Tony's Napoletana
Are we living in a golden age of pizza?
One of the most famous pizzerias in San Francisco is Tony’s Napoletana in the North Beach neighborhood. Open since 2009, Tony’s is the flagship restaurant of world-famous pizzaiolo (that means pizza chef) Tony Gemignani. His big claim to fame is being a 13-time World Pizza Champion.
Hold up a minute. World Pizza Champion?
Yes, my friends, we are living in a time when pizza, once among the humblest of foods, is now something to be judged at a worldwide competition organized by a group called the World Pizza Champions. Check this out:
Since its inception, the World Pizza Champions™ team has grown into a U.S. based non-profit, multinational group made up of elite pizza professionals. Through international competition, educational outreach, public demonstrations, and community-based service the team is dedicated to promoting pizza making as a respected craft and viable career choice.
Multinational? Community-based service? Sounds suspiciously corporate to me.
But this is the reality we live in. Over the past decade or so, pizza has gone from the cheapest, fastest thing you can stuff in your piehole to a gourmet Michelin-starred affair, generating fancy restaurants, celebrity chefs, reality TV shows, and worldwide competitions.
One of those celebrity chefs is Tony Gemignani. As a matter of fact, Tony is the founder of the World Pizza Champions, the same organization that awarded him the championship 13 times. Which is a strange. It’s kind of like Donald Trump mysteriously “winning” every round of golf he plays at Bedminster, isn’t it?
Unfortunately, I don’t have enough time to do a full investigation on Tony and this potential conflict of interest. But there is one simple fact that convinces me that Tony is not a fraud:
He is the first and only Triple Crown winner for baking at the International Pizza Championships in Lecce, Italy; and, his most prestigious title to date, the 2007 World Champion Pizza Maker at the World Pizza Cup in Naples, Italy, where he was the first American and non-Neapolitan victor.
Apparently, the Italians have their own pizza world championships, and Tony was the first American to win.
Can you imagine how angry those hot blooded Italian pizza chefs must have been when they learned an American was about to win their most prestigious award? Just picture them… stomping their feet in a big cloud of flour, their cheeks as red as marinara sauce. Yet they still gave it to him. That alone convinces me that Tony must be the real deal.
So, how does one go about judging world class pizza? First, by admitting that this reviewer is probably completely out of his league. I’m just a humble Jersey Boy who’s prone to complaining. What do I know about the nuances of flour sourcing or the difference between wood-fired and gas-fired? Not a whole lot. But I do know good pizza when I taste it. Let’s see if Tony’s lives up to the hype.
I’ve heard that it can be hard to get a table at Tony’s, so I arrived early, around 1pm on a Thursday with my good friend Jeremy, a visitor from New York City, who on his first day in San Francisco made the mistake of wandering into a random pizzeria for lunch without doing any research, just assuming it would be edible. He was supremely disappointed. To redeem that experience, Jeremy asked if I would accompany him to Tony’s. Of course I was happy to oblige.
We secured a table without a wait in their outdoor section, and our server wasted no time explaining their menu. Usually when a server “explains the menu,” it’s to waste your time with details they think you’re too stupid to figure out on your own. Generally that’s a big turn off. But this menu truly needed explaining. That’s because Tony’s serves literally every single style of pizza you can imagine.
You want Classic Italian or Coal-fired? Turns out those are not the same thing! You wanna order both a Californian and a Neopolitan to compare them side by side? You can do that at Tony’s. How about a Detroit pie with a slice of Grandma on the side? Weird flex, but Tony’s got you! They even have “St. Louis,” which is not a style of pizza I knew existed before today.
Just to re-iterate: this restaurant makes every single style of pizza ever invented. Under one roof. Let that sink in for a moment. I have never before eaten at a pizzeria that served more than two styles of pizza (classic and Sicilian). Tony’s offers a dozen. And within each category, there are five or six different pies to order. The range of this menu is absolutely staggering and the effort it takes to pull off such a feat cannot be overstated.
As we ogled over the menu, Jeremy made an important observation. There was one famous style of pizza conspicuously absent from this menu: Chicago deep-dish. Given the world class status of this restaurant, we can only conclude that this is not an oversight, but a deliberate choice with the following implication: Tony himself has decided that Chicago deep-dish is not a real style of pizza. And we have to agree with him (sorry not sorry!).
The other thing that stands out about this menu is under each category of pizza are details that only a true pizza nerd would appreciate, including variety of flour, type of oven, and the temperature it’s fired at. The Californian for instance is made with house stone-ground multigrain integrale flour, wood fired at 900 degrees. No trade secrets here, just a lavish display of Tony’s mastery of the craft.
