to Rome together) decided that we would like, and should try pizza. In theory, the best pizza in the world is in Italy, the best pizza in Italy is in Naples. And the best pizza in Naples is at da. Michelles. Therefore, the best pizza in the world is at da Michelles.
Off to Naples we were, we arrived with the addresses of three victims in mind and 3 hours to take them down. We researched our game plan ahead of time, knew where they were, etc. etc. Sounds easy, right? not so much. We left the train station to find that 1. Naples does not like to use street signs. 2. The traffic makes NYC look like Charlotte and 3. We will be lucky if we don't get mugged or at least pick pocketed. Needless to say, it is a dangerous, dark and nasty, yes nasty city. It seemed that the public trash cans hadn't been emptied in a week, spilling out into the street, broken glass and trash all in the sidewalks and rotting liquid everywhere. This was the Jersey of Italy, yet worse.
We can do this, we can fin this restaurant. After 45 minutes, we found st. Michelles. We reached the peak of a hill in the road, to look down and see her there greeting us with her green neon sign. Saying to us, "come inside, and sit down". The smell of the pizza wofted into the street from 50 yards away, this was going to be good.
Those who have read, or seen Eat, Pray, Love will know what I'm bout to explain. This is in fact, the place featured in that story. Needless to say, it is quite popular. They have been in business since 1870. The walls of the restaurant are tiled with green and white tiles in a geometric pattern about half way up. The rest of the space is very simple, white floors, white ceilings, white walls covered in pictures and articles featuring the restaurant, with a big black pizza oven in the rear of the room where a red, roaring fire is stocked with the pile of wood on the floor.
We sat down to order. The menu was in a picture frame on the wall 2 pizzas, 3 options each. Talk about simple. Margherita or Manara. 5 options for drinks. I chose a small Margherita (sauce, a few pieces of mozzarella, and four leaves of basil wilted from the heat of the oven.) The pizza and my coke arrived to the table in less than 10 minutes, a rarity for European service. The crust was perfectly cooked, with a light char on the bottom and bubbled cheese in a few spots. The crust makes ny thin crust look thick as a piece of bread. The sauce was simple. Fresh tomatoes, oil, salt and pepper. There were no secrets here, the kitchen is open, ingredients listed on the menu for the sauce and crust dough. I took a bite of this masterpiece. I had to fold over the tip of the pizza and then in half. Indescribable. Burst of flavor in the perfect ratio. Just the slightest amount of grease. This was worth the trek, from florence and hell, from America. It was that good.
We left the pizzeria to eat at another one of Naples top rated pizza place, de Matteo. Yes, it matthew's pizza. Their specialty: deep fried pizza. We had the option to sit down or take away. We chose the later in order to reach the train on time. The deep fried goodness cost €1 for a pizza. It was a piece of dough folded in half stuffed with ricotta and deep fried. This was totally different from Michelle's pizza. The greasy dough was like a fair food sent from heaven with the creamiest ricotta on the inside.
After a short journey to Rome, we took a short breather before going out to enjoy the city. Our first stop: the panthenon, then dinner, followed by Rick Steeves night walk through Rome. It was during this journey I fell in love with the city. I know, love at first sight. The culture here is different from anything else. The walk led us to perhaps the best gelato I have yet to have. I know, I say that every time. But this was by far the smoothest and creamiest gelato topped with a big dollop of whipped cream. Besides, two other people told me about a gelato shop near here, so I'm pretty sure this was it. As we strolled we reached the end point of our journey: the trevi fountain. Tourists from all over the world throwing coins in hopes of returning to Rome. I did the ritual as well, doubting it will fail me.
The night was getting late after siting at the fountain for a while so we decided to head back to the hostel before our big day tomorrow.
Eat. Pray. Love.
-Until
Matt
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