being catty - 5.29.09

Good afternoon, kids. Let’s begin with a brief history and geography lesson. Campania is a southern region of Italy, the laces of the boot if you will. It’s capital is Naples and Naples is famous for two things: Pizza and Grime, I mean, Crime. Authentic Neopolitan pizza, or pizza napoletana, is governed by the Associazone Verace Pizza Napoletana, the closest thing to a policing body in all of Italy. As I briefly mentioned last week, to be a certified producer of pizza napoletana there are several guidelines. In brief, you must use “the proper ingredients” (San Marzano tomatoes, fior de latte or bufala mozzarella, fresh basil and “00” flour) and the pizza must be cooked in wood-burning oven.


Having said all of this, it is only appropriate that a local pizzaiolo, Jay Jerrier, named his first pizza restaurant “Campania Pizza”. Campania has been deemed one of the best pizzerias in town by many different critics and publications. And I concur. Let’s get to the point here, kids are interested in pizza not geography. To start, Campania is BYO, which makes my husband as giddy as a schoolgirl. (Sorry, I just had to say it! And no, dear, no one thinks you are an alcoholic, just one cheap bastard.) Note: They have recently added a $5.00 corkage fee. The atmosphere at Campania is two-fold: the inside is awkward but almost humorous, thanks to wobbly tables and kitchy felt tomato-vine appliques hanging from the rafters. The patio is as enjoyable as the weather, and made more comfortable in the winter by the addition of a large fire pit.


As experienced diners at Campania, we know that splitting a salad and medium pizza is PLENTY of food for the both of us. But on this special occasion and for the purpose of my review, we splurged. To begin, we shared the Caprese salad ($10), the least spectular dish of the evening. The baby arugula was a pleasant foil to the creamy mozzarella and fresh olive oil, but the tomatoes, not quite in season, and the overly generous dousing of dried (!) oregano leaves left me disappointed. I had such high hopes for this salad.


Alas, our mains arrived. We were adventurous and ordered the “Doso” pizza blanco ($14) and Calzone Luciano ($12). At this point, I need to describe the issue of sizes. The pizzas come in two sizes, Medium and Large, the Medium is 12-14 inches while the Large is 18-20 inches. The Medium is perfect for two people to share or one person to have another meal of leftovers. We like leftovers.The “Doso” is described as “the Owner’s favorite”, cherry tomatoes, spicy olive oil, mozzarella, crushed red pepper and garlic. It was wonderful. Simple, quality ingredients that allow you to taste and appreciate the most painstaking process of pizza making, the dough and crust. Like a snowflake, each pizza is unique. From the intense heat of the wood fired oven, blistered in spots but delightfully chewy and thin throughout. The Calzone Luciano, all 16” of it, was the highlight of the meal. An oversized pocket of love: sweet ricotta, large pieces of ham, basil, more mozzarella and parmesan. We did not expect to like or even love this dish, for one thing I don’t even like ham and the SigO doesn’t like “bread”. By and large (large enough for 3 days of leftovers), Campania was a very good meal and value, try the pizzas, calzones and try another insalata.


As they say in Napoli, Ciao!


Campania Pizza and More, West Village
3800 McKinney Ave., Suite 150
Dallas, Texas
Phone: 214-780-0605