In 1889 Rafe brought queen Marg
Her first Pie.
Queen she woofed it,
cause he rolled it out.
Don Raffaele never twirled lapizza crust in the air.
Everybody, even Texans, claim to be pizzaiouli. There
are no rules in rating pizza; and, like advertising, everyone is an expert.
There's your Southern Regional (Naples) crust, your thick Chicago goo, and
the Central - Northern Italian Thin School of Crust.
We each have our favorites. Even the most inedible frozen grocery store Pancho's Pizza has its devotees (which accounts for the success of Domino's and Pizza Hut as well). Pizza, SeriouslyWe shall deign speak no more of such pedestrian "pizza". We've moved up to those elevated pies from, yes, Italy and the great wood-fired beauties in Marseilles and the fabulous pies found here in the USA's Pizza Belt! These American efforts are what concerns us now. The Pizza Belt, that's right. While atlases and travel guides show your Sun Belt; your Michigan Rust Belt; your holy roller Bible Belt; your Corn, Borscht, Sorghum and Cotton Belts; no maps reveal the Pizza Belt. So it falls to this Scowler to promote the Pizza Belt. It's as obvious as the pepperoni flecks on your shirt, the garlic on your breath and the red smudges on those pudgy fingers. Pizza equals life here in Connecticut, yet most are unaware. It's like the 20 year-old creamery beauty named Ilke... we take her for granted, and only a dull few see her wondrous reality. Pizza, like perfect women, is like that. The Pizza Belt is that land mass above the Chesapeake Bay, east of the Appalachians, below the Canadian border, and west of the Atlantic Ocean. Some succinctly term this the northeast. Map-makers: paint this region a pale pink to honor the humble tomato sauce on which our reputation is built. It is within these boundaries that one can fall into almost any Brooklyn shop, New Jersey palace or New Haven storefront and come out satiated. We New Englanders are here. We are well-fed. We are fortunate. But there are among us, even here in this citadel of higher pizza learning, cud-chewers who order "toppings". Primitives, these great unwashed, who glom down "cheese food" and simulated pepperoni-like foodstuffs. Send them packing back to Nebraska, to Pizza King, to Pizza Hut and the rest of the chains. The Buckle of the Pizza BeltAnd yet... one seeks that Center: a mid-gut region, the Belt's "buckle", a place at the epicenter of all pies. Surely, we could go to Italy or its border with southern France and eat like Queen Marguerita did back in '89 when Don Raffaele was summoned to Naples' Capodimonte Palace to serve her what became known as the Pizza Marguerita. Most definitely, most maintain that the center of the International Pizza Belt is Naples. But where does the buckle of the American Pizza Belt Fall? Those who worship the great pie know that it falls squarely across Connecticut. Money be damnedWe are here, and so is great pie. Annually, we chew up over seven pounds of mozzarella cheese per man, woman and child. There are over 23,000 pizza stores worldwide selling over $13,000,000,000 yearly (source: International Franchise Association). Sorry, Noo YawkAlmost everybody has been duped by the New York Pizza PR Machine. My take on it? New York pies: over priced and under sauced, in general. Some ok stuff, but essentially the City's pie makers sold out and who can blame them? Their clientele are tourists from Indiana who have no clue, so why not sell them cheesy over-priced street wedges? I'd do same if I was stuck serving pies in the City. By The Way... No More Twirling, PleaseOne rolls out perfect pizza dough. Rolls it out. Never twirls it. Save the show biz for the New York window-gawking tourists. Connecticut, Pie CentralAround Connecticut it is repeat business that makes a pizza shop successful (which requires quality and some other aspects only the refined pizza eater can comprehend), so here to be the best, it is tough. My goal throughout the next few issues of ScowlZine? To locate the perfect pie. Some common myths to dispell about Hartford-area Pizza:When one talks about Hartford-area pizza, there are a number of great pie joints to consider: First and Last, Lena's, Harry's and Luna Pizza. The great rivalry of Luna and Harry's Pizza, two storefronts away from each other in West Hartford Center, these pie shops have been both a defining and a dividing force to the pizza palates of local residents.
Harry's and Lunas (in West Hartford, CT)... would you say that they are
the leviathans in the [Connecticut] pie business?
Isn't all pizza basically the same?
