I went into this with an open mind and an empty stomach. And while I’ll always have a special place in my heart for New York, like soft cheese on warm bread I have completely fused to life on the West Coast.
That said, after hearing over and over again that Pizzeria Delfina was the best in San Francisco, I knew this was the place that may stand up to, in my opinion, the preeminent pizza joint in New York - Lucali. I was wrong. Very wrong…
I know Di Fara’s usually holds the
prestigious title of Best Pizza in NY, but judging on overall experience
and quality, I think Lucali takes the pie. If you need some background,
Lucali opened in 2006 by Mark Iacono, a local from Carroll Gardens.
He wasn’t raised by a long line of Naples-bred pizza-makers – rather,
he started later in life, and never made a pizza prior to the first
day his oven was lit. Lucali is housed in the old candy store where
Iacono would go as a child, and attempting to keep his memories close
by, you’ll still find relics of old South Brooklyn scattered throughout
his pizzeria.
The thin, lightly charred crust is artistically swept with a sauce of San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and grana padana. The proportions are perfect, where you can pick up a slice and it doesn’t fall apart from the weight of the toppings. The menu, if you can call it that, lists only pizza and calzone, and it’s bring your own wine or beer. They do offer additions that vary by night - my favorite is the anchovies, but the pepperoni hails from a local butcher, and is also worth a try. The calzone is over-the-top – not like those rancid imitators, stuffed with sour-tasting, commercial ricotta. If you don’t think you like calzones, you’ve never had one of these.
You can see why I was ecstatic about trying Pizzeria Delfina. After five months in the East Bay, I missed good pizza. I missed Lucali. Unfortunately, and I know I’ll catch some slack for this, I was not impressed – at all – with this San Francisco staple.
chalkboard.
Alejandro and I decided on the true barometer of a pizzeria – A margherita pie, and one of the specialty pies that boasted broccoli rabe and olives. When our food arrived, I had a smile ear-to-ear. Not since NY had I seen such beautiful, thin-crust pizza. My enthusiasm quickly waned, though, as Alejandro attempted to serve me a slice of the margherita. It was a gooey mess. The tomato sauce was thin and watery, the cheese was too heavily dolloped, and the poor, charred crust could not handle the heavy load.
On to the broccoli pizza. No luck there either, as the delicate, bitter greens were swimming in a pool of cream. We were surprised at the number of pies on the menu made with cream, and chose this one because it was lacking it – so we thought.
On a positive note, the non-pizza options were very tasty! We decided to box up the uneaten pies and try one of the specials of the day – mussels with tomatoes and green chilies. The mussels were nice and plump, the sauce had just the right amount of kick, and the side of crusty bread was a beautiful shade of gold. Our only regret was not ordering two portions, considering how hungry we still were.
I find it hard to believe that in a culinary capital like San Francisco, a restaurant can retain prestige serving sloppy pizza. Because of this, we’ll give it another go, there’s always the chance that we showed up on an “off” day. Meanwhile, on the frequent days of severe Lucali withdrawal, Berkeley’s Cheeseboard Collective will serve as our NY pizza alternative.
