Last week (February 9) might have been #NationalPizzaDay but let’s be honest— every day is unofficial pizza day. If you’re anything like us and can’t get enough of the doughy, cheesy, tomatoey Italian dish that’s become an integral part of American culture, then chances are you’ve tried every pizza joint in town.
We’re here to tell you that pizza should never be compared; from the flour used to the way it’s flipped to the piquancy of the sauce and the ingredients it’s topped with, no pie is created equal and each is its own edible work of art. Unless of course you’re tossing authentic style Neapolitan pies like Stanzione 87, and have some rules to adhere to in order to receive the brand mark from the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (a nonprofit organization that was founded in June 1984 in Naples to protect true Neapolitan pizza). Rules like using strictly San Marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella from Campania, extra virgin olive oil, and the highest quality (double 00) dough. What’s more, all pizzas must be baked in a wood-fired, domed oven, and be no bigger and no smaller than 35 centimeters in diameter. Stanzione 87 checks off all these boxes and then some by going the extra mile, like hand making their mozzarella and capping pies off with some local and ethically bred smoked jowl (pig cheek that tastes like bacon) from Miami Smokers.
With just a couple of months short of celebrating their four-year anniversary, business and life partners Franco and Ashley Stanzione have added a slew of pies, sandwiches, and salads to their menu, and we got to taste test the goods. Think spinach, garlic, and calabrian chili dubbed Angry Spinach for its kick of heat and a BLT pizza crowned with cherry tomato, lemon, butter lettuce, and smoky jowl for bite that’s earthy, citrusy, and smoky all at once.
Red sauce and meat lovers ought to try the Red Smoke, which lets the jowl, San Marzano, mozzarella, and red onions speak for themselves, or the Meatball Panini that has everything you want in life (meatballs, tomato sauce, mozzarella, and arugula) sandwiched between the same wood-fired, blistering bread. The wonder sarnie was born—like most great ideas—one inebriated night when Franco and Ashley found themselves hangry and with nothing but leftover meatballs and mozzarella. You know what they say: necessity is the father of invention. There’s also a classic and mouthful Italian Sandwich, stacked with prosciutto cotto, San Daniele prosciutto, sopresata, and iceberg.
Mark your calendars for National Sandwich Day (November 3rd) from now.
