New 52 | Week 42: Pizza at Caffe Calabria

Wow, I can't believe it's week 42 already!  That means only 10 more weeks until the year ends.  This year FLEW by.  Given that I'm now middle-aged (according to some people), I don't like it when time flies by.  I guess the good thing is that I'm enjoying myself and doing new things.  :)

When we went to Caffe Calabria in July for some latte before the Bluegrass Brunch at Urban Solace, we were intrigued by the brick wood-fire pizza oven.  The oven was hand-built by Stefano Ferrara, the most famous wood burning pizza oven maker in the world.  He came from Naples, the ancient home of pizza, to build this brick oven!  The oven is 1,000 degrees and cooks the pizza in 75 seconds!


Sorry about the bad focus.  But that's the famous oven.

So Todd and I had been plotting to come back to Caffe Calabria to try their authentic Neopolitan pizza for the whole summer.  But time slipped by us while we were having other summery fun.  Finally Todd scheduled last Thursday for us to go and enjoy some authentic Neopolitian pizza at Caffe Calabria!  Just how authentic is it?  They even fly their tomatoes over from Naples, Italy! 

We started out our meal by sharing the Insalata Verde.


Then we asked how big the pizzas were.  Our waiter said it's like in Italy, where each pizza is made a personal size.  So we ordered two pizzas: the Salsiccia, which had organic San Marzano tomato, house-made fennel sausage, fior di latte, and grana.  And the Diavola, which had organic San Marzano tomato, salame piccante, fior di latte, chili flakes, and grana. 

Our pizza arrived shortly.  Here was the Salsiccia.


And the Diavola.


The lighting was really dark inside the restaurant, thus the flash photos.  Todd and I took one bite into our pizzas and were in love!  I had never had authentic Neopolitan pizza before, so I didn't know what to expect.  I love the thin crust and how much texture the dough had.  It was just chewy enough, without being too chewy.  And the tomatoes from Naples were delicious, as were the little balls of melted cheese.  Todd ate a whole pizza while I ate half, so we were left with half to bring home.  We walked out of Caffe Calabria in a pizza daze, forgetting our leftovers.  Todd had to run back and get it.  Ack!

This was definitely an experience that we want to repeat again.  If you're in the San Diego area, I'd highly recommend that you give Caffe Calabria's pizzas a try.  But keep in mind that they only open for pizza from Wednesday to Sunday, 5pm to 11pm.

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About This Project

New52 is a project started by Peppermint and I to encourage each other and others around us to try something new every week in 2011. The "new" each week doesn't have to be something big. It could be something as simple as ordering a new dish instead of old standbys at your favorite restaurant. It's simply opening your heart up to NEW possibilities.
Don't worry if you're late getting started on joining in. It's totally OK if you miss a week here or there. We encourage everyone to keep an open mind about trying something new. This is a life project, and a photography/blog and even scrap challenge if you wish. If you participate this week, please leave a link to your blog post in the comments of this post.