Pizzeria Toscana : Honest-to-Goodness Italian

How cute is this hole-in-the wall. It seemed like a place where you can really hide out for a nice dinner for two…or more, considering that their pizzas are enough to feed 2 people. It was a good thing that I went with my brother, who likes to order a lot of food at a given time, I just sat down and waited for what he thought was interesting. It’s funny how this was my first dinner at this place, since my dad and my brother have been eating here for quite some time and I felt like I’ve been missing a lot.

Pizzeria Toscana is a casual Italian pizzeria put up by the Italy-obsessed husband and wife tandem, Anthony and Angel Aban. And this very personalized place is truly charming because you see that it is a collaboration of work of the entire family. Angel handles the kitchen, the two children help out in the ordering and busing, while the husband does the numbers (or at least that was how I understood it).

Bacalla alla Livornese (Salted Codfish served with marble potatoes). It seems that it is a very close cousin of Spain’s Bacallao sauteed with Tomataoes and Onion. This was a strong appetizer, salty bold flavor with a light touch of acid from the tomato. Served with grilled potatoes, it is a wonderful base for the up-front no non-sense profile of the Bacallao. Livorno, being a port city (a nice famous stop for cruise ship travelers that want to hit Pisa to see the leaning tower) is rich in seafood as “pizza birthplace” which is Napoli.

Pasta Agnello, lamb pastrami with garlic and capers. This is wonderful olive oil based creation is very interesting. First the lamb pastrami…it’s a very unique and uncommon deli offering. The subtle taste from the lamb, along with the saltiness and some tartness from the capers, with a hint of parsley made this a very simple, and honest dish..showcasing the wonderful taste of the lamb pastrami. Again, simple but honest cuisine…which seems like what Italians are known for.

Capasanta con Caviale, scallops with caviar in cream sauce. Hmm..I didn’t see much cream here. I wonder if they forgot about it. This simple dish lacked some kick sad to say, it would either have been a lemon-cream, if they wanted to cut the fishiness from the caviar, or a simple cream with an herb…maybe dill, which is off season these days. Though this wasn’t as “rave-full” as the others, it still was properly done, that really makes me wonder though, was the chef so jittery that she forgot the cream? Or was I so drunk that I wrote the wrong thing down? 😉

Slipper Lobster alla Pantelleria. Pantelleria, an island found southwest of Sicily (a place so fabolous but I sadly missed it on my tour) is known for producing wonderful sweet wines. And with this name, the slipper lobster, or “Pitik” in tagalog, wouldn’t really be found there, but I guess real lobsters would. And the tomato sauce was sweetish, with basil and onions. It was a bold mix, there was lots of tomato. I liked this dish only because a chosen few restaurants really serve lobster, or slipper lobster. It was a refreshingly light despite being heavy on tomato.

Salami Milano Pizza was the first pizza that came out. It was an honest mix of tomato sauce, onions, some tomatoes and of course, Salami Milano. Again, it was a dish that showcased the taste of the star of the show, the salami. This is what I love about places like these, there’s so little room for cheating. Yes they used good quality salami milano, and not some cheap off shoot of butchered pork. The crust, crunchy and light, quaintly artesanal. Topped off with some lovely dried chilli… buono!

Save the best for last. There may be a reason why I only got to eat here this month…it’s because of this June special -Petti Di A Nastra. Duck with Demiglace, Cream and Garlic. OH my! I was stuffed but I still ate 3 of these! I haven’t had such a wonderful pizza combination in a long time. As a nice refreshing and italian touch, this pizza had slices of tomatoes with a sprinkling of herbs which helped cut the richness from the duck and demi. The chef takes pains to do this dish, she even roasts her own duck! A true work of art, and a taste that makes remy’s ratatouille look like a snack.

Great ingredients, honest food, artistry and personalized service. Don’t you love these kinds of places?

🙂