Lucali
Plain Pie – Hand Crushed Tomatoes, Bufala Mozzarella, Basil, Olive Oil
Lucali Special Imported Italian Artichokes baked in sauce, Bufala Mozzarella, and Peccorino
Dessert Calzone – Honey Ricotta, Nutella
Fortunate to have snagged one of the limited seats at Mark Iacono’s Brooklyn original, where I experienced the best pizza I’ve tasted to date, it was with almost inappropriately high expectations that we entered Lucali’s new Miami location on Tuesday evening at 5:00pm but finding the dining room almost identical in décor despite its slightly larger size I’m happy to say that the product emerging from the hand-built oven is a nearly spot-on iteration of the original while service may as well have been imported direct from Carroll Gardens.
At first a bit apprehensive that the expansion experience could not possibly live up to the legend lingering in my head from the March 2011 Pizza-Trek it was just as the restaurant opened its patio doors that our trio entered the romantically lit space and with wood tones dominating as Frank, Dean, and Sammy crooned overhead it was at a four-top large enough for six that we sat, a brief menu of appetizers expanding on New York’s Pizza and Calzone-only options and leading to a three-part order, each item cooked to order in the wood burning oven stoked by a team of two in back.
Unable to decide between a trio of starters it was at the advice of our server that the meal began with a duo of tender marinated artichokes baked in Lucali’s signature sauce and draped simply with fresh Mozzarella and a dusting of briny Peccorino both the flavors and textures were brilliant, the light smokiness of the oven giving me hope for the “Plain Pie” to come – a $24 masterpiece of lightly charred crust with smoky blisters surrounding a center that was not quite ‘wet’ and as such more than capable of being eaten by hand with a simple fold, the flavor indistinguishable from the Lucali of my memories and equally wowing to tablemates taking their first taste of Iacono’s legendary pie.
Unable to resist dessert, something not offered amidst the cozy New York confines, it was between cannoli, Nutella pizza, and calzone that we were left to decide and again deferring to the front of house with an eye toward more dining to follow it was in the creamy calzone that we invested our faith, the oven’s smoke this time serving to accentuate lightly sweetened ricotta as a drizzle of hazelnut and cocoa added richness making the sizeable pocket a dish best shared.
http://www.lucali.com/
