Seattle / Tutta Bella: wannabe neapolitan pizza

It is not a secret I have a weakness for Neapolitan pizza… As an Italian I cannot not like pizza but I have a strong preference for the Neapolitan version with its chewy and foldable dough!

I know that most of the people, especially outside Italy, are more familiar with thinner and crustier dough, but the pleasure I feel when biting it is incomparable to me.

No surprises that I decided to give it a try to the wood fired oven of Tutta Bella in Salt Lake Union.

The pizzeria is located exactly above the local Whole Foods Market and serves 2 different sizes of pizza, 10 and 13 inches, in traditional, special or seasonal recipes.

We ordered a CALABRESE: black mission figs, Parma ham, goat cheese, rosemary and balsamic reduction. The topping was quite interesting, being at the same time salty and lightly sweet. A couple of minuses were the reduction (as Bottura once told me ‘I prefer to wait 30 years for the balsamic vinegar to get that texture’) and the ham baked together with the pizza (and therefore resulting very salty).

But let’s talk about the most important part: the dough! The dough was so so, more as a way in-between the Neapolitan pizza and its lighter/crunchier version. I think the reason was that it was not properly rolled: some parts were more foldable and moist while other parts were thinner and lightly burnt. Not sure whether it was due to the rush lunch hour or just a lack of experience.

We are clearly not in Naples but it still remains a decent option for a quick bite!