Harry's lightly sauces the top, while Luna's lays it on thicker. Is this
intentional? Is dry pizza popular in West Hartford?
Have you ever heard of "basting the edge" in pizza production?
Gee, doesn't Harry's have the "buzz" as the pie to buy in W.
Hartford?
Luna's. Did they not sell out? Leave the south end and abandon that wood
fired oven, majestic and simple, fired up and powerful, that thing of beauty?
How could they? And do they not fire up a standard Blodgett [ed. a commercial
pizza oven] now? |
Neighbors. Competitors.
While we will report on our New Haven adventures in future Scowl piecesand I am no shill for Frank Pepe!--this concerns the action at 999 and at 1003 Farmington Avenue in downtown West Hartford (Luna and Harry's, respectively). These two pizzerias, side by side in toney West Hartford's downtown, have been placed in what the local paper has termed "restaurant row". But unlike the other spots in town, these two evoke strong pro and con opinions from knowledgeable as well as pseudo-wise pizza-eaters. Most I find, except when inside Luna, are going with Harry's. Why I do not know. I don't comprehend it, cept to say: PR buzz sells. One guy I know, typically found consuming pate and fine wine, had a striking reaction. When informed by an associate that we'd gone to Luna (rather than next door Harry's) he exploded: "What? Bruce took you there? He doesn't know what he's talking about!!" Hey pal, stick to your Pomerol and Saint Estephe. We're not putting fish eggs on little crackers over here. Harry's and Luna Pizza I have consumed pizzas since 1956--done 'em all over the world ever since. I consider myself reasonably knowledgeable: I prefer indigenous water buffalo mozzarella cheese from southern Italy to the stuff I get here in Connecticut, for example. But this Harry's vs. Luna neighbor thing keeps at my gizzard. So. Mano a mano, how does it shake out? Harry's is like the United States, or the Yankees. Powerful, great. Ready. (but not perfect). We asked Austin (TX) based food critic and author Robb Walsh to comment, after he visited both places several times. He notes: "The Luna pie is lovely, but it's a style that's popular all over the country. Excellent sauce, fresh mozzarella, good ingredients - but a standard issue oven and hence a standard crust, (whereas) Harry's is doing an imperfect imitation of the Pepes - Spot - Sally's coal oven crusts--a style more typical of Connecticut." I, of course, do not agree. A bit. (Especially since Harry's ain't coal-fired.) Luna's fresh tomato, garlic, sausage and pepper pie is a classic. Replace the sausage with pepperoni, you've included the favorites of the bulk of pie orders in this country. You've stumbled onto something here, pilgrim. Harry's Vs. Luna: the Tests I ordered identical pies at Harry's and Luna next door. The Harry pie required extensive post-pizza lemonade that night (due to excessive saltiness) and we worried if the kitchen did not run out of sauce, due to the paucity of the red stuff on our pie. Turns out (from subsequent visits) that is the school of thought of the Harry Pie: less sauce is more. I can dig it. (But not for me, I happen to love lots of sauce, and consider spilled sauce on my clothing a badge of honor.) Opinion: Luna hands down: its a richer, throatier and more complex product with a great crust, a brilliant and great crust. And the aesthetics and aroma are clearly superior in my view. Remember: everyone thinks, or believes Harry's is superior. I am saying, no way is Harry's in same league as Luna. OK, the oven ain't brick. I don't know how to overcome that, but the Luna ovens are...h o t. The Wedge Tests Taste the difference. Luna is far richer in flavor and textures. Ah...their pie is beautiful looking, by the way, it's green and red and white (Italian flag!) and it's a hands full thing. Then too, the Wedge Tests. Hold the slice at its edge and observe: does the crust droop to the point of losing the sauce and stuff on top? An undercooked crust will fail this routine test, and both Harry's and Luna's do well on this one, with a slightly better performance by Luna's crunchy crusts. Harry's does whip the Luna in the salad department, notably with a delicious in-house Italian dressing. But hey, we ain't here to eat bird food, it's pie we're after!! But if you disagree, well, so be it. Count me as one conscientious objector: I believe Luna kills Harry's pie, like by 6 to 1, if not 7 to 1. Which is why opinion is just that. Do I have better taste than you? Or merely 40 years of pizza experience? Trust one who is pizzaiouli: a professional eater of the wedges. |