We ordered one Cal Italia ($31, Classic Italian) and one Margherita ($26, Napoletana). What’s the difference between the two? Don’t worry, we also had to ask. Both are thin crust, but the Classic Italian is crispy on the bottom all the way through, while the Napoletana has a crispy crust but is soft in the middle.
We also ordered the squash blossoms ($18.50), a totally unnecessary addition for two jabronis with two full pizzas on the way. But Italians have a very hard time resisting this menu item when it’s available. It’s kind of like our version of jalapeño poppers (don’t tell anyone I said that).
The squash blossoms came out first, and they were a delight. Crispy on the outside, creamy in the middle, with the sweetness of fresh zucchini flowers making you feel less guilty about the whole affair, because technically they come from a vegetable. The highlight was definitely the ricotta - luxuriously creamy and tasting like it came straight from the cow’s teet.
Not long after we devoured these delicious morsels, our Cal Italia arrived in a blaze of glory. This white pizza comes topped with asiago, mozzarella, Italian gorgonzola, Croatian sweet fig preserve, prosciutto di parma, and balsamic reduction.
Now, the taste: salty, savory, rich and delicious. But the crust is where it shines the most. This crust had an absolutely perfect level of crispiness. A delightful crunch gives way to a dense chew, lending complex texture to every bite. The balsamic drizzle offers a sweetness that cuts through the salt and fat. This is a pizza that I could probably eat every day for the rest of my life and never get tired of it.
People tend to agree - Tony and his Cal Italia won a gold medal in the Pizza Champions episode of Food Network Challenge (season 3, episode 11 for the reality TV fans).
Before we could finish enjoying our Cal Italia, the Margherita was whisked onto our table in a burst of color. The real pizza heads know that the Neapolitan style pizza, with its smaller size, thin crust, and emphasis on simple but fresh ingredients, is what vaulted the humble pizza into the realm of gourmet, at least here in the US. And believe it or not, it’s California, not New York, that is most closely associated with this style of pie.
If you’re in the mood to go down a rabbit hole, check out this epic breakdown of regional US pizza styles from the Washington Post.
There’s a reason we chose the Neapolitan Margherita from Tony’s, because it was this particular pie that won Tony Gemignani the World Pizza Cup in Naples back in 2007, catapulting him to world fame. Since Naples is the birthplace of pizza, and the Margherita is the most famous of all Neapolitan pizzas, it does not get more classic than this.
The beautiful red sauce and bubbly crust, slightly charred on the outside, made me shiver with excitement. When a pizza like this hits your table, you can actually feel the presence of the souls of every great pizza chef who’s ever lived, gathered around your table to witness you take a bite.
Channeling this divine energy, I dig in. The first sensation I encounter is the crust: soft, but with a deeper, more complex flavor profile than the Cal Italia. At the tip of the slice, the crust is as thin as tissue paper. This slice does not pass the fold test. But, it’s not supposed to.
More than any other style, the Neapolitan pie demonstrates a mastery of the craft of pizza making. It is sooooo damn thin that only a very talented chef can throw the dough to this level of thinness without tearing it. Whoever tossed this particular pie, whether it’s Tony himself or one of his chefs, is a truly a maestro of pizza.
After experiencing the crust, the tomato sauce struts into the spotlight with a burst of citrus flavor that slowly gives way to a sultry sweetness. A good marinara sauce will transport you to the golden hills of Italy in the heat of the summer, and this sauce was no different. At the risk of sounding a tad dramatic, this sauce swept me off my feet like a passionate summer lover.
Bringing us in for a landing was the mozzarella - juicy, creamy, and delicate. A fine finish for a fabulous slice. For a chef that imports almost all of his ingredients from Italy, I expect nothing less.
I’m slightly embarrassed to admit this, but Jeremy and I finished all 16 slices of these two pizzas, plus the squash blossoms, which turned out to be absolutely overkill for lunchtime. Still, eating at Tony’s offered the best pizza experience I’ve had since trying my friend Davide’s wonderful Gabba Gabba project, which for the record, is just as good as Tony’s (check out my review of Gabba Gabba here).
Then, I saw the bill. Cost of lunch for two: $95 before tip. Yikes. I guess here in San Francisco, you get what you pay for, and we certainly enjoyed some of the best pizza the Bay Area has to offer.
Final Thoughts
A world class award-winning pizza experience is a high bar to live up to, but Tony’s delivers on the hype. And the expansive menu makes me excited to return. His dedication to the craft is on full display. But with a celebrity chef at the helm, expect to pay celebrity prices. Still, Tony’s Napoletana proves that we are unequivocally living in a Golden Age of Pizza, and that my dear readers is something to be excited about.
Final Review
West Coast: 10
East Coast: 10
